Darick's Sonex #1646

[kevinh]

Hi Darick,

Thank you for your great wing mating write-up! It will be great extra help when I get to this point! -Kevin

[Darick]

The panel is as complete as possible without the engine in place. So I started working on the engine this week.
For those AeroVee owners...the outside of the case looks like a moon landscape...lots of ugly casting marks. Paint will hardly cover all that up. Has anyone tried to finish the outside for a nicer look or am I just too overly picky and wasting time? If you did make it look nice, how did you do it?...Dremel tool with wire wheel...sandblast?

[Darick]

I got the preassembled hub option. If your connecting rods come with the "star" type bolt heads, you will need a 12 point 11mm socket.
Also there is a way to check the connecting rod bearing clearance with "plastigage", as mentioned in the assembly manual that refers to Tom Wilson's VW engine repair book. Mine were all fine but I wondered what you would do if the clearance was out of tolerance.(?)

[wlarson861]

Just remember all those ugly pits and peaks in the surface increase the surface area of the case. More surface area = more cooling. It's an airplane engine not a 32 Ford hot rod!

[Darick]

Excellent point! That's enough to change my mind. Thanks!

[Darick]

AeroVee assembly push rod ends....
After cutting to the correct length, the small ball ends must be pushed in. Mine had a LOT of interference and would not go in even when the tube was heated with a heat gun. I solved this finally by sanding down the part of the ball end that gets inserted into the push tube, as the first step.

150 grit, slowest drill press speed, for 2 minutes


The second step was to increase the push rod ID by running a 5/16 drill into the end and then sanding a little at a time until the ball end would go in about half way.






Test fit before heating, Ball will slip in half way...


Finally, the tube was heated with a heat gun, ball inserted, then tapped in....


Remember to clean out the tube before tapping in the ball end, much like you would clean out a gun barrel, throughly!

[Darick]

Engine is on the plane!
Next step is wiring the ignition and MGL E1 engine monitor.
Flying goal is first quarter of 2017.

[Darick]

Trying to keep up with Bryan's high standards, I've decided to carve my prop too. It will need a small weight on the short end.

Ok I admit it. I'm not carving my prop. This "torque reaction arm" was how I kept the crank from rotating while I torqued the gland nut.

[Darick]

The only wires remaining to be hooked up are CHT and EGT.

[Darick]

Rather than add a separate deflector to the bottom mount oil baffle I just cut out the opening on just three sides then bent up. It took a lot of trial fitting and cutting but I like the way it turned out.