STRAKE EXTENSION
Getting Back the Elbow Room

Here' a way to have the "Elite" doors and the elbow room of the old "standard".  The approach in this mod is to have a strake opening in the door that has a profile as if the strake were slid forward to about two inches from the leading edge of the door.  The strake part on the door doesn't stick out further or weigh more than the normal Elite, and it requires no change in the strake and fuel tank installation from the door cut back.  This mod should fit either the standard or the 173 (LW) installations.

The profile on the fuselage allows a nice continuous line at the strake-fuselage joint.  There is a break in the line at the leading edge right at the door cut, and profile at the back of the strake extension matches the curvature of the strake from the door cut back to the side of the fuselage.

The strake extension part is strong and light weight, made with 1/4" foam core sandwich with additional reinforcing plies along the leading edge.  The weight of the new part is comparable to the normal portion of the strake that is attached to the door, plus the weight of the door cutout piece; so the door weight is not increased.

The distance out from the door at the door cut is the same as the normal Elite (about 10").

The inside view shows the considerable arm and elbow room.  It definitely gives the feeling of a wider cockpit.  The latch rods need to be modified as shown.

The additional parts are the intermediate bellcrank and its pivot mount, and some 5/16" aluminum rod, and a few more clevis pins.  The two front rods can be made by cutting and modifying the existing front rod.  A new rod is made for the lower rear corner latch pin.  I find the door latching to be smooth and should not be noticeably different than the standard latch arrangement.  Of course this modification also requires rework on the inner door panel to accommodate the opening.

Having made the molds, I will make the strake extension pieces that go on the doors for anyone interested.   They can be purchased for $330 a pair.  They are made slightly oversize so they can be trimmed to fit your installation.  Add $19 shipping and handling.

I also have the drawing for the aluminum pivot and the steel bellcrank (now being made from stainless) and will include that at no additional cost; however, these parts are made to quite close tolerances to avoid any additional play in the linkage, and it is hard to find a shop that will make just a pair of these for less than about $150, much of it the setup time.  If a number of builders are interested, I can probably have a number of sets made in a batch for a cost of under $100.

Contact me at:   alg3@cox.net

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