Engine Rebuild and Installation

aka Firewall Forward

Caution - Man running (with) power tools

Next Page F

E Lycoming O-290 D2B.  Purchased from an FAA inspector and the program manager for the national DAR recurrent training seminars.  The engine was destined for one of his projects until he started working on a Cobra replica and need the cash to finish the car.  The engine was located on www.barnstormers.com and was sold for a great price.  However, it was last overhauled in 1959 and then put in storage.  It is supposed to have around 750 hours total time, which is VERY low time for an aircraft engine.  Of course I will have to give it another overhaul before flying with it.  This 135HP engine should yield a 175 MPH cruise speed and sip fuel.  Nora and I will drive down to TN to pick it up in late February '04.   (1/6/04)

	F The data plate
	E Detail of one of the Cylinders

F And another shot of the engine.

E I tore in to the Lycoming O-290 I bought a year ago.  Much to my delight, I found the engine was exactly as it was represented when I bought it.  It had been freshly overhauled and never run.  There wasn't a spec of carbon or soot to be found.  Better yet, there was no rust on the crank or cam shaft. I must admit being apprehensive about working on the engine myself but after talking to a number of people, reading the Lycoming OH manual cover to cover a few times, and watching the Mattituck Engine Overhaul video I was ready to go at it.  Talk about one SIMPLE engine.  I've seen more complex lawnmower engines.  Of course, I have never flown behind a lawnmower engine.  (1/7/05)

F The pictures, left to right, are the top of cylinder #4, the inside of #4 cylinder, and the top of #4 piston.  (1/7/05)

E I admit, I did have some help with pulling the cylinders.  Chief inspector Torque AKA the newest addition to our manger was on hand to make sure I did everything by the book.  (1/7/05)

F The next picture is for motor heads.  Here is a picture of one piston, pin and pin plugs.  That's all that holds the connecting rod and piston together.  The piston goes on the connecting rode, the long pin slides in to hold it, and then one of the caps pin plugs slide in either end.  No snap rings or anything else.  The plugs keeps the pin from sliding against the cylinder walls.  No, your eyes aren't going bad.  The piston in the little O-290 is almost 5" in diameter.  (1/9/05)

E The engine without cylinders.  After I took this picture I wrapped it in plastic and shoved it in a corner of my basement for safe keeping until the parts I need to put the cylinders back on arrive.  (1/9/05)

F Here is another picture for you Gear Heads.  This picture is the rear of the engine with the accessory case removed.  The little gear in the middle is the end of the crank shaft, it turns two idler gears which turn the magnetos.  The idler gear at the 10 o'clock position also drives the camshaft which is at the top of the engine.  I have just ordered a replacement for the idler gear at the 10 o'clock position, the replacement gear will have a cam lobe ground on the end.  This lobe pushes on a plunger that acts on the fuel pump.  Setting the cam timing is beautiful in its simplicity.  There is one mark on the cam shaft, two on the idler gear, and one on the crankshaft.  Line up all the marks and your are ready to install the case.  (1/13/05)

F I finally started reassembling the engine.  The replacement accessory case arrived and was in great shape so all I had to do was paint and assemble it.  The hole on the lower right side of the picture is where the fuel pump goes.  The old case didn't have this hole, which is why it was replaced.  At this date the accessory is ready to go and I've started assembling cylinder #1.  Since I'm alternating between working on the fuselage and the engine, it might be a while before this is back together.   (2/12/05)

E I spent five hours installing the accessory cover and sump.  If I actually knew what I was doing this would go much faster but as this is the first aircraft engine I have ever worked on I am spending a lot of time making sure it is done right.  New hardware was used to attach the accessory cover, sump, and fuel pump.  Boy, that hardware was EXPENSIVE!  I am beginning to understand why it cost so much to OH aircraft engines. (2/26/05)

F Finally I figured out how to install the pistons in the cylinders.  I had tried to put them on the connecting rod first then slide the cylinder in place.  That didn't work all that well and cost me one $45 oil ring.  As you can see from the picture, the trick is to put the piston in the cylinder first then fit it to the connecting rod.  That helpful little tip came from this very helpful site: http://brian76.mystarband.net/SuperiorTextPics.htm  (3/28/05)

 S Last week a friend came over who is also an IA just to check out the project.  He thought I was doing a good job on the metal work but didn't like the amount of gasket sealant I used on the accessory case and oil sump.  A quick call to Aircraft Spruce had two new gaskets on the way (Less than $15).

