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The Daringer – highly modified Pacer. Now flying.

White City, Oregon
Ok guys, I have mentioned it a couple of times on here and I figured I would give a complete report on this highly modified aircraft.

Daringer_Flys_001.jpg


Darin Stichter is the builder of this airplane. He started with a 1957 Tri-Pacer airframe. It has been extended back 25 inches in the baggage area. The firewall and dash has been extended forward 6 inches. The top of the cabin has been raised 2 inches and the telltale Pacer hump has been removed to make a flat back. It is powered by a 0-360 A1A Lycoming (converted helicopter motor) with an 80-inch Hartzell constant speed propeller. He is using a Chrysler starter and a Chevy Sprint alternator for lightweight and he made the motor mount at a 0 Degree thrust line. Landing gear is 2 inches taller and wider with Maule oleo struts and 31 inch Bushweels. Wings are a modified Taylorcraft airfoil with Cessna 172 flaps and tracks with a 72-gallon fuel capacity in four tanks. The only exposed control cables are the rudder cables. Empty weight – 1321 pounds.

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Note – modified Taylorcraft airfoil.

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Look at them flaps!!

Will give flight numbers as soon as I get updates.

Happy Flying.

Brian
 
Unbelievably cool!!!! Way to go! That is what experimental is all about. Congrats to Darin! Looking forward to flight report.
 
Does that wing have Charlie Centers L.E. cuff on stock Tcraft size ribs?

Jason
N3673T
 
Why a TaylorCraft airfoil? I saw another hybrid bush plane here in Anchorage .. was tied down ad lake hood. It also had what appeared to me to be T-craft airfoil. What are the benefits?
 
Jason,

Darin used stamped D & E 3 piece ribs in his wings. He modified the tail pieces to fit his flaps and ailerons and left the center pieces original. He then canted the nose pieces down about 10 degrees to "match" the leading edge profile of the Pacers windshield. Giving the wing a slight L.E. cuff. He also "lightened" the ribs as much as possible by drilling extra holes in them.

(By the way Jason, your old T-cart is waiting in my storage hanger, Mark is working on painting the right wing right now. Probably have her up again early next year)

Aalexander

Why a TaylorCraft airfoil?
A stock 65 Horse Taylorcraft is about 15 MPH or so "faster" than a stock 65 Horse J3 cub. The wing is simply faster than a Piper wing. With the addition of a good flap system, Darin is hoping to come up with the best of both worlds. So far on his initial test flight, he has slowed the aircraft down to 30 MPH (on the ASI) with flaps and with the prop flat he has seen 125 MPH at 2500 RPM on the ASI. He has not played with prop settings yet because his Manifold Pressure gage is not working.

Another problem Darin is having is that Darin himself is learning to fly Taildraggers with this aircraft. He has had enough taildragger time to safely fly the aircraft, but he has very low time in them. So it may be a while before he can give short field performance numbers until he gets comfortable enough to do them.

Brian.
 
I was always intrigued with the Cub/Taylorcraft idea - I saw an L-4 with a stock Taylorcraft wing in ACY about 1962. Some nice folks in Montana have been doing this to Super Cubs for years.

But I wonder if it is the wing that gives the T-Cart the extra speed? Note that the PA12 is lots faster than the similar powered 18. And my Decathlon, while faster than a Citabria, is not that much faster! I know it isn,t a T-craft wing, but it is symmetrical and low drag, and short. And at 2500 rpm, I'll indicate about 138 mph, so that Pacer fuselage must have a bit of drag on it (or is it those tires?).
 
Brian, how's this Daringer working out for the owner? I just picked up on why it's spelled "Darin"ger :wink:
Kinda like to hear more about it now that there's probably some time on it....

Rooster
 
Brian, how's this Daringer working out for the owner? I just picked up on why it's spelled "Darin"ger
Kinda like to hear more about it now that there's probably some time on it....

Rooster

It is working out pretty good. Cruising at 130 on the average, stalls with full flaps under 40. He is going to try out a set of Cub tail feathers because his current ones do not have quite enough authority on flare. He is also going to get a set of 26" Goodyear's and run them most of the time, save his Bushweels for Alaska. Got about 30 hours in it now. His takeoff's are getting shorter, about 500 to 600 feet on the average. And that is not forcing it off, just letting her fly when she wants to. Other than that, he has been concentrating on getting his hanger/home built so he has a place to park.

Brian.
 
highly mod pacer

went flying with darin saturday well let me tell you all thatwas a blast and we did slow flight at 36mph and got it up to 130mph well done darin :cheers marc
 
Re: highly mod pacer

marc said:
went flying with darin saturday well let me tell you all thatwas a blast and we did slow flight at 36mph and got it up to 130mph well done darin :cheers marc

That's impressive--not quite up to the 4:1 performance spread that Van boasts of for the RV series, but I do believe I'd much rather have the Daringer. Good show!

Rooster
 
What would the max weight of this machine be?

Well, being that it is an "EXPERIMENTAL", he set the gross weight at 2600 lbs. He is also using the max forward and rear CG the same as a Pacer. We have done the calculations and confirmed that no matter how he loads it it will stay in CG. He can put 70 gals of fuel, himself, a passenger, 250 lbs of baggage and his 2 dogs in the back, still be under 2500 lbs and CG 1/2 inch ahead of max.

And quite frankly I think it just looks damn cool.

Brian.
 
Are taylorcraft spars in the same location as the Pacers?
I've been curious about the particulars on the mounting myself. I'm guessing the spar separation must be the same as the Piper (designed by the same guy) and while I wouldn't say it's a common mod, there have been a few SCs with T-Craft wings installed. So with that in mind, if the spar distance fits the SC then yes, it would also fit the Pacer being the same wing except for length. If I'm not mistaken, the final production T-Crafts had flaps and if memory serves me correctly, they were pretty darn big. I'm still going with stock airfoil on mine but the T-Craft wing is interesting.
 
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