Upgrading the GlaStar: Ambition in Arlington

Lifting off the smooth pavement felt bittersweet as I departed for the last time in “old Woodstock.” I gave a wing rock over the runway to my Washingtonian family before pointing the nose east on what was now a clear morning. I will never tire of soaring over the evergreens in the Pacific Northwest, where it smells like earth and oxygen, and the airplane is just as happy about the thick, cool air as I am. The 150-hp O-320-E2G purred along as I left behind KCLM, the 2025 wintering grounds for Woodstock the GlaStar. Ahead was KAWO, Arlington, Washington, a place of magic and the old home of Glasair Aviation, one of the best kit-plane manufacturers to ever grace the skies. Although the company closed its U.S. doors in 2023, all the right people, materials, and knowledge still pervade the unassuming airfield unlike any other place on earth. Choosing Arlington to be the home of Woodstock’s upgrades was no coincidence. After a short 30-minute flight, I was descending to the airport, which is nestled just north of Seattle and west of the striking Cascade Mountain range. After dodging fewer aircraft than usual, I entered 45° for left downwind Runway 34 and eased it on with a very nice three-point touchdown. Once clear of the runway, I taxied over to an inconspicuous blue hangar with the white shell of an old Comp Air fuselage resting out front.

Ephraim Carter came out to guide me to a tie-down in the grass out in front of his hangar. This would be Woody’s temporary home for just a few days. Ephraim is the owner of Experimental Aircraft Services LLC, and his incredible work and attention to detail caught my eye from the very beginning. With decades of mechanical and crafting expertise, he was just the person I needed to be my “project manager,” so to speak. Ephraim’s abilities combined with Arlington’s vast resources took a massive mental load off my shoulders with everything I came to tackle on this bare-bones 2000 GlaStar. I got a tour of the workshop, and I left Woody tied down for just a few days while I left for a work trip and Ephraim completed some odds and ends on his latest RV-10 build-assist. We reconvened on April 1, marking the official start date of Woodstock’s upgrades.

When I arrived in Arlington on the morning of April 1, I found Ephraim eagerly moving Woodstock into his hangar. Despite the rain, spirits were high. I jogged up to assist with pushing it back, and the ensuing two days felt like we never stopped jogging. I ogled in joy after we set up and organized Woodstock’s new parts on the shelf. To name a few, these included: new landing gear, new instrument-panel blank, new tires, new larger oil cooler, oil cooler shutoff, new electric fuel pump, engine control brackets, prop governor, flap handle and cables, and more odds and ends. My fascination was a short-lived daydream as we jumped right in with removing Woodstock’s old engine.

We got to work removing the cowling straight away, and then it flowed into disconnecting everything! One nut at a time, off came the exhaust, spark plugs, ignition harness, cylinder head temperature (CHT) probes, engine controls, and SCAT tubing. These were all tasks I had done before, and they felt familiar. Then we moved into removing fuel and oil hoses, which were slightly messier but still straightforward. Between myself, my husband Eric, and Ephraim, we had the old engine completely disconnected in short order. Finally, it was time to remove the old engine vibration isolators. With the hoist at the ready, the engine separated from the firewall one mount at a time. Much to my surprise, within the first three hours of starting in on the project, the old engine was hanging on the hoist and Woodstock’s airframe was engineless for the first time in 26 years. Eric and I went to work vigorously cleaning up the firewall, which was pretty clean to start with. We spot-treated areas of the engine mount that benefited from a new coat of protective primer, but even the engine mount was in good shape.

I came back from lunch break surprised to find Ephraim hoisting the new 180-hp Continental Titan XIO-340 engine off its shipping pallet. I didn’t have too much time to be surprised before jumping right back in and getting hands-on. In an ensuing battle, I got my first experience with installing new vibration isolators along with methods of both gentle and percussive persuasion. As Ephraim continued to coax one last engine mount into place, I moved my focus into dismantling the interior, another familiar project for me. Out came the seats, the floors, and the fiberglass trimming. We left off that evening with the milestone of releasing the tension from the engine hoist, and now Woodstock held the full weight of the brand-new Continental Titan XIO-340.