Off came the case and oil sump and on went the new gaskets with much less sealant.  Lesson learned.  It took about three hours to accomplish that task.  Dehydration plugs where installed and the engine was pushed back into the corner next to the dehumidifier for safe keeping.  Next up will be to replace the oil screen with a filter.  I will mostly likely go with the Mattituck Oil Filter Adapter.  This may wait until I'm closer to hanging the engine.   (4/7/05)

 j The engine has been pickled and pushed off into a corner of my basement/shop next to the dehumidifier while I work on finishing up the fuselage.  In the meantime I've been looking for additional items to complete my O-290-D2.  These items include a carburetor, fuel filter, and magnetos.

After many false starts trying to locate a carburetor I finally hit on the solution after watching a news report about the gulf cost hurricane damage; there on the TV were some guys riding through downtown New Orleans on air boats and wouldn't you know it, airboats are powered by airplane engines.  A quick Google search of "Lycoming O-290 airboat Florida" turned up Outlaw Aircraft Engines.  They had just the carburetor I needed for a reasonable price.  Notice that I didn't say a good price.  The strange thing is the name of the suppler is the same as the name of the guy who I bought the engine from.

The carb should arrive in a few days and once it gets here I will rebuild it using all new parts.  (10/11/05)

F While waiting to get up the nerve to start on the canopy I've decided to move ahead on some other small details, such as installing some of the firewall items and pro sealing the air vents in place.  Here you see the brake reservoir, battery box, gascolator, heater box, and solenoids installed.  Note to those who might follow, install the gascolator before installing the rudder pedals.  The reason is simple, you need to drill and rivet a stiffener to the inside of the firewall and the rudder pedals will be in the way.  I had not installed mine yet but one other local builder removed his pedals for this operation.  (3/26/06)

 E For Christmas my lovely wife gave me an angled oil filter adapter from Mattituck.  Yesterday I thought it might be time to install that thing in preparation for hanging the engine.  Part of the kit included an oil restrictor plate to limit oil pressure going to the filter and keeping the filter from leaking.  When I laid the adapter on the oil cooler adapter there was an obvious problem.  It turns out that the accessory case I bought was designed for this engine and would work fine, if I wished to continue using the oil screen.  What I need is part number 67792, which includes the fuel pump and oil cooler line connections.  The correct accessory case is very expensive so it will have to wait until my budget allows.  There was some hope that a new restrictor plate could be made with the holes in the correct location but that would not work as the holes in the filter adapter are in the wrong place.   (4/13/06)

F The engine is back together for now.  A replacement accessory case was located and installed.  The adaptor required the installation of a Veritherm, which is the thing with the tape over reminding me it still needs to be torqued.  (Since completed.)  Notice I found some better matching paint while I was at it.  Changing the oil should be easy as this adapter will allow the filter to drain after engine shutdown.  That kind of makes me wonder if that is a good thing but since it is a certified part, it can't be that bad.   The duel P-Mags have been paid for and I'm just waiting for their arrival.  While I had it apart I took the #4 cylinder to a local engine builder to have him look it over.  He gave it a clean bill of health.  All four cylinders look identical and if he had found something, the remaining three would have been pulled as well.  One reason this engine didn't rust in the 50 + years it was in storage was the grease that was coated on everything.  When I topped it last year, I added more grease.  The "engine guy" told me just before my first flight I need to pull all the jugs to clean the grease off.   (5/21/06)

