I heated the water pump cover with a torch. It didn't matter much. The damage was done. I ordered new parts and Im having them clocked to my specs by guys who do it every day. Yup, it was pricey.
I heated the water pump cover with a torch. It didn't matter much. The damage was done. I ordered new parts and Im having them clocked to my specs by guys who do it every day. Yup, it was pricey.
Looks to me like it was cross threaded some time before you got it - rough deal on the $ , but it probably would not have worked out any different no matter who took it apart.
Dave S
Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN
Thanks for the boost. It's just one more opportunity for me to tell my friends, "Never feel sorry for a guy who has an airplane." No whining, just winning.
Ok, it's game time. My replacement parts arrived and the 4 elbows in it are loose so I can clock them to my specs. Problem is, look.
Is my only option to remove the #4 elbow and adjust it so that it doesn't align PERFECTLY with the rear of the engine mount?
Guy Buchanon has great pics of his mod and I will duplicate as much as I can if I can get some pipes bent, but was hoping to avoid the dreaded heat, remove, clean, reinstall scenario of the other elbows. The one that I hashed up in my first round cost me a lot of money and a lot of time. My objective is no contact with the hoses and airframe or exhaust, no stress from misaligned elbows. Those two things appear to be ... quite challenging.
When I did mine I bought a handful of 90's, 45's, and whatever else they had and mixed and rotated until I got the alignment I wanted. I even used one of the water pump elbows welded to the upper reservoir to get its alignment correct. Once I had the water pump alignment I wanted I marked everything really well, disassembled counting turns, then used the Loktite and re-assembled, taking care to spin in the same number of turns and aligning correctly before the tube seized. (For me it happened quite rapidly. Too rapidly.) Do it one tube at a time.
I need to get the engine vertical to work under the heads on the bench. Have any of you locally manufactured a stand for your engine? Pics?
I put mine on a regular engine stand from Harbor Freight and turned it...
I had an old school desk, put a 3/4" piece of plywood on it and drilled holes for prop flange center and holes, bolted through. it was very stable.
Kevin,
Kitfox Outback
912 ULS
Airmaster AP332CTFH-WWR70W
Summit Aircraft Wheel Skis
C-FOXW
I like the desk! I did make some progress today and I needed that. I used silglyde to lube the hoses while I fit them to the various elbows under the heads. I changed out various water pump angle elbows and came up with the likely route for cylinders 2 and 4. the hoses are touching and they need anti chafe tape or firesleeve but there are no kinks and I will be able to observe their heath pretty readily. I'll do 1 and 3 tomorrow and post some pics. this has been the toughest part of the install for me because I have been so concerned about the hoses not having any stress other than their normal job. I had leaks from the coolant system on my old engine and just can't imagine having to do extra maintenance due to a poorly fit engine. I"ll clean the silglyde off with soap and water from the hoses when I have everything situated the way its going to be assembled.
Thanks for the heads up on harbor freight and the desk, I will probably go with the desk idea and modify it to my bench. I just need to get at some stuff and working under the engine while blocked up on my table is a pain. Yes, its on a hoist for security as well.
Ok, I got at the bottom half of the water system tonight and did the only thing I could do. Any comments on better ideas are welcome but I just don't see any alternatives other than to try and mitigate chafing and crimping as best I can.
So, I"m figuring on watching very closely for chafing, crimping, leaking. time will tell. But its just dang tight, and I haven't fire sleeved it yet.