Engine removal

[Tom Baker]

53 minutes ago, ibjet said:

Thanks, yes I do. I think I might add 1 washer at the lower right and lower left (my spinner almost touches the lower cowling). Anyway, I'll take a picture at each bolt location when I am removing. I have my floor repaired in the hangar, just letting the concrete cure and letting the hangar dry out (heavy rains here for several days). Again thanks!

The spinner being low can also be an indication of needing the mount rubbers replaced.

[ibjet]

Tom: My engine mount rubber is 2 1/2 yrs old. It is showing considerable weather checking though, but the bolts don't appear to be sagging in the rubber. 

Question: Does anyone have any idea how much the engine mount rubber costs and source?

I spent a couple hours at my hangar today trying to get my courage up, ha ha. I have the tools set out that I will use. I actually loosened all 6 bolts that go thru the fire wall. Also took some pictures to document how everything is hooked up now. And I checked out where all the wires will disconnect. Probably pull the engine Monday if we don't have more heavy rain! 

Here is how I raised my nose wheel off the ground and supported the tail for once the engine is removed (that's a Rigid work stand - it tilts and adjusts height, perfect for this): 

[Tom Baker]

For the SW try Roger Lee. Around $100 for set IIRC.

[ibjet]

Thanks, I would love to buy something from Roger Lee, he has given me so much precious information . . . 

[ibjet]

I think I just have these 3 wires that I will have to cut then splice to be able to fully remove the engine. I want to fully remove the engine so I can lift it up and drop the nose wheel). The 2 very small gauge wires I would not worry about splicing, but that one larger wire leads right into some kind of really large splice and I hate to cut the shrink sleeve to look at it because I would have to cut that splice and redo to be able to slip on new shrink sleeve.

Am I missing something? Can anyone tell me how you handled this?  

Thanks,

ET

[Tom Baker]

All you need to do is remove the two yellow wires from the plug. This can be done with a small flat blade tool.The yellow wires stay with the engine. The others stay with the airframe.  No cutting or spicing needed.

[Tom Baker]

Also you will need to remove the starter cable either from the starter or solenoid. If you haven't yet the tach wires go into the plastic wire loom will need to be pulled out and unplug the plug. You will also want to remove the parachute harness hardware at the top of your picture.

[sandpiper]

It's been awhile since I removed my engine and I'm not gonna run out to the plane and remove the cowl right now. But, there was one wire vicinity of the capacitor that I ended up cutting. Put it back together with a quick disconnect.

If by this time tomorrow you still need the particulars I will go have a look.

But, I do know it was only one wire, not three. 

[ibjet]

Thank you very much Tom, great info! I wondered if those wires could be removed from that connector, should have known that they have to be inserted into the plastic connector housing! 

I got some feedback from the guy who did my annual when I bought my airplane, Rex  Johnson (works out of the Riverside Airport on the south edge of Tulsa, OK). I text him the picture of my leak and he said it was probably the hose attached to the coolant return elbow. I went to my hangar and stuck my camera up as close as I could get from the right side and sure enough, the stain appears to originate at the hose. And, I can get a long screw driver up in that area and tighten the clamp! 

Tomorrow I will go out and re-install that one bolt I have removed and pressure test my coolant system, then tighten that clamp and pressure test again. 

Now I'm torn, I really want to replace my engine mount rubber, it's very weather checked and the engine appears to be tilted down.

Just saw your input John, thanks, I will be out at my hangar tomorrow, I don't think I have to cut any wires (with the info that Tom gave me above). I'll let you know if I see more. There were 2 small wires going over the top/center of the engine that had crimp splices. I cut them in half and I will cut off the splice material to save as much of the wire length as possible and re-splice when I re-assemble.  

[Tom Baker]

There shouldn't be any wires that need cut. 

[ibjet]

Thank you Tom for all your help! Wed I removed the 2 yellow wires without too much difficulty. I used a very small straight bladed screw driver to shove into the opening next to each tang and then I used a bit bigger screw driver to push the tang out of the connector.

I ordered new engine mount rubber from Roger Lee and so I decided I should measure what the tilt of my engine is before and after. I zeroed out my digital level to the horizontal reference plane in the cockpit and then I placed it on the flat spot on top of the gearbox. I think I'll bring a small square out and measure it a different way.

QUESTION: Does anyone know what the tilt should be, what is considered allowable? I actually got 2.8 degrees tilt downward toward the front the first time (that little flat area is very small and my level has 3 pads, so it varied from 2.6 to 3.0 degrees). 

Thx,

ET

Update 11-30-19: I used a square against the machined surface on the back to the gearbox and I got a very consistent reading: 3.3 degrees. That's gotta be the reason my spinner comes really close to my lower engine cowl. 

[ibjet]

Just got back into my engine removal (been in Hawaii, good excuse aye). Can someone tell me how to remove the choke cable? The tube (see white arrow in pic) is threaded into the top of the carburetor (I guess???). I know I just need to pull the cable out of the tube but can't figure how to do that (normally you would just pull the cable housing out of the tube, but it does not want to pull out (there is a heavy plastic sleeve over the end of the tube. 

Thx,

ET

[Anticept]

Don't.

Just remove the two screws holding on the carb dome, and remove the choke and throttle levers from the carb body. Don't let the choke wedge against the two stop posts when taking them off, those are really fragile.

Once you do that, carefully lift off the carb domes, complete with the dangling throttle and choke cables. You can dismount the carbs from the engine if you need more wiggle room to lift the domes.

