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I made a huge mistake
when I drilled my engine mount. I had clamped everything together with
spring clamps. However, when I drilled the lower mount holes the upper
plates slid out of place and I ended up drilling the upper holes to close
to the edge of the mount plate. 10/15/99 |
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After consultations
with John, Jeremy and Tom Olson, my EAA Tech Advisor, I decided that the
best course of action was to weld in the holes and redrill in the proper
place. 10/15/99 |
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Here I have cleaned
off the original powder coating in preparation for welding. I spent
several weeks practicing my welding. My local EAA Chapter sponsored a workshop
day and I received instruction from Marv Hoppenworth. Marv is an EAA Tech
Advisor, expert welder and creator of the plans for the Pedal
Planes that you see at Oshkosh every year. 10/15/99 |
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After filling in
dozens of test holes I took a deep breath and did it for real. 10/15/99 |
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After the welding
came the filing and polishing. I spend a lot of time removing all the scratches
and smoothing all the edges so I would not have any stress risers. 10/15/99 |
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Now with all the
holes filled in I went back to drilling the holes in the right place. This
time I used Vice-Grips to clamp the plates in place. Here is a view from
inside, looking out at the back of the plate and how far back it should
be to get good holes. 10/15/99 |
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Just to be sure,
I used a Sharpie to mark the holes and took everything apart to verify
the holes would be in the right place. You also want to make sure that
you have the right spacers. Because of the taper of the fuselage you need
spacers between the engine mount and the fuselage. I had first used .032"
spacers, but I think that was part of the problem. I made new spacers .060"
thick. They were tough to slip in but they held things in place better
than the .032" 10/15/99 |
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Now comes the redrilling.
Rather than drilling the hole to full size in one go, I first drilled a
pilot hole. Here is a trick my Tech Advisor showed me. When you want to
drill a pilot to match an existing full size hole, slip a tube the size
of the hole over your pilot drill. This will keep the drill from wandering
and enlarging the original hole and keep the pilot drill centered. 10/15/99 |
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Taa Daa! Perfect
new holes the proper distance form the edge. Next time I am going
to pay more attention to what I am drilling the first time. Now it is time
for primer and paint. 10/15/99 |
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With the paint dry,
I started assembling the engine mount. 10/15/99 |
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I had trouble with
the bottom bolt on the lower mount point. Because of the angle of the landing
gear the bottom bolt would not go in all the way. I ended up cutting about
1/8" off the end of the lower bolt. There were still plenty of threads
left on the bolt and after I got the washer and nut on, I had one and a
half threads showing. 10/15/99 |
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I had to cash-in
a bunch of stock to afford it but here it is a Jabiru
3300 engine. 120 HP, 3300cc, 6 cylinder, 4-stroke, horizontally opposed,
air cooled engine (makes me want to let out a big Tim Allen grunt!). 12/15/99 |
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The engine is pricey
but I comes will just about every thing you need: starter, alternator,
dual ignition, pressure compensation carb, voltage regulator, starter solenoid,
battery cables, air ducts, exhaust pipes, muffler, spin-on oil filter,
oil temp & pressure sensors, fuel pump, oil cooler, rubber engine mounts,
and some other stuff that I am forgetting about now . 12/15/99 |
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Here you can see
the stainless steel exhaust pipes and muffler, John and Tony have been
running straight pipes without the muffler. They say it sounds great but
I not sure If I will be able to convince my wife. Maybe a set of ANC headsets
are in my future. 12/15/99 |
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Here you can see
the orange fire sleeve around the fuel line. It came pre-plumbed from the
fuel pump to the carb. 12/15/99 |
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Here is a close
up of the Bing carburetor. It is a pressure compensating carb so there
is no need for a mixture control. 12/15/99 |
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Here is a close
up of the dual transistorized magneto ignition. 12/15/99 |
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After a little thinking
I was able to use a hoist to mount the engine. I use some nylon rope to
create a sling under the prop flange and around the rear cylinders. 2/25/01 |
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The rubber engine
mounts were a tight fit. I used liquid soap to help slide them on. I could
make a rude joke at this point but this is a family web site. ;-)
2/25/01 |
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The rivets on my
filler box were very close to the starter. After I reviewed the plans I
found I had installed the rivets upside down. It pay to follows the plans
exactly. 2/25/01 |
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Here is a close
up of the carburetor. This setup confused me for a while. I did not realize
that aircraft carbs are setup so that the throttle spring pulls the throttle
to full open. Just the reverse of what you would find on a car or lawn
mower. As the guys on the Sonex Builder list informed me, this is so that
you will go to full power in the event your throttle linkage breaks. When
you get to an airport you would just turn off the engine and land dead
stick. 2/25/01 |
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Here is my new AeroCarb
which is replacing the Bing. This side shows the mixture control and you
can also see I have added a tube near the manifold as a pressure tap for
a manifold pressure gauge. I will be running a plastic tube to the sensor
which is in the cockpit. 9/16/01 |
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On this side you
can see the fuel inlet as well as the throttle control. I am using a A750
vernier control. My Tech Advisor's RV has this type of control and I like
the ability to twist the throttle for fine control. Also note that I have
run a ground wire from the carb to the engine. Jabiru
USA mentioned that the carb sits between the distributors and
can transmit noise via the throttle cable to the cockpit if not grounded.
Also near the manifold you can see the EIS carb temp probe I added to warn
me of carb ice. 9/16/01 |
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The AeroCarb does
not need a fuel pump it is gravity feed only. So I removed the engine driven
fuel pump and pulled out the push rod that drives it. 9/16/01 |
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I then kept the
plastic spacer and made a 1/8" aluminum cover plate. I also had to replace
the 1.25" bolts with 0.75" long bolts. 9/16/01 |
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Here is what I made
for an oil air separator to use on the crankcase vent. It is (was) a aluminum
fuel bottle for a camp stove. I drilled two holes in the bottom (which
now becomes the top) and epoxyed in two 1/2" tubes. One tube ends at the
top of the bottle, the other ends at the bottom. 11/19/01 |
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I filled the bottle
with stainless steel wool. Actually a couple of pot scrubbers, clipped
and unrolled to make it easier to stuff through the neck. 11/19/01 |
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At the bottom (formerly
the top) of the bottle, I fitted a drain valve so I could easily drain
the excess oil. 11/19/01 |
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I mounted the bottle
to the engine mount and connected the crankcase vent to the long tube.
So when I run the engine, the crankcase vapors will be pushed though the
wool where the oil vapor will collect and drain into the bottom of the
bottle. The then clean air will exit out the short tube and not create
an oil slick on the belly of my plane. I will periodically drain the bottle
and discard the excess oil. 11/19/01 |
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