Alright! Finally time to get the new O-360 onto the airplane.
We left off waiting for the engine and the airframe to get themselves bolted together. It took a couple of days but they finally got the job done and were looking swell.
It was then time to add the cylinders. Aircraft engines are quite different than most modern engines but are very similar to old VW air cooled engines (though a lot larger and beefier). The cylinders are individual assemblies which are bolted to the case.
I learned a valuable bit of information at about this point. The little blue AN fittings (oil drain from the head back to the sump – can be seen a couple photos down) CANNOT be installed in two of the cylinders while they are installed on the engine (not enough space to rotate the fitting). So… some things had to come apart again to get them installed.
And then… slowly… more and more parts were added. Here you can see that the carburator, intake manifolds, oil return lines, alternator, propellor extension, ring gear, pushrod tubes/shrouds, and rocker/valve covers have been installed.
Like most things… the exhaust system on this engine is a bit different than my last engine so a new one was needed. It is from Vetterman Exhaust in South Dakota and Clint does very nice work! It is made of stainless steel and doesn’t look too fancy when it arrives.
I’m not very good at leaving things alone… and I like shiny things (or at least semi-shiny things)… so a bit of elbow grease (provided by the polisher shown in the photo) and it looked like this! Much better!
Then installing that exhaust was next. Looks pretty nice if I must say so myself! You can also see in the following photo that the starter has been installed. Nope… it isn’t the starter that I spent all that time overhauling (here). 🙁 This engine has a different number of teeth on the ring gear so that old starter would not work… of course….
In the background of the previous photo, you can see what is next – the cowling!! (play omnious music here). This is a VERY big task and a major milestone when complete. More to come…
It looks a lot bigger now!
Ha! Yes, it’s mass increased significantly! I got in a bad habit of walking around the front when the engine was off – now I found myself walking into it! Darn muscle memory!! 😜