Baffles and Hot Air Ducting Installed

 The forward baffles are reinstalled.  One change I am going to make is to replace to elastic stop nuts I used with heat resistant lock nuts.  I don't know what I was thinking when I used them.

 There is a small baffle between the lower fins of the 2 cylinders on each side.  The lower ends of these baffles are held snug to the cylinders by a spring, long ago lost.  I found some springs at the hardware store made from .022" wire which should work fine.  A very slightly stiffer spring would be nice but these do hold the baffles.

 The 4 springs are a bit of work to install.  It's easy to hook one end to a baffle, but fishing it past the cylinder and hooking the other end to the baffle on the other side of the cylinder took many tries.

If I were doing it again I'd make a long skinny loop with safety wire to fish through, hook the loose end and pull it past the cylinder.

 A new air filter and CAT tubing gets this looking like a finished engine installation.  The carb. heat tubes on the right were the easiest to install.

 I never checked to make sure the inlet tube on my cabin heat muff actually fit into the CAT tubing.  I had to use my fluting pliers, like on the edge of the firewall to shrink it slightly.  If the muff works I plan to weld up a more permanent one so I'll be sure to make the inlet the correct diameter.

I still have to finish the primer lines.

Exhaust Pipes Back On with Spiral Wound Gaskets

 I had a little trouble getting the pipes back on.  The first couple threads on 2 of the studs were just a little tight fitting in the nuts so I couldn't get them started with my fingers.  These were also the 2 hardest nuts to reach.  I finally go them on and properly torqued, with oil on the threads.

 One of the nice improvements was in the exhaust gaskets which came in the set.  The old ones were copper with an asbestos core.  The asbestos took care of the heat and the copper protected the asbestos from the flow of hot exhaust gasses.  There is a piece of thin sheet copper on each side of the asbestos.  The inner edge of copper is the same thin sheet formed like a grommet overlapping the copper sheets on each side.

Even though the gasket is crushed between the cylinder and exhaust pipe flange the vibration on the pipe is enough to allow it to wiggle and slowly destroy the weak asbestos.  Eventually some of the asbestos works out from between the layers of copper, the inner ring of collapses and the joint leaks.

The new ones have an 1/8 in thick steel frame which takes the compression load, so the joint can't wiggle, while the inner gasket just has to maintain the seal.  The inner gasket is a soft Spiral Wound metal which compresses to the thickness of the steel frame to form the seal. I really like the design.  The Continental torque spec. is based on using this style gasket.

Engine Controls Hooked Up

 Some great weather for Independence Day has allowed me to get some more work done on the plane.  The Carb. Heat cable is finally hooked up.  The gable is clamped to the diagonal tube on the engine mount with 2 cable clamps at a right angle to each other.

 The throttle cable is hooked up with the cable clamped to the tube in the same way, but I had several issues.  I forgot to put a hole in the new baffle I made, so that had to come back off.  I knew it was needed, just forgot to make the hole.

 The next thing I discovered was that the cable didn't actually reach the lever on the carburetor.   All my neatening up of the holes in the firewall was done with the engine removed. First I moved it down where the carb. heat cable came through and made a new hole next to it for the carb. heat cable.  That was a good plan, but while the cable reached the lever, there was no way to clamp it to the engine mount so it would work properly.

 The final solution was to move the hole closer to the center of the firewall, more of a straight line from the throttle quadrant to the carburetor.  That worked, so I move the carb. heat cable back where it was and covered the 2 wrong holes.  So much for my fresh new firewall.

I moved the clamp in the cockpit from under the fuel shut off valve to the inboard mounting bolt of the valve.  I also tied the cable lightly to the fuel line to keep it clear of my foot when entering the cockpit.  It all works in the end.

Cylinders Back On the Engine

 I bought a set of new cylinder base nuts from Fresno Air Parts.  What I had was a mix of old nuts.  The torque spec. for the nuts requires the threads to be wet with #50 oil.  The torque for through studs is different than for studs in the side of the case where the cylinder is being installed.

The cylinders are back on.  Now I need to re-install the baffles and exhaust.  I can also finish hooking up the engine controls.

Installed New Engine Mount Rubbers

The gasket set, from Fresno Airparts Co., included new engine mount rubber cones, so I decided to replace the old ones.  This was much easier to do with the weight of the cylinder off the engine.

 I suspended the engine with a ratchet strap so it would not accidentally fall and ruin things.  I snugged it tight but didn't use it to move the engine like I did with the come along in the attic.  I loosened all the nuts leaving them so a few threads held them on.  This gave some wiggle room for removing the old rubbers.  I did the upper 2 mounts first.  The bolts were driven almost out with wood blocks.  Then the engine was tipped down just enough to get the back rubbers out and the new ones on the ends of the bolts. 

To get the lower ones out the nuts were put back on the new top mounts and the engine lifted slightly at the prop shaft.

The bolts are a tight fit in the rubbers so I used a large C-clamp to push the bolt through the rear rubber.  It was a little awkward but it worked fine.  I used a hardwood block to protect the engine mount casting.  The bolt stops at the block but a quick tap with a plastic mallet finished pushing it forward.

 Make sure to clean the bolt threads so the nuts will tighten to the proper torque.  Mine had oil and old rubber in the threads.

A rubber mallet pushed the front rubber onto the bolt far enough to get the nut started.

The engine book says the nuts should be tightened between 60 and 80 inch pounds.  I used 70 Inch pounds so I could adjust the nut slightly, either way, to align the cotter pin hole.

The old ones were in various states from very good to this badly cracked one.  Definitely worth a couple hours work and good fun.  Just like real airplane mechanic work. Oh Yeah, I am a mechanic.

Engine Cylinders Removed For Inspection

Because the engine has been setting for 23 years I have been concerned the cylinders might have some rust.  Until we moved the plane to the tent, the engine has always been in a dry indoors space.  I decide the only rational thing was to remove the cylinders to have a look.  It would also be a good chance to replace the rubber seals on the induction system.

 Today was a beautiful sunny 66 degrees so I quit working and spent the afternoon removing the cylinders.  The cylinder baffles were removed, then the intake tubes.

It really didn't take long.

 The first cylinder is off.

The good news is, there is only a little rust at the upper end of the cylinder barrel in the combustion chamber, not where the rings ride.  I'll clean up the rust so it can't come loose and get into the oil.

With all the cylinders off the inside of the engine looks really good.  It should since I only have about 125 hours since I overhauled it.  The connecting rods are protected with chunks the foam noodles the grand kids pay with in the lake.  I'm eager to get the cylinders cleaned up, everything well oiled and back together.

A very worthwhile project.

Wing To Fuselage Pitot Static Lines

 The last thing needed to hook up the Pitot and Static lines is to connect the aluminum tubing in the wing to the Nylon tubing in the fuselage.  It turns out there don't seem to be any ready made connectors for joining these different materials.

 I decided the solution was to do this like the connections at the Pitot Static Head using a piece of soft rubber hose.  Before making each piece of tubing a bead was crimped to each piece of tubing.  Then the appropriate nut and ferrule were installed on each end.

The hose was safety wired as before.

The aluminum tube for the static line was made a little longer so the hose would be clear of the nose rib hiding between the bulkhead fittings and the root rib.  The lines end about an inch inside the fuselage.  They're attached to elbows in the fuselage and will be joined to the wing when the wings are installed.