Engine Area

On this page we present the challenges and solutions we encountered during the fit up of the engine and its systems. 

Here the engine was mounted up so we could start working on fitting the cowl. The fuse was set level and plumb using a transit and then the engine and mount were set level and true also with the transit.

The cowl fit after a little trimming and sanding. The inlet NACA ducts were constructed following the manual, but the inlet ducting was constructed using a foam mold as shown below.

Bruce applying release tape to the inlet ducting mold and then the almost complete inlet ducting. As suggested by Dan Gray, we created a mold from foam and then glassed over it. This was very easy, worked great and makes for a much better fit of the ducting to the engine.

The prop sees day light for the first time!

We mounted the prop while fitting up the cowls to make sure they would match up to the spinner correctly with the weight of the prop. You have to look very close to see the difference between the prop on and the prop off. (Yes, we will be able to get the plane out after it is done.)

In the interest of keeping the weight up front we originally came up with the idea of mounting the oil cooler on the inside of the lower cowl. We wanted to still be able to locate our batteries ahead of the nose gear so this position was found for the cooler. After posting these picks and ideas to the network, we received some good feed back that made us think. We have now decided it would be a better idea if the cooler was mounted to the engine mount. This will allow us to remove the cowl without the need to disconnect or remove the cooler. The cooler will still be located in the same position with a seal between it and the cowl, but it will be mounted to the engine mount on a removable mount to facilitate removal of the engine from the mount.

This is the final configuration of the engine mount with the oil cooler and battery box attached. We added a brace tube between the lower forward diagonals to try and reinforce the nose gear mounting area a bit. The oil cooler mount and the battery box are both removable to allow for installation of the engine. The oil cooler still mates up with the ducting built into the lower cowl, but now does not need to be removed with the cowl. The battery box just fits inside the cowl. Small relief's on the inside skin of the cowl at the lower front corners of the box had to be made to get it all in, but it can be done.