E The engine mount has been fitted and drilled to the fuselage.  This required trimming the lower firewall flange where the gear legs extend out and back.  Not a big deal but the plans don't mention this bit of trimming.  I also took the time to fabricate the canopy seal angle aluminum.  (2/4/06)

F After fitting the engine mount for the RV-9, (Remember, this will be a taildragger.) the corners of the firewall have to be trimmed to allow the gear legs to pass down and back.  (5/26/06)

E Figuring out where to put the fuel flow meter was a challenge.  Then I found this solution somewhere on the net.  My apologies because I can't remember who's site it was.  This solution works because the flow meter is downstream of the gascolator.    Many builders put this between the fuel valve and the electric fuel pump, which is upstream of the gascolator (filter).  Although this may work, after discussing the placement with my Technical Consular I elected to place it here.  You can see the red cap peeking out from behind the engine mount, this covers the 45 degree elbow that will attach to the fuel line that will lead to the carburetor.  (5/21/06)

F What a big day!  Sunday was spent putting the engine mount and "trying" to fit the gear legs.  Monday the gear legs were bolted in place and the engine hung.  The following section will detail what is unique about installing a 1950's O-290-D2 conical mount engine in a "new millennium" airframe.  (8/28/06)

O-290 Specific Issues

As stated above, this section will detail my quest to mount an O-290-D2 engine on my RV-9.  Although Vans has approved this engine for the RV-9, they have not installed one.  One of their tech's went as far as suggesting I not use this engine and mentioned that none of Van's aircraft have one installed so they would be hard pressed to help me with the installation.  Heck, if I where scratch building I couldn't even call Vans for help, so I can't get upset with them for being so cheep as to buy this engine and not a new one like most other RV builders.

There are a few O-290 powered RV-9's flying but the owners have been reluctant to help me for whatever reason.  I suspect it is because they would rather fly than take their cowling off and shoot pictures and I can't say as I fault them.  One builder/flier told me to just buy the O-320 FWF kit and trim down the exhaust system.  That sounded like good advice and it was but I'm finding subtle differences between the O-320 and the O-290 and it is those differences I hope to document here.  The long and short of it is, your mileage may very should you follow this path.

E Issue #1 - Mounting the engine:  When using the conical mounts the instructions tell you to put the bolt in from the aft of the mount, sliding it forward through the engine.  The conical mounts were installed per the instructions; engine mount, large washer, cone, engine, cone, two large washers, and castle nut. (The additional washer was to shim the castle nut out to the hole.) The problem is the washer and nut are about 1/32" away from the rocker arm push tube on #4 cylinder and any engine vibration will cause it to touch.

#4 cylinder had to be loosened and pulled out a little bit to get the 2nd large (AN970-8) washer in place.  Not a good solution.

E Van's recommended removing one of the large washers and turning the bolt around.  This seemed to give me the clearance needed.  Such a simple solution.  Duh...   (Issue closed 8/28/06)

E Issue #2 - Alternator mount: The alternator mount on the O-290-D2 is a case mount, not a boss mount.  The difference being the boss mount has a "boss" cast and milled into the case where you would bolt the alienator bracket to.  The case mount is mounted to three bolts that hold the case halves together.  Not a big deal but nice to know.  The case mount kit from Van's is $11 + $4 S&H, not that bad.  (Issue closed 8/29/06)

E The bracket arrived and the alternator was hung without incident.  When I know the proper belt size I will post it.  The belt in this picture came with the engine and is of unknown origin, age, and size.  I suspect NAPA will be able to fix me up this afternoon.

