57A going back together

[Gilbert Pierce]

I broke in my new Cylinders in on Phillips XC as recommended by the manufacturer. Consumption has averaged 12 hours/qt since break-in.

[walt.buskey]

Thanks, Gilbert. The oil we got was from ACS, a straight mineral oil that was recommended so we wanted to stick with that.

In any case, today was a bust of sorts. The oil level was higher than I remembered it, at 5+ on the dipstick. That would ordinarily have been OK but my CFI was nervous about it, considering we'd had some known oil leaks. I couldn't argue with that.

Then, during the pre-flight, we noticed that the wing tie-down ring, located on the left wing forward strut mount, was loose.

We found there was a bit of a gap between the (replacement sealed) strut end and the opening for it in the strut mount. Though the bolt was tight, there was still a gap so the tie-down ring was rattle-y loose. None of the other struts had the same gap in their wing mounts.

We tried tightening the bolt about one turn but didn't dare go any further, fearing possible damage to that mount, so we'll wait for my A&P to look it over. My thought was to slip a washer (maybe only needing a thin one, eyeballing it) between the strut's end mount and the inside of the wing mount, but that's a decision for the A&P -- way above my pay grade! In the logs, the "Left wing replaced with a serviceable unit" remark (from quite a few years ago) came to mind, so who knows.

Too bad, it was a beautiful day here in the great northeast... quite cool early on but sunny and warming; fall foliage is rapidly developing now, so it's a gorgeous area to see from the air.

So we'll wait for the next time we can all get together............(sigh)....

[Old3pacer]

How much oil are you keeping in your pan?
Oil level will increase a little when it sits as opposed to when you just shut the engine down.
I do not fill the case (6qts) as the excess blows out on the belly

[Subsonic]

Geez, I can't help myself. Is anyone else astounded that this loose strut bolt problem is only now being discovered? After how many years and inspections? I have to ask, who are your A&P and IA's?

[N2709P]

The wing strut bolts are in shear, not tension. As long as there is no play in shear you really do not care about the tension as long as there is no other damage. I would just shim the strut/wing attach fittings and tie down bracket with washers so that you are not distorting the wing attach structure when you tighten the nut. I see this all the time on aircraft wing attach bolts. Instead of shimming the fittings, terrible tech, the Manila gorilla tightens the nuts down until the attach fittings are bent but they sure are tight! The attach fitting might break off but the bolt will not fall out. They have no clue that the bolt is in sheer, not tension. These are usually the techs with a box full of 3/8’s and 1/2” drive sockets and ratchets. I rarely use any socket on an aircraft that requires more than a 1/4” drive ratchet.
And, I would not recommend using chain tie downs. If they have any slack, the jolt when the wind gust takes the slack out can cause significant damage to the wing structure. This is true of any of the tie down brackets, wether the loop, spar bracket or just tying around the strut.
N2709P

[walt.buskey]

Old3Pacer, normally, anywhere from 4 to 6, generally more toward the 6. But this being a brand-new engine, I didn't want to chance anything and so wanted to begin with a full load of 6 quarts.

We now have additional break-in oil on hand, so my CFI and I will try again this afternoon. Yes, I know strut mount bolts are in shear, and there is no play in it in that way. We'll maybe put a shim in later. (The struts are sealed replacements from Airframes AK.)

We'll take it up for 20 minutes or so, land, and check everything again. If all goes well, then back in the air to complete the break-in.

[Old3pacer]

Have fun!
Enjoy the journey

[walt.buskey]

Took my first trip up in the "new" 57A today.

With about 300 lbs of people and full fuel, it flies as it was described by my CFI and A&P -- climbs exceptionally well, very stable, and able to literally fly hands-free once altitude is reached and the trim has been set.

Wow, it was quite a big change and a new chapter for me, for sure. Looking in my logbook, the last flight I took in it was 11 years ago, October of 2012.


I have a lot to process. After climbing to altitude (4500), my CFI said, since I was handling everything so well, "We'll try some slower flight."


Well, that was a wake-up call! Things changed quite a lot at a much lower RPM, one notch of flaps, and trying to maintain speed, heading and altitude. I can see I have a LOT to learn.


In any case, the 1-1/2 hr flight was a success, and there were NO oil leaks! The engine started very easily, the plane climbed very well, and yes, I could feel a lot less vibration in the plane compared to my last experiences (granted a long time ago, but still...). As my CFI said, "There's nothing like a new engine!"


57A's performance was pretty damned good, but maybe we still need to go through trimming/rigging one more time -- I had a hard time maintaining heading at the slower speed -- nothing serious, but it wanted to keep drifting to the left which bothered me and made me struggle somewhat.

At last... a whole new world.....


Walt

[walt.buskey]

Oh, a couple pics - I was rather busy during the flight (to put it mildly!)

.DSC01398.JPG DSC01400.JPG DSC01402.JPG DSC01404.JPGDSC01405.JPG

[rsrguy3]

Woo-hoo! Congratulations!