Doing it this way makes resync a lot easier too.

[ibjet]

I removed the choke cables today, I just cut the fat part of the plastic hose that overlaps the choke tube/elbow. That plastic is a special heat shrink sleeve, so I will have to remove the whole thing and find something to replace it. They are self sealing (a bit of goop comes out the ends), so I will find something similar (like self sealing heat shrink wire splices, etc). 

[ibjet]

Ordered the (self sealing/ dual wall) heat shrink tubing already. Amazon is so awesome!

[ibjet]

Finally got my engine pulled this afternoon. It was imbalanced, but I cranked the lever on the sling until I was lifting right over the CG of the engine/prop/nose wheel/T frame. Posting a picture of my lifting system and one of the sagging engine mount and one of the leak stains on the coolant elbow. Excited to fix the leaks and get rid of the sagging and I'll get a mini steam cleaner and clean it up nice while I'm at it. 

Thanks for all the great input guys, what a wonderful resource this Forum is!!!!

[Tom Baker]

8 hours ago, ibjet said:

 

 

 

While you have it apart take a close look at the two lower tubes where the mount rubbers go. If they are oval in shape especially on the forward side, that is an indication that the airplane has had a hard landing and the mount is bent. That tube is typically the first place the mount will bend.

[Tip]

I can almost guarantee that your coolant leak is coming from that worm gear clamp. A constant pressure spring clamp & a new hose will solve it.

[ibjet]

Thanks Tip. I can see that the stain is coming from around the end of the hose. I tried to tighten that clamp and it was quite tight. That's part of the reason I decided to go ahead and pull the engine (the other was the sagging I was seeing (my engine tilts down just over 3 degrees). 

I will remove the hose from the coolant elbow fitting, remove the elbow fitting and see if I can see why a tight clamp was letting it leak (perhaps a flaw in the tube or in the fitting. 

I have another leak from the hose that goes to the left side of the radiator. That has a spring clamp. I have a pressure tester that I adapted to the Rotax radiator cap. So, I will be able to make sure before I re-install the engine.

I'm wondering what clamps to use. Anybody have a specific clamp/source?   

[ibjet]

Thanks Tom! I am concerned that the left lower engine mount is somehow distorted. You can see that the bolt is not aligned with the engine mount tube on the T frame. I'll remove the T frame and engine mount ring and make a bunch of measurements and see if I can get it to line up better with the new rubber I got from Roger Lee.  

[ibjet]

I have delayed my project but going back to my hangar tomorrow. I want to make sure I find all the leaks in my coolant system. Not sure if any of you have a coolant leak tester (I modified a "universal" leak tester set so that it fits the rotax plenum). 

Question: Anybody tried leak testing a drained coolant system by pressuring with air only and spraying all the connections with soapy water?  

I hate to just remove all the hoses when only 1 or 2 connections are leaking. Anyway, I'll assume it's a brilliant idea until I prove myself wrong, ha ha. 

ET

[ibjet]

I finally got my coolant leak tester to work and now holds at 18 psi. I'm replacing the 1" hose that goes to the coolant pump elbow since it was the main leak and had some damage. Just wanted to say that draining the coolant and testing with only air pressure worked very well (bubble tested every hose end with soap solution). I had a very slow bleed down of pressure, turned out that my test cap needed a thicker rubber washer (found that out because bubbles were coming out the overflow tube!

Also wanted to "brag" that my engine sling (the part that I bought from Harbor Freight, and my modifications) worked very well. I was able to balance the engine by cranking the lever and moving the lift point fore and aft. I removed the nose wheel to work on my nose wheel fork and it was easy to re-balance the engine. 

BTW: I did use a piece of angle tie wrapped to the shop crane hydraulic cylinder so that it cannot bleed down and let the engine lower itself. Thanks for that advice John Horn!!!

[ibjet]

Wanted to further evaluate the mis-alignment I saw in my engine mount (my lower left mount was visibly "sagging"). 

After several measurements on the T frame and the engine ring, I finally realized that YES, MY T FRAME WAS BENT! I inserted a picture with a red arrow showing where the bend occurred. 

I will build a wood box structure that I can put the T frame in and apply pressure from a hydraulic jack and force that leg back into place. I'll post a picture.

Not sure how I can "prove" that leg in OK once I straighten, but the bend is so slight, that I'm pretty sure it will be fine. I have an A.I. friend at my airport, I'll get his opinion. I will penetrant inspect if nothing else.

Thanks for the heads up on the bending issue Tom Baker! I still can't believe it is bent and there is no other damage to the airplane (that I can see). I did have one rough landing but did not think it was hard enough to do any damage. It's almost gotta be from that because the airplane had a 5 year rubber change when I bought it!!!

[ibjet]

Finished and tried out my straightening fixture last night. I deflected the mount quite a bit, but lost most of the straightening once I released the jack. Decided I had to replace the wood block on the top right so ordered approx. same size of aluminum bar. Also decided I would have to heat it up to straighten without stressing it too much. My Oxy-Acetylene set is very old, so I ordered a new kit that has the heating torch (they call a "rose bud" for slang). I will replace the jack with an adjustable metal "jack stand" just before I torch. I will jack, heat, cool, jack, heat, cool repeatedly until I get the correct hole pattern. I requested a drawing of the Large Engine Mount from Arian and told him my straightening method. They will probably want me to submit an MRA.  

[Tom Baker]

Don't do it! I am pretty sure the mount is heat treated.