After a few trips to NAPA I finally found the right length alternator belt.  When I bought the engine it came with the belt in the picture above, and although it was an Lycoming part, it was old, dried out, and the wrong size for this application.  I finally cut the belt, held it in place, and marked it at the proper length.  The local NAPA dealer used this to figure out the correct belt length.  It only took me a few trips to think about cutting this old belt.  Big DUH on my part.  Anyway, after talking to the NAPA guy about how the belt was going to be used he suggested I buy a lawn mower (garden) belt as they should last longer.  Sounded good to me so I now have a "Heavy Duty FHP Belt", NAPA part number 4L310W, 1/2" x 31" green belt.   (Issue closed 10/14/06)

E Although not an issue unique to the O-290, you will may have to fabricate this little bracket, which ties the alternator and starter together.  It is easy enough to make with the holes 2" on center.  Note the hole for the safety wire.  (1/7/07)

E Issue #3 - Throttle / Mixture bracket: The carburetor opening for the MA-3 carb body is much smaller than for the MA-4 carbs, thus the standard Throttle / Mixture bracket will not work.  Van's does not have a bracket for the O-235 but is offering to work with me to sort this out.  The issue is a little more complex than originally thought as the MA-3 carb's throttle arm is "proud" of the upper carb surface.  Lycoming solved this problem by casting some recesses in the bottom of the sump.  (See the 2nd picture)  Stand by for the final solution.  (8/30/06)

E Vans was kind enough to punch up a Throttle / Mixture bracket without the holes for the carburetor so I could drill them to fit the M-A 3 carburetor that the O-290 (and O-235) requires.  It is not powder coated because I requested it that way, figuring it would just get scratched while I modified it.

E The modifications didn't take very long to make.  The first version was made out of some stiff paper, then I made an aluminum drilling template for the five holes (four bolts and the big center hole), then I made two test plates out of aluminum before cutting into the steel bracket.

E The odd shaped hole on my custom bracket was to accommodate the throttle pivot bolt and lever.  They stand slightly proud of the top of the carburetor and the bottom of the oil sump has some recesses cast into it to accommodate the carburetor.  Since the plate is flat, some modifications for this lever had to be made.

E In addition to this odd hole, the angle flange on the left of the bracket had to be modified slightly to make room for where the fuel line attaches.  Now that that is finished, I will send the bracket off to get powder coated and install the carburetor for good.  A BIG thank you goes out to Vans for their help with issue.  (Issue closed 9/10/06)

E It seems as though with the rise in fuel prices the quest to install smaller engines has grown and I have received multiple inquirers regarding the throttle bracket.  Last I checked Van's has punched a number of them but without the modifications required for the MA-3 carburetor.  These two pictures should provide all the required dimensions.

E Issue #4 - Exhaust stack: There is some good news here.  The O-320 exhaust stack almost fits.  The exhaust stack, as shipped is sized for the O-360.  Before shipping the exhaust to Vans, Vetterman's marks a trim line 1-1/8" from the end of two pipes.  This looks like it might work out just perfect on my O-290.  In talking with Larry Vetterman he suggested I use a chop saw to cut the tubes with a chop saw and to make sure they are at least a 1/4" from bottoming out in the "female" tube otherwise they will crack.  I also asked him about having the tubes ceramic coated and he, in no uncertain terms, said this was a bad idea.  The just of his comment was that since this is an air cooled engine, that exhaust works as a big heat sink and coating it may cause you to have abnormally high head temperatures.  (Issue closed 8/30/06)

E Issue #5 - Fuel lines:  Vans includes two fire sleeve fuel lines with the FWF kit.  For an O-320 powered -9 they are supposed to send a VA-138 - 14" hose to go between the gascolator and the engine driven fuel pump and a VA-139 - 16 1/2" hose to go from the engine drive fuel pump to the carburetor.  For some reason my kit included the VA-138 - 14" hose and a VA-129 15 1/2" hose.  The 14" hose worked out but should probably be replaced with a 15" line.  The 15 1/2" hose is just a bit too short and should probably should be replaced with the 16 1/2" hose as called for in the drawing.  I have sent a note to Vans and am waiting to their reply.  Van's replied some time back and said the conical mount engines don't move very much and this was enough clearance.  You be the judge.  (Issue tentatively closed 10/18/06)

