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Monday 29th October
It's engine and fuel time folks!
Hours effort today: 4
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Inserting the fuel pick-up in the tank.
The long, plain piece of metal is for emptying the tank. The top of it
will normally be blocked off. The other is the fuel pickup, with a filter
on the end to keep the worst of the crud out of the fuel lines.
You can see the cut-out in the hole which allows the assembly to pass
into the tank.
Be warned, the manual doesn't have any pictures or instructions for
this assembly. In hindsight, that's because it's glaringly obvious how it
all goes together, but I still managed to assemble it without the pickup
filter the first time round!
The kit contained no less then 3 primer bulbs - brilliant - spare parts
already and at no extra cost! |
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The pickups as supplied did not fit in the tank, standing
proud nearly a quarter of an inch. After much head-scratching, I realised
that there is a dimple at the bottom of the tank clearly intended to be
the lowest point - into which the pickup should fit. However, placing the
end of the pickup there left the top at an angle such that one side of the
flange touched the tank, but the other was a quarter of an inch too high.
i.e. a line drawn perpendicular to the top of the tank does not pass
through the lowest point at the bottom of the tank.
The answer? A little judicious pipe-bending! It fits perfectly now. The
bend, as you can see, must be towards the front of the tank. |
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Here's the completed fuel feed assembly. Notice there is a
bypass pipe going around the primer bulb. This is in case the one-way
valve in the bulb fails, so it will still allow fuel to flow.
Before anyone emails me - I realise there are missing pipe clamps.
That's because they are missing in the kit. |
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Here's the fuel filter and fuel pump.
I'm going to have to revisit this bit, because I have a fuel flow meter
to go in the line, and it must go between the filter and the pump. As you
can see - there's not a lot of room for it! Mind you, the end pipes on the
filter are a good inch and a half long, so I should be able to trim them
shorter to give more space.
Once again, I'm aware the clamps are not done up. |
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Time to start on the engine now. The first step is to remove the 4 studs pre-fitted to the bottom of the
block. For this, you will need two M10 nuts, so you can lock one against
the other to undo the stud. Note this nuts DO come with the kit, but they
are in the same bag as the exhaust manifold bolts and are easy to miss. |
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You can see the stud is quite long, and was heavily thread
locked. However, they should undo easily enough using a 6 inch spanner
such as in the previous picture. |
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Time to fit the bottom engine mount.
The problem is that it is a heavy rubber bush, with a captive bolt.
This bolt must be screwed into one of the stud holes on the bottom of the
block. If you have an 'E' type gearbox (electric start), it is in the way!
The answer involves a few simple steps:
First, remove the gearbox cover, complete with prop flange, being
careful not to damage the gasket. This will not come off by pulling, and
you should avoid inserting any kind of lever. Instead, you will find 2
bits of metal which protrude at the top, and one at the bottom. You can
use this to gently drift the part with a mallet. Careful - the
lowermost gear will fall out, so be ready to catch it. |
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Here's a view of the open end of the gearbox, showing 6
internal bolts which you must now undo. There are also two external bolts
that you cannot see in this picture. They are to either side of the
narrowest part of the assembly, about a third of the way up. |
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Here's the engine mount about to be rotated into place |
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It has two bolts on the bottom which must be wire-locked
before you mount the engine.
Note that the wire in the picture is to illustrate the point only, as I
haven't got any steel locking wire (it's copper wire in the pic - about as
strong as tissue paper!) |
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Here's the front engine mount (the engine is upside down in
this picture). Once again, the two big bolts require wire-locking, and the
little bolt on the front requires a split ring, sadly also missing from
the kit.
I had to stop for the day at this point, as I need locking wire to
continue. John Whelan (star that he is) is dropping some round to me
tomorrow morning. |
Bummer of the day
Trying to find locking-wire:
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In a car parts shop (several actually) and being
told to try a motorcycle repair shop.
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In a Motorcycle repair shop and being told to
try a hardware or DIY shop.
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In a huge branch of B&Q, where the following
conversation took place:
Me: Have you got any steel locking wire
please.
B&Q Customer Care Operative: Whassat
then?
Me: It's for putting through little holes
in the tops of bolts to ensure they don't come undone.
CCO: You don't need that - use Loctite
threadlock
Me: Yes I will, but I need locking wire
too.
CCO: You could use Nylock Nuts too -
it'll never come undone then.
Me (through gritted teeth): Well, look,
actually it's for an aeroplane, and I really, really do need locking wire.
CCO: OH. Hang on......yes, we've got some
galvanised wire that might do it.
He then proceeded to show me the same type of
wire as you see down the middle of throttle cables. You know the stuff -
when you twist it then let go, it untwists itself?
Me: Thanks, but that's not really any
good.
CCO: I guess you need an aeroplane spares
shop then.
Me: Good idea - do you know where there
is one near here?.............
CCO: Why not give Flylight a call (only
kidding!)
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