Day two got a rainy and late start with knocking out some admin work, sifting through the photo and video files of the day before, and ordering more parts. Though I try my best, I’m still prone to a mistake or two. Back when first planning the upgrades, I initially planned a vertical-style induction, just like the old engine, to aid in the ease of swapping. So, from the very beginning, I had ordered a throttle bracket kit for a vertical, updraft-style induction. Later in the process and just before assembly of my engine started, we switched gears and changed to a horizontal, cold-air induction. It only took Ephraim a matter of seconds to realize he was holding the wrong bracket. Whoops. I took the opportunity to order more stuff, such as the air filter adapter for the horizontal induction, new engine control cables, rod ends, and other miscellaneous things.

While I was seemingly doing what I do best—spending money—my husband, Eric, was hard at work removing instruments from the old instrument panel, and Ephraim was busy at work attaching the throttle body, governor, and P-Mag harness. It was about that time that Jeff Hickman from Glasair Parts walked in and reminded me that we needed to remove the control sticks for modification to accept the new Tosten stick grips. Eric and I made quick work of that, and I took the sticks over to the old Glasair facility where Jeff keeps parts support up and running. While I was there, we gathered a new engine baffling kit from a printed-out list of part numbers. We picked one piece at a time off the shelves until we had assembled a full kit. Nowhere else in the world could I have done this but in Arlington. I felt a twinge of somberness looking over the shelves lined with GlaStar and Sportsman parts and looking down at the hangar that used to be bustling with the popular two-week-to-taxi build-assist program. I thanked Jeff, and then it was off to the hangar for more work.

By the afternoon, things were steadily rolling along and Ephraim had the old O-320 mounted up to the pallet and ready to go off to its new owner—a local pilot on the field who was eager to switch out his Subaru-powered GlaStar for a Lycoming. At 740 hours since major overhaul (SMOH), Woody’s old engine was a perfect candidate. It ran smooth as a Rolex and never burned oil. It just wasn’t the best fit for us in Colorado’s density altitude. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better scenario. As we rolled open the hangar doors so they could take it away on a forklift, the sun appeared and bore down its bright rays. Almost like an omen, Woodstock’s old engine was carried off into the sun as if both GlaStars had a long and bright future of flying ahead. I mentioned in passing that Eric and I would have to wrap up and leave at 3 p.m. to catch our flight home. “Better get going on that prop then,” said Ephraim.

While it never occurred to me that we would be hanging the prop that day, Ephraim had been planning it all along. Challenge accepted! While Eric was still dismantling the panel and Ephraim was building up the new engine baffling, I set to work mounting the spinner backplate to the new WhirlWind 300 Series constant-speed propeller. The spinner was custom made by Bob Mackey to fit the GlaStar and WW 300. The kit he sent to install it was immaculate and detailed, with spare hardware and O-rings. After the backplate was mounted, the bolts torqued, and adequate blood was drawn by safety wire, we hung the prop. The fit was perfect, and the appearance stunning. Even as an A&P, I have limited personal experience with constant-speed propellers and the installation process, so I was relying heavily on Ephraim to ensure it all went to plan. What better milestone to leave the day off with than to see that shiny new engine and prop hanging on the nose of Woodstock?

Two days ago, I could not have dreamed we’d make this much progress. When I came in to start the process, it was straight from work with my roller bag, flight bag, and lunch bag, so I had to toss on the uniform again for my flight home to be able to carry my three bags back home. Ephraim snapped a photo of me reluctantly saying goodbye, still astonished with the airplane that was sitting in front of me. Ephraim will continue to work while I am away, and next week when I return, it will be with the entirety of Woodstock’s brand-new Dynon SkyView panel and the Advanced Control Module (ACM) system by Advanced Avionics. Stay tuned for more and thank you for sharing this journey with me!