E Issue #5 - Controllable Pitch Prop:  Not really a kit issue but something other O-290-D2 installers should be aware of.  My particular engine was set up to use a controllable pitch prop, not a constant speed unit.  Thus the prop controller had to be removed and and a plug inserted in the end of the crank.  Neither are big issues and new old stock parts were located for the large sum of $56.  If your O-290 has a small lever sticking out of the case just behind the prop flange on the upper right side of the engine, you too have an engine configured for a controllable pitch prop.  Changing out the prop controller was easy.  Installing the crank plug will wait until I can talk to my local engine builder and find out what the proper procedure / tool is.  The proper tool for inserting the plug turned out be a piece of oak left over from building my drafting table that would just fit down the center of the crank and a 4 pound hammer.  (Issue closed 9/15/06)

E Issue #6 - Crankcase Breather Fitting:  The drawings indicates this should be located on the accessory case.  On the O-290 and possibly O-235 it is on the left side of the engine, just behind the prop flange.  The routing of the breather line will be determined later.

A quick trip to NAPA turned up the long hose in the left most picture.  It is NAPA part number 10075.  The short section has the correct size opening and the longer section will be trimmed to fit and the aluminum breather pipe will be clamped on the end and hung above the exhaust as the plans call for.  I did trim the short leg about an inch just to give me some more clearance by the flywheel.  (Issue closed 10/21/06)

Update: The NAPA hose depicted above will not work.  It turns that is a water hose and will eventually leak oil all over the place.  In addition, after fitting the forward baffle I found the hole location was a real pain.

E I had this Z-tube welded up out of some 3/4 OD aluminum tube.  That along with some oil hose solved my problem.  Ya just gotta love living in the heart of NASCAR country.  Thank you Muscle Motor Sports, the used NASCAR shop and fabricator.

E Here is the Z-tube installed.  It is clamped in place and passes through the forward baffle.  It still needs some type of bushing.  The blue hose will terminate in the aluminum tube that comes from Van's with the FWF kit and will direct any oil to the exhaust stack to be burned away.  (4/6/07)

E The exhaust end of the breather is easy enough to fabricate.  Just cut off a section of the pipe suppled with the FwF kit, sand an angle on it, drill the whistle hole, and adel clamp it in place.

E Issue #7 - Starter Ring installation:  The O-290-D2 is slightly different than other Lycoming engines in how the starter ring is indexed for top dead center.  There are two small holes, with one being of set to the other.  The prop hub or flange has two matching holes with 8-32 threads.  Apparently the idea is to put two screws in there to remind the mechanic to install the ring in the correct orientation.  The position of the starter ring (flywheel?) is important because the timing marks are on the back side and the index is the case parting line.

E Issue #8 - Propeller installation:  Finding a way to attach the propeller to the O-290 has proven to be a challenge.  Some time ago I ordered a 2 - 1/4" prop extension and 1/2" crush plate from Van's.   What I didn't order until last week were the prop bolts to hold this all together.  In my rush to assemble this thing I ordered the wrong size bolts and as it turns out, finding an AN6H 8" long bolt is not easy to do.  So, the $20 AN7H bolts, prop extension, and crush plate will be returned to Van's in the morning.  In there place I have ordered the proper items from Sam at Sabre Manufacturing, (817) 326-6293.  This picture is of the Saber prop extension.  It is different than Van's in that it uses one set of bolts to attach the extension through the starter ring to the hub.  The propeller then bolts on to the extension.  IMHO, this is a better solution to using long bolts through all of those parts.

The standard Van's setup uses six LONG bolts to hold the forward prop spinner bulkhead, crush plate, prop, aft spinner bulkhead, spacer, and starter ring to the prop flange.  Sabre's set up uses 12 shorter bolts.  One short set holds the spacer and starter ring to the prop flange and another set of bolts hold the prop and two bulkheads to the spacer.  Probably a better setup, more so since bolts to hold it together are available.  (10/24/06)

