On a quest for the elusive "Dry AeroVee"

[Scott Todd]

It's probably those Whitworth bolts...Shoooot.....

[Bryan Cotton]

Time to blame the cooler itself?

I'm assuming I screwed up the installation of the cooler.

[Bryan Cotton]

This is pretty discouraging. Had to strip the exhaust wrap off the right side. It was saturated. Dipstick shows no oil. Lots of work to get back on track. Looks like one seal was misaligned. It looked deformed when I took it off.

[Jgibson]

Bryan;
It IS discouraging, however this is all part of the 'journey'.
I've been following your build and you've worked diligently and with great care. Remember though, that an aircraft build or restoration is complicated and has many ups and downs. The old 'two steps forward, one back' theory. And it's not always something you did incorrectly that causes these PIA problems. I'm going through it now with an 11 hour old encoder that's acting up.
Hang in there. It's all coming together and in the long run will be well worth the efforts. You've put together a good ship that you'll enjoy for many years with the satisfaction of knowing you had your hands on EVERY single piece.

Joe

[Area 51%]

How long was the run? Did you drain and measure the rest of the oil from the case to verify the pump couldn't have gone dry? I'm guessing you had an eye on the pressure gauge during the run.

[Bryan Cotton]

Thanks Joe. Randy, about a minute and the oil pressure showed zero. There was not much oil left in the sump. The remaining oil didn't look scary.

[n502pd]

Hello everyone! My engine is 99% dry, except for one little niggling bolt that will not seal on the lower case half at the rear. After 65 hrs, it dosent drop oil on the cowling, but it isnt 100% dry. Frustrating to say the least.
Now, I see lots of you have problems with pushrod tubes leaking, gaskets not sealing, leaking oil sump acorn nuts, rocker box covers and oil pump gaskets. Years ago, on my 0-300 I discovered 'Easy Turn Lubricant', or fuel lube. I have used it not quite 'liberally', but not 'thinly' either, on all gasket surfaces, partictularly on the pushrod tube gaskets and rocker box gaskets. I found when the heads are retorqued after installing, the gaskets will get twisted somehow when tightened, and dont seal worth a darn. That is because they are dry and cant manouver themselves into a proper seated condition. Using the fuel lube on these allows seating movement where they dont leak because of the fuel lube on them and if the metal housings they are mounted on are re sprung lengthwise and have plenty of seating pressure. The fuel lube is non soluable in
any petrol or oil product but can be removed with vigorous wiping with a cloth. Same for your fingers! It can be used for the fuel inles at the OPPS fittings as well, on the fuel tank threads and OH rings.

I am not hawking this for any reason, but wish to alert all to its properties that have made my AeroVee almost completely dry! ACS p/n 09-00306, 5 oz tube is plenty!

and, sorry for the long post!

PS: If your pushrod tubes have a welded seam running its length, always rotate that seam to the top towards the cylinders so as to not allow large ammount of oil to be released downward on to hot exhaust, if the tube desides to split open a bit. A lesson I learned in my VW car days!!

[GraemeSmith]

PS: If your pushrod tubes have a welded seam running its length, always rotate that seam to the top towards the cylinders so as to not allow large amount of oil to be released downward on to hot exhaust, if the tube desides to split open a bit. A lesson I learned in my VW car days!!

And it looks neater too!

[Bryan Cotton]

I got the airplane more or less back together last night, with the goal of a ground run. I cranked it until I saw pressure on the gauge, then ran it at low power for a bit. Shut down, tied to a car, and did a WOT run. Everything looks good. Thanks all for the moral support.

Back on topic - my major oil leaks seem to have been conquered. There is still some oil leaking from somewhere, and it's too early to tell if it is residual oil or not. Some seems to be leaking from the right side valve cover, and I bought new Tennessee Gaskets silicone valve cover gaskets. Also I bought their sump gaskets. I think I found the link somewhere earlier in the thread.

Sump gaskets:
https://realgaskets.com/product/oil-screen-gaskets/

Valve cover gaskets:
https://realgaskets.com/product/valve-cover-gaskets-49/

[daleandee]

It's been a number of years since I've run an AeroVee engine but a couple of things that helped me seal the valve covers may help others.

I tried using rubber valve cover gaskets but sometimes when oil got on them they would slip out of line and a leak would result. The best way I've ever found to seal a valve cover is to use a cork gasket and attach it to the cover using Permatex Aviation Form-A-Gasket NO. 3. I would then use a light coat of motor oil on the side attaching to the engine. It will seal very well and remove easily (and likely be reusable). When removing simply loosen the bolts and tap the cover with a rubber mallet.

The other concern I had at that time was the length of the supplied bolts that held the cover in place being a smidge too long. They would feel as if they were torqueing correctly and the cover would seem to fit tight but in fact they were bottoming out. Using a slightly shorter bolt with the above gasket procedure helped me eliminate all leaks from the valve covers.

Dunno if this helps ...

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Sonex