Canard Aviation

As some of you may know, the CAF B-29 "Fifi", still the only flying B-29 in the world, has been grounded since 2006 due to engine problems.
"Fifi" was rescued from China Lake in 1971 to become a CAF flying museum exhibit. With the plane came its original WW II-vintage Wright R-3350-57 radial engines. These engines were unreliable and problematic in field operations, due to design weaknesses (many to do with inadequate cooling) and lack of proper debugging caused by the B-29 being rushed into service in 1944. As a result, "Fifi" has always been a PITA to operate because of engine problems. The problems are fundamental with the design specification of the engines. When metal was found in the oil of the engines in the Fall of 2006, "Fifi" was grounded, and a big and financially mind-boggling decision was made to not put any more flying time on what was clearly a dangerously worn set of fundamentally unreliable engines. The decision was to re-engine the plane with a brand new hybrid specification of R-3350. The main challenge for the project was folding green, the final cost will probably exceed $4m.
The progress of the re-engine project has been documented here. The good news is that all four engines have been replaced with the brand new hybrid specification models, and "Fifi" is awaiting the right moment to begin its flight test program with the new engines.

Note the very long displaced threshold on the West end of the runway. There is no 100LL for sale at Hawks Nest, so you need to have more than enough fuel for local flying needs and return to an airport with fuel when you land there.

As part of the upgrade process for the Long-EZ avionics, we briefly removed the right wing today, in order to fit a new coaxial cable for the new transponder. The old transponder coax cable was a massively thick one, the new cable is about half the diameter, with a shiny new transponder aerial also fitted projecting from the underside of the outboard side of the strake. Pictures of the wing removal coming soon...
An impressive box of junk is accumulating in the corner of the hangar, as old hardware is removed from the plane, and new hardware installed. The direct read lines for the fuel pressure and oil pressure guages have been removed from the aircraft, as has the old manual retrac hardware for the nose gear. There will be some sort of "odds and sods" sale soon...

For some reason, sunsets from a canard pusher are, well, kind of different...probably due to the all-over canopy, and the shapes of the winglet. Here is a sunset from Texas from 2009.

When I bought N131JF from Jesse in 2000, the plane had reliable and effective, but mostly old instrumentation. It is a classic "steam guages" plane.
Over the last 10 years, the only improvements I made in the avionics were a newer GPS (which is now itself obsolete), and the fitting of a JP Instruments FuelScan fuel flow meter.
The radio and transponder are antiques, old, heavy and (in the case of the transponder) apparently at the end of their useful lives. I have direct read fuel and oil pressure guages, which complicates the wiring and plumbing in the plane. I need a newer GPS.
I have therefore been stockpiling new avionics over the last 2 months to replace the radio, transponder, GPS and oil/fuel pressure guages.
Additionally, I will install a Wright nose lift and Strong pitch trim to reduce inflight movements and make it easier to get Mary into the plane. Although the Wright nose lift weighs 9 pounds, the existing radio is ludicrously heavy, as is the transponder, so I expect that the weight in the nose of the plane will be less after the upgrades are complete.
In a couple of weeks, N131JF will be taken offline for the upgrades. At the same time, the unfinished baggage pod project may also be finally completed. Jesse is going to perform a lot of the work for me (for a fee) since I am working silly hours on my current assignment (isn't that always the case?).
The goal is to get N131JF back in the air in time for the Telluride Jazz Festival.