E Issue #9 - Baffles:  The VAF forum is full of questions and comments (mostly negative) regarding the baffle installation.  I looked at this task and many others and wonder how people who are scratch building work through all these items with only a drawing of questionable quality.  The O-320 baffle kit is fairly good, no complaints here.  The biggest issue seems to be the location of the head bolts.  In this picture you can see the pre-punched holes in the 10 and 4 o'clock positions.  The O-290 holes are located at the 1 & 7 o'clock positions.  Originally the #8 baffle (That's the baffle on the left in this picture) had a tab that went down between the cylinders and bolted the aft cylinder (#3) head.  The cylinders move independently from each other during the power stroke so you can't tie them together with the baffles.  Thus both baffles were modified, the 2nd picture shows how the the #9 baffle was modified to pick up the 2nd bolt hole in the #1 cylinder.  (1/22/07)

E Issue #10 - Inter-cylinder Baffles:  Like all RV's, regardless of the engine size, you will need to install inter-cylinder baffles.  My O-290-D2 did not come with any, thus I ordered a pair of O-320 baffles from A.E.R.O (1-800-910-1281).  Pictured, left to right, are part numbers: Baffle Assembly AEL72569 ($25.96 ea), Hook 71610 ($6.35 ea), and Retainer 71611 ($2.52 ea).  Upon installing the baffles, I found the hook was just a little long and it left the entire assembly loose to move around.  Mike Moore at AVWorks gave me some old hooks and showed me how to bend them to shorten them up for the O-290.  (3/20/07)

E Issue #11 - #2 cylinder baffle gap.  It looks like the O-290 has deeper cylinder head cooling fins than the O-320 because the baffle in front of cylinder #2 leaves a 3/4" gap.  All three of my Tech Inspectors found this and suggested I close it up.  This required drilling out the rivets holding the stiffener in place, cutting a "plug" and riveting it all back together.  Not a big deal but something I wish I had caught earlier.  (5/27/07

E Issue #12 - Gascolator fuel drain:  This may very well impact all RV's but I don't really know.  The gascolator drain is right above the lower horizontal engine mount brace.  A simple 45 degree fitting moves the valve into a better location.  (5/27/07)

E Issue #13 - Oil cooler baffle stiffener:  This particular O-290 does not have a hole drilled in the case behind cylinder #4 to bolt the baffle to.  This is unfortunate as that missing bolt will allow the oil cooler baffle to move back and forth, eventually cracking the baffle.  The solution I employed was to make a bracket that picks up one of the bolts from the spark plug wire pass through and then to a new stiffener I added just above cylinder #4.  Note how the angle aluminum is twisted to mate up with the two different baffles and yet clears the spark plug.  (5/27/07)

E Issue #14 - Carb heat cable: The carb heat cable wanted to rest on top of the muffler support, which, as you know is not a good thing.  The solution was to make a small aluminum angle and bolt it to the throttle cable bracket.  (The black thing in my installation.)  To this bracket a -4 adel clamp was bolted, holding the cable up away from the exhaust bracket but moving with the carb box and cable so it will (should) not wear through.  (5/27/07)

E The oil system drawing has a notation regarding this little ditty.  It states something like, "The oil pressure fitting must be installed on some engine prior fitting to the airframe."  That was the case with my O-290 and may be an issue with some O-320's and O-360's as well.  If your engine has a fitting just above the right mag and below the upper right engine mount, put the 45 degree restrictor fitting in before hanging the engine.  It will save you the hassle of removing the engine, installing the fitting, and re-hanging the engine like I did.  The engine mount is in the way and you cannot turn the fitting with the engine hung.  Note the torque seal.  This is on every nut and fitting so I know it has been torqued properly.  (9/6/06)

E Here is a quick shot of two of my wire runs through the firewall.  The brown wires on the right are for the EGT and CHT and the bundle on the left is for everything else the Dynon EMS will need.  (9/6/06)

