Dave~What's the plan for FIFI?

[b17engineer]

Dave,

How are the mods of the nacelle coming along? Any big issues?

RICK

[tulsaboy]

Dave-

What are your plans for proving the new engines? Are you going to hang one and go fly a couple of test flights with the three old ones and one new one, just to see how the new one performs, or are you going to hang more of the new ones before you make any test flights? I'd assume that there will be copious ground running before flying? I just didn't know what SOP might be for a situation like this, as it probably hasn't been done on a WWII airframe in a while. Just curious. Thanks for the update, and congrats!!!

kevin

[Matt Gunsch]

I believe there are no old engines left on FiFi, so it will be a all new engine flight. I would be doing alot of ground runs and flying over the airport until you are sure of the engines. The chances of all 4 failing at the same time is so small as to not be a factor. Unless you are a certain flight crew from Boeing..............

[tulsaboy]

Matt-

Look at the second photo down in Dave's last post. Doesn't that look like an engine in the outboard nacelle? Just curious.

I agree on the ground testing- the more the better before flying a new engine (says kevin the non-A&P).

kevin

[retroaviation]

The old engines are junk. They're making metal and shouldn't be run on the airplane again, but who knows what'll happen. Originally, the new engines were going to be run thoroughly on Testiclese (that engine test rig that we were rebuilding) in order to insure nothing happened to the airframe should there be problems, but they sold it. I understand that they're just gonna run the engine on the airframe now, but I'm sure it'll be okay. It's all about saving money, right?

Gary

[tulsaboy]

Thanks for the info, Gary.

kevin

[B29B24crewchief]

Everyone relax! We will be doing extensive running of the engines on the ground. We won't fly this airplane with any of the old engines. That would accually increase our chances of a failure. Not what I want. Gary's original idea of running the engines on the test stand "Testiclese" had merit but we decided to run them at the engine builders facility, thereby limiting our liability if something went wrong and if something wasn't right, it would already be there for them to fix it. I feel confident with the testing we did on the initial engine, that it will preform, on the airplane, as we expect. The analogy I use is, would you put a new engine on a single engine airplane and worry about it's failure. Sure you would worry some but what else can you do but fly it. We will have 4 new engines and the odds of a quad failure are uncalulatable. We will prove the engines, on the airframe, to the satisfaction of some of the best warbird guys in the business. This will also give us the ability to run all the systems involving operating the airplane. She will be safe or we won't fly!

Dave

[B29B24crewchief]

Dave,

How are the mods of the nacelle coming along? Any big issues?

RICK

Rick, The timeframe right now is to try and have everything ready to run in 30 days. Nelson is working on the cowling and exhaust and is aware of this. He seems to think he can make that schedule. The props are another story and I'm not sure at this time if they will be ready but I am hopeful. They know the timeframe as well and understand I only need one!
Dave

[Ztex]

Dave,

Is there a test club prop for your engines or do you need the real deal to do it properly in this case?

Just curious.

Congrats on hanging your new motor!

[B29B24crewchief]

We need to run this engine with the full size prop to get the numbers we are looking for. Those numbers are taken at specific RPM, MAP and torque pressure parameters. Once we get the numbers we are looking for, we will surely put some more easy time on the engine. If CHT temperatures are an issue, which I don't believe they will be with these cylinders, we will be forced to run at shorter intervals and early in the morning when it's cooler.
Dave

[Alan Brooks]

To Dave, Mark, Chris, Shorty, and the many other team members...... GREAT JOB!
Alan

[B29B24crewchief]

It's been fun and a real challenge to figure out how all the lines, fittings and wires are going to hook up on this new engine! Some stuff is working out easy and some is just harder than expected. I've had Shorty here for a month and it seems that all he has been doing is working the new mag wiring. This has been huge, cause it required running 2 more wires to each mag all the way from the flt. engineers panel. When we realized that was what we had to do, we decided to pull the old 2 wires out and run 4 new wires in it's place. This also requires removing the leading edges, putting in new mag switches in the flt. engineers panel and many other things along the way. The new mag switches are very different from the original switches and required making a new panel for them. It's nearly complete or should I say, complete as it can be for the time being and where we are at, with the other engines. Tomorrow the City of Midland is having a simulated "crash disaster drill" at the hangar and we plan on stabbing in the oil cooler and continue hooking up stuff. I'll post some cool pics tomorrow of the events.

[B29B24crewchief]

Well its been a busy week and my posts have suffered! I wanted to show you some of the pics of the "Air Disaster "drill they did at the CAF hangar last week. They paint the victims up with fake blood and give them tags to tell them if they are dead or injured and what hurts. Then Local emergency teams and EMS take over and transport them to the area hospitals. Then they come back to the hangar for lunch, drinks and snacks. It all went well and no one died!!

[B29B24crewchief]

All the while that was going on, we were working on "FIFI".

Chris is getting the oil cooler fittings put on and saftied.

Shorty's working on connecting the starter and generator cables, the lines to the prop governor, the prop control box leads, the primer solenoid, the fuel pressure line and some other stuff.

This is our Local EMS!

The boys are getting an idea of how to fit a 40 lb. oil cooler in a 35 lb. box.
This is not the most fun they ever had.

At the end of the day, we had it pretty well in place but still had to get the lines hooked up.
Dave

[whistlingdeath77]

Keep em' flying guys! Great Job

Frank