Bringing a Model 1 back to life

[Peter_SE]

Will be great to follow this, i´m restorning a KF2 with rotax 582 and serial number 524.

A local inspector tested my fabric and it was in great condition, phuue!

[Good old number 29]

Took a day to help a friend pack a moose out of the field, but now I’m back at it.

I’m hoping the panel tank gets delivered today. Just ordered a bunch of stuff, last night. I spent a good hour cleaning up the points, and set the gap. I have to wait for the dial indicator and adapter set to show up, now, to do the timing. Central Tool sells the adapters for the spark plug hole for a reasonable price. I also ordered the exhaust gaskets and carb boots, and other stuff, from CPS. Ordered new EGT sensors from The Sensor Connection. I need to call Alaska Air Cargo, to check on freight for my wing tanks. FedEx wanted too much. I can fly down to Boise,, rent a car, pick them up, and fly back with them as oversize baggage for less than their quote. Shipping stuff up here can be ridiculous. I think AAC will be much more reasonable.
I’m trying not to tear the whole engine apart, but the mag side crank seal looks to have leaked, a little. The pistons, rings, and cylinders look good, for as much as I can see through the exhaust ports. With only 195 hours on it when I bought it, I’d like to be able to run it another hundred before I rebuild it. Everything I know about it seems okay, but I want to be sure.
The clear hose that was used to connect the pitot tube to the tubing, in the wing, was just sticky goo. Need to find a more durable replacement for that.

I talked to an A&P friend at church, yesterday. He said he uses self-etching automotive paint on things like those spars. I’m going to look into that.
I priced out the fabric, and all the coatings, through paint, at Aircraft Spruce. Not bad. The total was about $700, before shipping. I’m thinking about making a trip to Anchorage to buy it from Stoddard’s, instead of ordering it.
I still need to deal with the brakes, and there are some minor issues with the flaperons. I’m going to do the reinforcing brackets on the hanger ribs. The right one has a short crack where there was interference, folding it, and the left one is slightly loose. It just needs a couple rivets replaced or added near the inboard end.
It’s been beautiful weather here. I sure wish I had it flying, already. We never get this many nice, warm, sunny days in September.

Matt

[avidflyer]

I just looked at the tracking for the tank, and it's at your post office since 6:30 AM. As far as the seals go, leaking seals are killers of 2 strokes. Rotax says replace them every 5 years, and while I'm sure that's pretty conservative, has your engine ever been apart? How old is it? Probably 30 years or so. Sure is something to think about. Take care, JImChuk

[Dave S]

Matt,


Don't know what kind of allegedly clear tubing was originally used on the connectors for the pitot tube; however, I have seen similar aging with latex laboratory tubing in many applications - turns to sticky goo. There are also about 5,000 formulations for tygon tubing and they don't all hold up well either if it is a mismatch for the environment it is used in.



One of the better/less expensive connector tubes that can be used for this purpose is plain old fuel hose - plus it is reinforced, and fuel hose clamps are pretty bullet proof plus it can be found anywhere.


A few years ago I was helping an A & P recover an old tripacer - only to find the aluminum pitot tube run had been rubbing on an aluminum rib and was half sawed through. Weird part was that the ASI was pretty accurate even with that much damage.

[Good old number 29]

I really appreciate all the replies. Lots of good info. Sometimes I need that little push to do what I need to do, instead of trying to get by with doing less. I guess I'll be doing a full teardown on the motor. It is thirty years old, low hours or not, and it's sat for the last seven. I'll probably need to buy some more tools to be able to do that. I need to have some positive forward progress to keep myself motivated. Right now, it's going more and more the other way. I'm going to go pick up that panel tank, then try to find a way to make some visible forward progress on this project.

[efwd]

Obviously you know how to get photos attached. Very nice. Ive tried on the HP as well as my MAC without success.
Steve, Larry, to your knowledge have the pic issues been resolved? Some folks are able while others are not?

[Good old number 29]

I’m posting the pics using my iPhone. I upload them to photobucket.com. Once they’re online, I can click on the picture I want to use, hit the “share” button, then “get links”, and select the option for the url. Then, I copy and paste the url into the text in my post, at the appropriate place, and there it is, a picture.

Matt

[Good old number 29]

Once again, the best and most expensive way.
I disassembled the motor, tonight. I’ll need to buy the bearing puller, I think, to pull the outer bearings on the crank. I hate to take it this far down and not do the bearings. The mag side seal was evidently leaking. I had considered that it was probably a bit dried up, from sitting so long, but that some fresh mixed gas in the crankcase would make it swell up. Better safe than sorry. I’ll put a new on in. Haven’t decided on pistons. They’re good for a lot of hours, but I’ll probably hone it and do the rings.
Heads had no carbon.

Cylinders were mirror-like, and pistons had a bit of carbon on the top.

Number two cylinder had some oil on top of the jug. It could have been from the leaking exhaust manifold gaskets, but I’m not sure it was. There was quite a bit of oiliness that had come out of the exhaust, and it could have ended up there. It only looked like oil, not a flaming fire head leaking.

Bearings spin freely and everything looks good in the crankcase. A little watermarking on the outside of the bearing shell.


That’s all, for tonight. I had barely gotten it apart when I got a call to go help a friend whose truck had broken down, towing a loaded gooseneck. We got him, the truck, and trailer safely home without incident, but my wife hasn’t seen me all evening. I better make sure I have my priorities straight.

[Good old number 29]

There's a bit of play in the pto side bearings (6206). I priced the pullers. $800, before shipping. Rotax Rick said he'll rebuild the whole motor for $1,250, and that the shipping would add $200, each way. According to his website, the basic 503 overhaul doesn't include the center bearings, so basically the same thing I could do if I bought the pullers. CPS has a crankshaft, but it looks like the newer one, and would run more than the overhaul.
I love the older service manuals. They expect that you'll just do things. In the Repair Manual that came with the engine, it describes the tools necessary to install the crank bearings: "Tools: Suitable pressing device (hammer)". However, pulling the bearings requires specialty tools. If I can devise a way to pull them, I do have a suitable pressing device with which to install the new ones. I tried the local Skidoo shop, and the guy acted like he didn't really even know what I was talking about. "No, we don't do that." Come on, man. Where's your hammer? I'm going to ponder this. I bought this plane for a good price, and I'd like to keep it that way. A full-on Rotax Rick overhaul wasn't in the budget, but it's not out of the question. I'm going to try some other local shops to see if they can help me out with the bearings.

[Good old number 29]

Found my answer on the bearings. Anchorage Drag Bike will do a good job of it. I buy the parts, and it's $130-$160 to do the bearings and check for trueness. Time to order some bearings. I'm going to spec out the pistons, rings and cylinders. If they're out of spec, I'll replace them. I noticed that it has the old, caged needle bearings on the wrist pins. They look fine, but I just thought I'd mention that, since I saw they started using cage-less needle bearings, later on.