CAF P-63F King Cobra

[Mike Robinson]

I have a few parts left over from my fathers. I know I have some stacks and a Automatic Pressure Controller and am looking for T-6 SNJ parts /airframe / wings blades...

May not be any use to anybody.

[Ray Clausen]

Hi everyone! Sorry its been so long since I updated WIX, and thanks to Bluehawk15 for doing it for me. We've been really busy at the Cobra Den pulling winter maintenance on our two Tora birds, the P-39, and the Yellow Rose. Looks like we'll be ready for a great flying season. In addition to the normal winter maintenance, we've been making progress on the P-63.

The cleaning of the fuselage interior is going well and we hope to be ready to spray primer inside soon. The weather will be a big driver on that. We've removed most of the control cables and the new cable and hardware should be here this week. The water pump and the wiring harness should be off of the engine Wednesday and shipped for overhaul. A new windshield will be fabricated soon. We had a special coupling made to allow us to extend the main landing gear with the wings removed from the plane. We got the gear extended and began removing wheels, bearings and brakes. Today, we pulled the struts apart and cleaned everything up. We found new seals locally and already have them in hand. Once we get the struts back together, we can inspect and adjust the brakes, re-pack the bearings, and put the wheels on. With that accomplished, we can put the wings back on the plane! We had a socket custom made for the 4 big nuts that attach the wings. Here are a few photos of the landing gear work.



We raised the gear carefully to avoid stress on the worm gear. The wheel was manually lifted as we cranked the gear shaft.



The right strut seals had failed and the fluid and gas were long gone.



Here, the left gear is fully extended and the wheel removed. This strut didn't collapse.



This view of the left gear shows the brake assembly.



A very dirty left gear lower strut with brakes still attached.

This project should get exciting as we are just about at the point where we begin assembling the aircraft. Its a GREAT feeling to see things going back together, though there is still a lot to do!

More soon!

[bluehawk15]

Work on the P-63F main gear is coming right along! I'll try to get some new photos this weekend. We are looking into getting some T-shirts made up with Django's "Cobra Den" art work. Anyone interested?

[flyingsailor]

Work on the P-63F main gear is coming right along! I'll try to get some new photos this weekend. We are looking into getting some T-shirts made up with Django's "Cobra Den" art work. Anyone interested?

I would love to take a look! Good luck getting everything back together, can't wait to see yet more work from the Cobra Den.

Chris
CAF B-29/24 Squadron

[Dave Hadfield]

Will the engine have a working turbocharger?

Dave

[zorro7]

Ray:

Good day!

Thanks for the pics and updates. Will you plz provide close-ups of the big wing nuts and the special socket made?? what size is it??

Tks in advance!

[bdk]

Will the engine have a working turbocharger?

P-39 & P-63 weren't normally equipped with a turbocharger. Naturally they have the geared supercharger at the back of the engine.

[bluehawk15]

Hey BUFFIE, check out page 3 of this thread. I posted some photos there of the empty engine compartment. You can see all the way through to the hangar floor!

[bluehawk15]

Ray has posted LOTS of photos of the wings being put back on the P-63F, and of her now back on her landing gear, over in the WIX Hangar. Here's a link:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31659&start=120

[Django]

I like the drop tank on the '39. It's good to set yourself apart from all the other airworthy P-39s... oh wait...

[Obergrafeter]

Know what you are saying Django. We had the P-39 at Hondo a couple of weeks ago, and it was the only one there!!!

[bluehawk15]

Ray has posted a new photo and some news in the WIX hangar. Check out what he had to say about what was found during the engine tear-down! viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31659&start=120

[b29flteng]

!!!!

[bluehawk15]

Yeah, the aircraft sponsors, who were resistant to getting the engine gone through at first, are SO glad that it was done now!!!

[RyanShort1]

Yeah, the aircraft sponsors, who were resistant to getting the engine gone through at first, are SO glad that it was done now!!!

But hey, it was flying just fine before, right? Why fix it if it obviously ain't broke...

Glad to see that the right things are being done!

Ryan