Scudrunners

I’ve never been accused of being a genius, but there I was today putting some safety wire on an oil sump fitting that had been forgotten. Don’t worry the plane hasn’t flown yet.

Anyways, there’s these six little bolts that go through a flange and thread into the cast sump. On my last hangar adventure I found four of them had never been installed and you guessed it, they don’t go into blind holes but holes that run all the way clear to the engine oil above. Guess how I found that out. Oil-dry is neat stuff and what’s thirty bucks of Aeroshell on the floor between friends? Extra bolts located and installed, oil level serviced to the full 8 litres, but then it was time to leave. So today I’m trying to remember how to wrap safety wire and contorting to do something that should have been done with the engine on a stand and generally cursing the guy who forgot.

Five of the six bolts had drilled heads while the sixth did not. No biggie, I’ll just pull the bolt, head down to the hardware room, grab another with a drilled head, then install and wire. Oil dry is neat stuff.

I didn’t lose much that time around. It was pretty obvious what I had done so it was like a tablespoon or two. Still, what a dumbass move.

Sounds like you did it right. Hard to put that into the paperwork!

PS. On the safety wiring ... like formation flying, it's easy to do badly,
and it takes practice to do it well, and you can instantly see who's been
practicing over the years.

I don't like that skinny 20 thou stuff, or the super-think 40 thou stuff,
which you could probably use to keep a train locomotive together.

The 32 thou is the Goldilocks. Need to figure out the shortest path it's
going to take. Learn to do the first few turns by hand, so you can tension
it correctly. Only then, go to the fancy pliers for the long runs.

And remember, right tighty, lefty loosey. You'd be amazed how many
beautiful lock wiring jobs you will see - on backwards, pulling it undone!

The wire should always cross, between fasteners with the same thread
orientation. I have a few left-handed taps, but not many.

This is pretty good:



This is pretty bad:



Don't tell anyone, but I used to wander around the airport at night, fixing
lock wiring like that on people's props. Sometimes it was worse than that.

Reminds me of the time that the hall monitors on AssCan wanted to report
me to TC for squirting contact cleaner with a long red straw on the starter
Bendix drive of a stranded Brampton 172.

Apparently the AssClowns said I was doing maintenance on commercially
registered aircraft without an AMO. Without as much as laying a fucking
finger on the stupid fucking 172. All righty, then.

Safety wire is one of those things where I get a bunch of practice all at once then have three years to forget it all. Repeat ad nauseum. Somehow all of my safety wiring also has me elbow deep in oil every damn time and I’m not sure how the stars always line up like that. I know the twisty pliers will never rust so there’s that.

Once I get in the groove it’s pleasant and quiet work, kind of like rib stitching or woodworking. I should probably take up welding at some point too, I bet that’s more of the same.

I guess the brightest side of all this is I’ve become pretty busy with some neat hobbies over this lockdown.

First:
Colonel, that second picture is an abortion.

Second:
Slick, I’m with you exactly. I’ll learn a task, then not do it for years and forget how to do it the next time I need too.

I yearn to build a plane at some point. I made the RV tool box kit. That was fun; let’s see if I can buck enough rivets to form a wing.

Colonel, that second picture is an abortion.

I know. That's why I would fix them, at night.

RV: go fast-build. Not sure they even sell anything else, any more.

Nark wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:48 pm

I yearn to build a plane at some point.

Same here. I’ve done a pile on other peoples’ airplanes but I want my own. If this lockdown continues it’s pretty well inevitable that I’ll build something dumb.

Dammit, it’s always oil with me apparently. Can anyone confirm for me where the oil screen is on a C-85? Looks like it almost has to be the boss that the oil temp bulb screws into but someone can save me some pointless disassembly now by telling me if I’m wrong.

Download this:

https://www.redskyventures.org/doc/cess ... _v1984.pdf

Look for the big square nut. Change the copper crush gasket.

I’m an idiot and was just dreaming of having an 85. I meant to say A65 but whatever, the accessory case is about the same as the -8s I think and IIRC the C75 is just an A65 with a higher redline and a couple internal changes to support it. Thanks!

I think it's one inch.

PS please don't use an adjustable wrench on an airplane. Ever.

I know there are people out there with water pump pliers and vice grips, but ...

A handy tool to have, is a one inch open end wrench cut with a hacksaw to
5 or 6 inches. Perfect tool to get into engine compartment, with all the
torque you will need. Bevel the edges of the cut with a grinder.

After a few decades, you will have an amazing pile of custom cut/bent tools
for specific tasks. I always have my "good" tools which are high torque, and
lots of spare shitty tools which can be cut or bent with a torch at a moment's
notice to get at a particular nut or bolt.

One handy tool is to take a 3/8 wrench and grind most of the metal off the
closed end. You will not believe how useful that is. You don't always need
20,000 ft-lbs of torque. Just enough.

I think I've mentioned the incredible value of some tapered 1/4 inch drive
sockets: