Cracked!
Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:44 pm
Discovered a crack in the fuselage tubing of my T-6 near the lower left hand engine mount attach point:
Didn't appear to be accident related, but caused by a weld defect from when the bracket was originally welded into place. Over time the flaw grew to about halfway around the tube. I'm glad I took the firewall off to straighten it out a bit and do a little inspection and corrosion control.
This airplane has never flown in civilian hands, so this has been cracked for at least 40 years.
Anyhow, here it is a few weeks later after the tubing was spliced. I'm not a very good welder, so I had a pro do the work. Here is the result:
Didn't appear to be accident related, but caused by a weld defect from when the bracket was originally welded into place. Over time the flaw grew to about halfway around the tube. I'm glad I took the firewall off to straighten it out a bit and do a little inspection and corrosion control.
This airplane has never flown in civilian hands, so this has been cracked for at least 40 years.
Anyhow, here it is a few weeks later after the tubing was spliced. I'm not a very good welder, so I had a pro do the work. Here is the result:
Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:41 am
Very interesting! Thanks for the posting these pictures and keeping us up-to-date on the progress of your restoration. For people like me who have very little airframe experience (i.e. none), this type of thing is really an education.
Mike
Mike
Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:25 pm
Somehow I just don't see the glamour in aircraft restoration anymore. I guess that's because I'm paying the bills! 
I sure liked it better when someone was paying ME to work on their broken down old project!
I sure liked it better when someone was paying ME to work on their broken down old project!