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June 15, 2007
(1 hr):
After a long wait and much anticipation, I finally took possession of
my engine. It was delivered via Yellow Freight. Here is
the engine crate and associated parts box being lowered to the ground
via the trucks bob tail. |
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Here she is all shiny and proud. The
engine paint scheme will be similar to the intended colors for the
planes exterior. The companion box that came with the engine crate
contained the FADEC ECU units, harnesses, manuals, serial bus, and a
bunch of other parts. |
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A shot from the top |
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A shot from the side.
I was told that this IOF-360 with forward facing cold air induction
cranked out 188.4 hp during its test runs. I need to get this
thing off the floor and hung to make some space in my garage.
Hopefully, I can get that done in the next week or so. |
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June 29 - July 1, 2007
(6 hr):
Used my camera to record the name plates on various components on the
engine. The experimental nameplate for the TMX-IOF 360 Engine |
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The B&C L-60 Alternator |
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The B&C SD-20 back-up alternator |
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The oil filter part number. |
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The lightweight Sky-Tec starter |
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The MT Prop governor. This came as
part of my firewall forward package from Van's and is easier to install
on the engine before the engine is mounted on the plane. |
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According to the installation instructions
from Vans, the governor control arm needs to re-adjusted from this
position: |
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To this position. To do this, you
need to remove the safety wire from the screws, loosen the screws, and
turn the inside plate and arm to the desired location. Next, you
tighten the screws back down and safety everything backup. Please
ignore the safety wire job in this picture. I obviously was not
paying attention to which way I was putting the wire on... I will be
redoing this safety wire job to make sure the wire is always pulling the
screws in the direction required for them to be tightened. |
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Next the prop governor and the control
cable bracket are mounted on the rear of the engine. There were
already four mounting studs on the engine, so all I had to do was slide
the governor into position (with its gasket) and place a washer, star
washer, and nut over each stud. The nuts were torqued to the
appropriate inch/pounds per the MT instructions. I don't remember
what that value was. |
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Since I will not be using a mechanical
tach, the capped the tach drive port. I purchased an Andair cover
for this port from AircraftSpruce.
It is hard to see in this picture, but the arrow is pointing at the
tach drive port on the rear of the engine. After tightening it
down, I safety wired it to a nearby port cover that had some spar safety
wire holes. |
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Before the engine is mounted, it helps (is
easier) to install the oil pressure restrictor fitting. Access to
this area is blocked by the top right engine mount point. My
engine had a side facing and rear facing port for installing this
fitting. Van's recommends using the rear facing port because there
is less interference with the engine mount point. So, that is the
one I used. |
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I purchased an engine hoist from Harbor
Freight. I figured I would have the engine off and on a couple
times so I would get my money's worth out of this $99 dollar tool. |
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I was expecting a friend to come by and
help me with mounting the engine, but he did not show up, so I went out
it alone. Hence, I have no picture of the process.
Basically, I installed the lower bolts first, then the top two.
The last bolt presented a real struggle. It was a pain getting
things to line up. Most of my time was spent in preparation.
Making sure I had all the mounting hardware and understood what went
where. |
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The engine is hung! |
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After I hung the engine, my friend showed
up and we installed the prop. Boy, is she pretty.
I actually had a couple neighbors drive by real slow checking things
out. I think they have finally realized that I am building a
plane!
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