See  www.stewart51d.com  for material from  2013 through JUNE-JULY 2022.

Note the "d" after "51" as the difference between the archived material website name and the traditional (current) website name.

UPDATE:  February 2023

Recall that I had ferried Doll from Bartow to Montgomery during July last year to then fly to AirVenture at Oshkosh.  Our Electromotive ignition system had begun to be intermittent, but we had checked wiring and connections in Bartow and had a good test flight and figured we had solved the issue.  I had a good runup in Bartow and flew on up to Montgomery.

Also recall that the morning I had scheduled to leave Montgomery for Oshkosh, the Electromotive system had gone dead again.  I checked circuit breakers, switches, and wiring again but could not find anything, and another runup confirmed something in the the twenty-five year old system had died.  Electromotive had shut down as an operating company, so no parts or support were available.  On to Oshkosh without Doll.

After AirVenture, we researched available systems and decided to go with a system manufactured and supported by SDS in Canada (www.sdsefi.com).  Ross Farnham and Barry Wilks did a nice job of walking us through installation of their product.  These fellows build ignition and fuel injection systems for automotive and aviation applications, their system having won Reno a few years ago.

Undoing the Electromotive system and installing the SDS system required a good bit of re-engineering of ancillary components, and one has to credit Harry Stenger for his support and skill in machining and thinking through the installation with Ross and Barry.  I was the "weak link" as I could only do the work on the airplane as I could make time from my full-time job duties in Pensacola and Montgomery.  We also had great help from Jim Czachorowski, as he was in the process of installing an SDS system in Jim Gohm's engine out in Prescott, Arizona and could add to our effort from his experience.   Mike Shankle and Chris Thomas supported the installations and ground runs in Montgomery in some pretty uncomfortable conditions as we worked through the installation and setup.

All said, I finally flew Doll again this past Monday, February 6, 2023.  She did great.  I am again impressed all over again with what an amazing airplane Jim and Peggy Stewart brought to life, and what an amazing powerplant the GM based V-8 is in this airplane.

I'll fly more over the following weeks as winter fades away and spring weather becomes more dominant.  We'll get her back down to Bartow for some other light maintenance and mods, and maybe fly over to Sun 'n Fun for a day, and press on.

I will try to load some photography of the work accomplished on the SDS installation, and will update soon on Elliot Seguin's recent flights in Rod Bowers' plane, and other news from builders.  I am still pretty limited by my inexperience with this new website builder tool.  And, I am working at getting Network Solutions, my website and email host, to restore the past emails they lost in their recent migration.  If you ever emailed me, I had kept it, but that history is apparently stuck on their older servers and they have not been able to reinstall it.  Very frustrating.

We have reserved a booth space for AirVenture this year.  We'll be located in the area where many of the kit aircrfat traditionally display.  We'll hope to see you there.

Thanks.

Bill Hudgens
Stewart 51 Partner, LLC