Dr. O
Pattern Altitude
Well, tis that time of year again... Besides the usual inspection, I opted to put new cylinders on the left engine - did the right one two annuals ago... The left was field overhauled 1000 hours ago with fresh bearings and reconditioned cylinders... The pressure on the cylinders has been lowering just a bit every year getting down to 61 all around last year...This year we had 3 at 61 and one at 12... That sealed the decision... I've had the new Titan cylinders sitting on the shelf for 2 years, awaiting this moment... We jerked the cylinders and holding my breath I inspected the cam and bottom end... Everything looked like new and we found no evidence of oil leaks at the parting line on the case halves and both AI's agreed there was no need to split the case, so I am $7K to the good on that one...
We pushed the fat boy out onto the ramp today after 3 days of wrenching and started the engine with it's new cylinders... As usual for it, it started immediately... It sounded good with a healthy bark through the augmenter tube... We let it run for two minutes and thirty seconds with a quick mag check and one burst of throttle, then shut it down to avoid glazing the cylinders... No leaks found...
That finished the engine inspections and top overhaul, so we put the airframe up on jacks and started on it... In working through the punch list there is an AD to test the fuel valves for fuel cutoff... Wilbur crawled under the gascolator and began draining whilst I turned various fuel valves off and on... Wouldn't you know it, the fuel would not stop completely with the selector valve off - on both sides (arghhhh)... Now we are busily removing the lower turtle deck cowlings to remove the the entire fuel pump plate and gascolator so we can put in new O rings and adjust the linkage... It's always something...
Plus, Steve found just a trace of slop in the elevator push rod... He said it was within tolerance, but I said for him to crawl his big butt down the fuselage and put in new bushings... He wasn't looking that happy when I left...
More later...
Cheers,
denny-o and Fat Albert the Apache....
We pushed the fat boy out onto the ramp today after 3 days of wrenching and started the engine with it's new cylinders... As usual for it, it started immediately... It sounded good with a healthy bark through the augmenter tube... We let it run for two minutes and thirty seconds with a quick mag check and one burst of throttle, then shut it down to avoid glazing the cylinders... No leaks found...
That finished the engine inspections and top overhaul, so we put the airframe up on jacks and started on it... In working through the punch list there is an AD to test the fuel valves for fuel cutoff... Wilbur crawled under the gascolator and began draining whilst I turned various fuel valves off and on... Wouldn't you know it, the fuel would not stop completely with the selector valve off - on both sides (arghhhh)... Now we are busily removing the lower turtle deck cowlings to remove the the entire fuel pump plate and gascolator so we can put in new O rings and adjust the linkage... It's always something...
Plus, Steve found just a trace of slop in the elevator push rod... He said it was within tolerance, but I said for him to crawl his big butt down the fuselage and put in new bushings... He wasn't looking that happy when I left...
More later...
Cheers,
denny-o and Fat Albert the Apache....