Fun with engine detailing

[Joel Severinghaus]

The repairs from my nose-over and prop strike last August have been good cover for additional restoration work that my wife wouldn't otherwise authorize.

The prop strike tear-down inspection of the engine (no crankshaft damage after all, but it was about due for an overhaul anyway, so new bearings, bushings, valves, etc.) included fresh paint on the crankcase and cylinders, so that was an excuse to justify further detailing.

We plan to hang the engine back on the firewall this weekend, and I hope to be flying again by the end of the month.

Photos below, left to right:

Rear view of the new accessory case before re-installing the prettied-up Case magnetos. (The prop club for timing the magnetos is just a 2x4. The Yorkshire Terrier is Max, the airport dog at Jefferson, Iowa.)

New reproduction engine nameplate from Fresno Airparts.

Repainted Case magneto. I duplicated the original 1/2 x 1 inch Case trademark decal with ink-jet printer decal film. (Anybody restoring Case mags, I made extra decals if you want a pair.)

New felt "stapled" to the rear baffle.

Unshielded ignition lead safety-wiring idea from the National Air & Space Museum that I'm going to use on my plugs. Nifty brass safety wire on a Wright J-5 Whirlwind.

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Joel: It all looks good (GREAT)Wouldn't it be nice if the judges inspected it prior to flying it,m then you wouldn't have to clean it all up again.

Carl

[Craig Bailey]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Joel I am making new baffeling for my 46. Where did you get the felt for the baffeling and how did you attach it?

Craig Bailey
[email protected]

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Craig,

Here is a helpful rear baffle drawing DCO-A6076 from the L-2 CDs:

http://www.taylorcraft.org/l2_blueprints/cd3/images/DCO-A6076.jpg

Across the top of the rear baffle, it shows a piece of felt 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 54 inches (drawing DCO-6282, which I haven't been able to find.)

Across the bottom of the center is another piece of felt (drawing DCO-6281, also haven't found.)

But the original bit of lower felt on my rear baffle, and all the other original felt I've seen on other rear baffles, was 3/8 inch thick. So I put 3/8 inch felt on my rear baffle, but only 1/4 inch felt on the side and front baffles. Per the drawing, it's supposed to protrude 1 1/8 inch +/- 1/8.

Univair stocks six sizes of felt. 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 72 inches is their part number "FELT-1/4"; the 3/8 x 1 1/2 x 72 is "FELT-3/8".

The DCO-A6076 drawing shows 40 staples attaching the top piece of felt and 15 staples for the lower piece. My still-original rear baffle had nowhere near that many staple holes in it.

I discovered that the handle of my Leatherman pliers was just the right thickness around which to bend 18 gauge wire to make reproduction staples to fit into the original staple holes on my baffles. You may be able to just poke them through the 1/4 inch felt, but I had to make pilot holes through the 3/8 inch felt with a nail. I only poked about a half-dozen puncture wounds in my fingertips before I wised up and borrowed some thimbles from my wife's sewing supplies. Push the staples through from the metal side and use pliers to bend the ends over on the felt side. After a few hours of this tedium, you'll appreciate why everyone now uses that neoprene stuff and pop rivets instead.

Or just find an airplane factory that still has one of those huge industrial Bostitch staplers (see the photo on page 135 of Chet's book.)

In the photo below, original staples removed from the lower felt on my rear baffle are on the left, with my new handmade staples on the right. I bent them one at a time. The longer legs made it easier to poke them through and bend them over in the 3/8 inch felt.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Nifty brass safety wire

Not safety wire...the brass clip is bust, so they've used wire to hold the assembly together (I assume for static display only!)

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Sorry Rob, my bad choice of photo. That particular ignition lead clasp just happened to be broken, but all of the leads on all of the spark plugs were safety-wired like that. Has anyone seen that style of safety wiring on an engine outside a museum?

I've never had a problem with my unshielded leads vibrating loose, but if one were a belt and suspenders kind of guy, that sort of safety wiring looks appealing...

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Craig,

Just found these photos on the Alliance library's Taylorcraft photos archive. Stapling felt on baffles at the factory, April 8, 1941:

http://alliancememory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/taylor&CISOPTR=454&CISOBOX=1&REC=18

http://alliancememory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/taylor&CISOPTR=447&CISOBOX=1&REC=4

[mikerice]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Hi Joel-

That second picture of the foot operated stapler brought back a flood of memories. I believe that same stapler is in the tooling pile at the factory in Brownsville. It is painted dark green now, but I am sure I saw it there.

As with most of the tooling, I was at a loss what it was used for. Now I know!

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Craig,

Here's a photo of my rear baffle showing the original staple spacing, with the staples marked in red. They're spaced about 2 or 3 inches apart, except where the felt goes around corners.

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Fun with engine detailing

Yes the old tooling needs identified once in a while. An original hydrapress and the tow motor were from the original factory. I knew them well!!