F After messing around with the Throttle / Mixture bracket I decided it was time to install the Dynon manifold pressure sensor.  This is straight forward enough.  You start by selecting a place to put the sensor, fabricate some type of bracket (Angle aluminum works great!), install the sensor, then pick a place on the firewall to install the bulkhead fitting, drill that hole and install the fitting.  Next up is installing an aluminum fitting in the #3 cylinder's primer port so you may connect a flex line from that cylinder to the bulkhead fitting you just put on the firewall.  After that you just connect a piece of clear flex line from the cabin side of the bulkhead fitting to the pressure sensor.  Oh, well there is that thing about connecting three wires to the Dynon D10 EMS ...  (9/10/06)

E The oil and fuel pressure senders are mounted on the left side of the firewall on this simple manifold that Vans includes in the kit.  The wires connected to them (oil on top, fuel on bottom) run up the engine mount and across to the right side of the firewall where they run aft to the Dynon D10 EMS.  (9/17/06)

F Installing the heater muff was easy enough.  Well almost, it had to be shortened an 1/8" so the stainless steel through bolts could reach.  Another simple job for the belt sander.  After installing it I wish I had ordered one with the intake and exit holes offset 90 degrees.  (9/17/06)

As mentioned earlier, my O-290-D2 was set up for a controllable pitch prop and like its cousins with a constant speed prop it some minor items must be addressed before installing a fixed pitch prop.  The first thing that has to happen it to punch a hole in the plug six inches inside the crank.  Do not drill this hole as you don't want to introduce mettle shavings into your engine.  A long Phillips screwdriver and a big hammer did the trick for me.  Then a plug has to be put into place.  To install the plug I first cleaned the inside of the crank and then applied some gasket sealant, inserted the plug, convex side out.  A section of axe handle was then inserted in the crank and hit with a small sledge hammer.  This flattened the plug and formed the seal.  With luck, I will have no leaks.

The reason for doing all of this is that the crank has a small hole in it to feed oil to the prop so the pitch can be changed.  Without the forward plug installed oil will just leak out the front of the prop.  If you don't punch the hole in the aft seal, oil pressure will build up and push the forward seal out.

The throttle/mixture bracket are off being powder coated,  It should be back sometime next week.  With its return, the carburetor will be installed.  (10/7/06)

E One of the things my Tech Inspector and I discussed was the clearance between this oil pressure fitting and the engine mount.  We are both concerned about the limited clearance.  Time to check with Vans.  It may force me to remove the engine and install a 90 degree fitting or tightening it another turn and point it down.  Either way will require me to remove the engine.   (10/8/06)

F Out of the goodness of their heart and with a little help from Master Card, Vans sent me a lightweight starter.  This starter fit the O-290 without any issues and left enough room for the exhaust tube to run underneath.  The starter that came with the engine would fit but it only left about an 1/8" clearance between it and the exhaust.  Not wishing to bake my starter and potentially cause a fire, I felt it best to replace it with this much smaller and lighter 122 tooth Sky-Tec unit.  The starter wires will not be connected to it until I'm at the airport and ready for the first engine start.  (10/8/06)

E Time to install the starter cable.  Initially I grabbed the wrong cable and came up short.  After a little head scratching I realized my error and installed a longer cable.  That longer cable will make contact with both the starter and the contactor (relay) but I'm not sure it shouldn't be longer.  I will try to get my tech inspector back out here to take a look and when he does, I'll post the correct length.  (10/8/06)

F Everyone seems to complain about fitting the baffling.  Something about being baffled by the baffling.  In truth, I spent some time studying the plans and it quickly became apparent how these things go together.  In this picture the parts are simply clamped in place so I could get a better idea of how they go together, tomorrow I start trimming them.  Since they were designed for an O-320 powered RV-6, some of the holes don't line up just right on the O-290.  Not a big deal, just something else to do.  (10/21/06)

E Ah, more fiberglass work.  Here I'm working on filling the pin holes on the cowling and the prop spinner.  The process if fairly easy and like many other parts of construction, there are a multiple ways to do it.  I elected to sand the cowlings on both sides with 60 grit sandpaper, wipe them down with acetone, and they using a 3" roller cover them with a 50/50 mix of epoxy and acetone.  This flows well an will (should?) fill the pin holes.  It will leave me with some sanding to do but that is normal when working with fiberglass.  My neighbor likened fiberglass to working with drywall, if you have a hole, just fill it and sand it.  How true that is.  (10/21/06)

