Recent content by mondtster

The last two engines I’ve transported have been upside down with some foam padding under them for cushioning. The firewall forwards were disassembled enough to allow safe and secure transport.

They do, but there has been controversy with them and they have created controversy with others. I wouldn’t be opposed to using them but id proceed with caution if I sent them a Franklin, and there are other overhaulers I would probably favor. Some Parts have been hard to come by for Franklins...

The old style valves should have detents too. If yours doesn’t, that would be a motivator for me to replace it. There are ADs for this on other Piper airframes with similar valves.

Try methodically disconnecting a few thermocouples at a time and see if it makes a difference. Did you or your mechanic have to do any harness building/pinning that could have gotten reversed? The JPI manual does a good job of not referencing positive or negative for the thermocouples but the...

Yes, there is a small storage area behind the rear seat.

It's a matter of opinion. The same thing has happened in the auto industry for years too.

In the case of the Pipers, I believe an upfit shop installs the engine after the aircraft is completed. So yes, they are mostly completed first with an o-360 then upfit with the diesel later. I don't remember if Piper contracts the engine change out to a third party or if it is just done in a...

I’m fairly sure the current diesel offerings from Piper are installed via STC. I don’t think they are the STC holder either.

While certainly a challenge, I think obtaining airframe approvals and offering affordable conversion packages will present the bigger problem. Lycoming and Continental have a leg up in this area because they already have airframe approvals and the OEMs are using them. Finding an OEM that is...

That works well in theory, but as you have seen from the UND case, people won’t study it right. I fully expect a transition to unleaded fuel to go similar to the 1970s switch to unleaded fuel in automobiles, or more recently, the widespread adoption of ethanol blended fuels. There has been lots...

Not if the full rich setting isn't rich enough. There are a lot of different carburetor part numbers with different calibrations for different applications. Some have a richer full rich calibration than others. A carburetor calibration on the lean side may be exacerbated with a change in fuel.

Does that weight include the coolant and cooling system? Or just the engine? Diesels will generally be more efficient, not less, but not by a large margin. So you could carry less fuel but the fuel you do carry is going to weigh more. Ultimately, I think this is a wash for performance and fuel...

What we need is a constrained test (multiple tests would help too). From the sounds of things, the UND “test” was not. We do this kind of stuff in the engine test lab in which I work all the time. One would think Lycoming and Continental would have done some unleaded fuel testing by now but...

Valve and seat material choice may be an issue. Of course, you’d think Lycoming would have considered that already, as they have published documentation stating that their engines will run on unleaded fuels. I also have a hard time believing that UND’s engines did not ingest ANY leaded fuel...

The Chinese will build at whatever quality level they are commissioned to, but the price will reflect it. Where ethics can become a problem is that they'll start cutting corners to increase profits hoping that their customer doesn't notice. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. The reason you...