CP-328 Project and first post

[addicted2climbing]

Hello All,

Sorry for the English, but my french is a bit too simplistic to get my point accross. However my Fiance is from France and she is teaching me so hopefully soon I will be able to write a bit in French. She is From Paris and her Family moved to Samatan in the Gers. We live in California near Los Angeles

Anyhow, I recently have become the new owner of a CP-328 Project. The wing and all control surfaces are done, the horizontal stabilizer and elevator are done as is the smaller rudder for the later model. I also have the cowling, tailwheel, cleveland brakes, main gear parts, tires and rims and a fair amount of other items. I plan to move the project to my EAA chapter Hangar in the next few weeks. My goal is to go over the wing to check everything and see if there is any construction left to do. Then I will hang the wing and start the fuselage. We both are over 6' tall, so I may need to modify the location of the seat to get more legroom, but being on the wing, I am unsure if that is possible. If there are any members here in the 6'3" range (1.90 meters) I would be interested in how the legroom is.

This project is being bought from someone who bought it from a widow so my connection to any info from the original builder is gone. The owner before me did not do anything other than store it.

I am open to any advice and suggestions

[Philippe Dejean]

Hi...

Welcome on this website.

The CP328, a “Super-Emeraude” powered by a O-235 is a nice project...

Obviously, 1.90 m is quite higher than the average size of the French pilots in the fifties and sixties, and it is very likely you'll need to make minor modifications of the seat.
For the canopy, there were different versions. The higher, the one that was designed to wear a hat in, should be high enough...

By the way, do you have the original sets of plans used for the beginning of the construction?

Good flights

Philippe

[addicted2climbing]

Hello Philippe,

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have the plans, but they are a big mess. I contacted Sylvia Litner and she sent me a list of every page in the plan set so I can see if I am missing any sheets. I plan to go through them this weekend. They are in English with metric dimensions. I read on this forum a post where it is mentioned that the English set is not as up to date as the French set. Is that true?

As for the engine I believe the plans I have are for an IO-320 but I would probably prefer the io-235 since they are more affordable used and have a lower fuel burn.

Marc

[Philippe Dejean]

Hello Marc,
I don’t know if the English of plans set is not as up to date as the French set.

A very interesting source of information is the “GPPA” of the Angers aviation museum (see link below)

http://www.musee-aviation-angers.fr/las ... on-avions/

For 150 € (+ shipment) they can send you a CD full of plans scans.

You could use the “Piel CP-301 Emeraude & dérivés” set of plans, that contains the plans of different versions of the Emeraude and other derived Piel planes from the first CP301…

About the engine, the CP320 can be fitted with any good old O-235, O-290, O-320 or IO-320 Lycoming engine, but as far as I know, there is no IO-235. (Just a recent and lighter IO-233… with a computerized electronic injection system and FADEC, that I fear to be much less affordable).

But whatever engine you will chose, the best thing to do will be to fit it with a tuned exhaust.

Philippe

[addicted2climbing]

Hello Philippe,

Thanks for all the great info.. I meant O-235... There is a buy with a few of them in storage on rebuild stands with fresh rebuilds, and I may speak to him about selling one. He is a packrat and has way way more aviation related items than any one man should. It is a bit scary how much he has.

I am hoping to move the project sometime this month and then can get to work laying out the fuselage sides. I may draw the layout in solidworks and print them full scale on a roll printer.

There is a writeup abut a CP-328 with a 150hp engine that was owned by a guy who was 6'5" tall and his pilot friend was 6'7" and I may try and track that plane down and try and speak with the owner to see what mods they did to make pilots that tall fit.

Take care and have a great weekend,

Marc

[Philippe Dejean]

Hello Marc,

The main modification of the seat for tall pilots consists in rotating the seat around the base of the spar:
Instead of sitting on the spar the seat goes backwards so that the spar is just under the thighs.
But, on top of that, the seat goes down increase the clearance for the head...

So, I think that the rails of adjustable seats should be curved rather than straight.

Good flights

Philippe