F Fitting, sanding, fitting, sanding, on and on and on.  That's the way it goes with the cowling.  First I put the cowling in place and measured 1/4" back from the spinner backing plate, put a light up under the cowling, and then drew a line where the cut should be.  After taking the cowling off, it was trimmed with the same cutoff wheel used to cut the canopy.  In this cut, roughly 1/4" was left that was sanded off with the long 2x4 sanding board seen in this picture.  Glued to the board with 3M 777 was 120 grit sand paper from my 4x36 belt sander.  This worked great, it was quick, and gave a straight line.  (1/6/07)

E Everyone talks about getting the cowling lined up perfect and all this other stuff.  My problem was trying to figure out how to support it at the proper height.  The solution I used was to place two full rolls of paper towels on top of the cylinders.  This gave the correct height and allowed for some adjustment.  (1/6/07)

F The top canopy is almost ready for drilling in this picture.  The spinner is just pushed in place and has yet to be fitted.  (1/6/07)

E Here is sequence of installing the Sky Bolt fasteners.  First, figure out where to drill the holes on the top cowling (I am using 15 fasteners on the top cowl.), drill these 1/8" holes.  Put the cowling in place and drill the holes to the flange.  This becomes the center hole for the drilling jig.  Using the jig, drill the rivet holes before enlarging the center hole.  Enlarge the rivet holes to #30 and countersink them, enlarge the center hole, and finally, rivet the things in place.  Next it is on to the cowling, using a Unibit, enlarge the holes in the fiberglass and install the bushings.  If you are going to paint before you fly (I am going to fly first), paint the cowling now as you will have to tape over all of those bushings.  (1/7/07)

F With the cowling fitted I elected to move on to the baffling.  This is a bit out of sequence as you really need to have both the top and bottom cowls fitted properly to complete the baffles.  That's OK as I just wanted to work with aluminum again.  The bolt holes in the cylinder heads which hold the baffles in place on the O-290 are in the 1:30 and 7:30 position.  On the O-320 and O-360 they are in the 4:30 and 10:30 position.  This almost works for the O-290 but since you don't want to tie the cylinder heads together, the tab that goes down between the cylinders had to be cut off the #8 baffle and a part had to be fabricated and riveted to the #9 baffle.  The first picture here is the #9 baffle with this tab riveted in place.  The second picture shows the #8 and and #9 baffles in place.  Note the tab added to the lower left of the #8 baffle to pick up the 2nd bolt hole.  The same thing had to be done on the left side.  All in all, fitting these baffles was not that difficult.  (1/22/07)

E When putting the baffles in place, you will need to mark the bolt holes.  On trick I came up with was to find a small item that would fit through the bolt holes, dab the end in torque seal, put the baffle in place and then "paint" it with the torque seal.  (1/22/07)

F With the top cowl fitted and part of the baffles in place, it was time to fit the lower cowl.  Again, nothing difficult.  Just take your time, cut and a sand a little bit at a time and all will work out just fine.  Start by cutting a hole on each lower corner of the cowl for the gear legs.  This was the first cut.  The final slot was longer and wider but this is a good place to start.   (2/4/07)

E Duck tape, an old wooden stool, and a roll of paper towels where used to help hold the lower cowl in place while test fitting and marking it for trimming.  The sides were drilled and clecoed in place.  Next on my to do list is to drill the bottom holes and then it will be time to match drill the cowl split line.  The trick to getting a good fitting cowling is to match up the round holes off the airplane.  I started this by epoxying in two layers of Bid cloth on the lower cowl, where it it goes into the upper cowl around the prop hub.  This allowed me to sand down the lower cowl's mating surface to get a good easy slip fit.  Once that was done, it was just a mater of test fitting, trimming, sanding with a long board, and repeating until you got a fit you like.  (2/4/07)