Bald Eagle Aviation

[51fixer]

Spit Inspection in process at the moment.
Here is MLG sequence during the gear swing-

[51fixer]

Original stencil on the bottom of the R/H wing of the SNJ-3-


Reads- Disconnect Electrical Wire&Control Before Removal
This wing is now in a rotating stand-


After removing the Fuel Tanks we found the cushion pad exterior are a cotton fabric.



Spit is back on the ground-

Fuel tanks are going back in-

[51fixer]

Continuing to piece the Spit back together.
I got the OIl Tank installed-

Oil line connection from tank to engine. The 4 hose clamps on the big hose in the center of the photo.

Return line from the oil cooler connects by this Avimo connection-

The holes in the firewall around the fittings have small panels to seal these holes. Reinstalling them takes longer than installing the tank!
The upper fuel tank connections include connecting the wires to the fuel level float-

Access is through where the instrument panel sits.



Each of the 2 tanks have a float. Each has a wiring connection as shown.
This is the hose connection between the upper and lower tank. 1 1/4" dia.
Tightening this is a pain. The tool I modified from some GM wrench I got on ebay-

[maxum96]

Rich, thanks for all the posts and photos of your work you do there. Your workmanship is first rate and I really like learning from your posts. Thanks for taking time to share your wealth of knowledge with us here on WIX.

[amckenna03]

They got a great shot of the F-16 and Jim flying away looking up at the aft end.
To bad they retired the blimps. That would have been a great shot looking down on them.

Where is the shot?

[51fixer]

They got a great shot of the F-16 and Jim flying away looking up at the aft end.
To bad they retired the blimps. That would have been a great shot looking down on them.

Where is the shot?

It was on live TV on the MLB Network.

[51fixer]

I have all the fuel and oil tanks in place-

Don't ask about fishing out pins and the pin assy parts after they come apart and fall into deep and dark places.
Boost pump and plumbing in place on the main tank bottom-


Instrument panel being inspected-

Back side-

[51fixer]

One part of the Inspection on the Spitfire is to have these Magnaflux or Magnetic Particle Inspection-

These are Eyebolts that attach a brace to the MLG Lock unit-

The eyebolt mounts to the hole seen in the lock assy housing-

P/N is 47950-43-

Blueprint of the parts-

I took the parts to Keystone Turbine, who recently spun off of Sikorsky's Keystone Helicopter facility. They were great to work with.
Eyebolt in the machine-


The part gets magnetized 2 different ways-

Dark room and no flash used.
What you want to see on the paperwork-

[51fixer]

I recently received a set of overhauled Griffon Fingers-

Harbor Freight tool modified to remove cam rails where they press into the #1 Cam Tower-



Warning to Vlado- Get the bottle out, this might bring up bad memories!


Since none of these fingers had been installed in this Cam Rack and also on these heads they have to get fitted.
There are 2 Intake and 2 Exhaust valves per cylinder. There are 2 rails, inner (exhaust valve pivot) and outer (intake valve pivot), The fingers pivot on the rails. There are spacers and shims in different configurations depending on whether its the inner or outer rail. The shims come in all thicknesses, from '030" to .100" and are used to center the valve adjuster on the valve stem and to adjust clearances for oil pressure control.

To start I cut a couple junk rails to use to mimic the whole rails so I wouldn't have to constantly remove the entire cam rack to make adjustments and changes

The outer or Intake Valve Rail Spacer and Shim-

View looking outboard of the Intake Valves and fingers, the inner rail is in the foreground. This shows alignment of valve stem and adjuster on the finger-

Clearance of all the parts on one rail for one cylinder should be about .008" as measured with a feeler gauge set. Book calls out .008 to .012 as installed range and max in service of .020.

Sequence typical of one cylinder, in this case the exhaust fingers. 1st install a shim, I started with what was used on the last set as a starting point-

Then the rear finger-

Center spacer is used on the inner rail. The outer rail has 2 spacers with the fingers touching in the center-

After the fwd finger and spacer is installed you check the alignment-

As you go through you find yourself looking for a spacer .001 or .002" different to get the clearance tight. Other times you might need to move the adjusters .010-.015" to get the finger centered on the valve stem.
When you get a cylinder done it looks something like this-

All marked up so it can be removed to the bench and you can start on the next cylinder. You only have 24 sets of adjustments to make, 2 per cylinder.

[Lynn Allen]

Well done and thank you Rich....

Lynn

[KenH]

Nice to meet you and your family tonight in Reading. Wished my first night run of a Merlin was with a healthy engine! But it was still a good show. Keep up the great work! Good luck on the Spit, and the new project.

Ken

[Trey Carroll]

Always good to hang out with Rich and Jim at the hangar. Had Pamela Marie at the Reading airshow for this past weekend...

The airport is in there somewhere...

[51fixer]

New Mustang Pilot-
Wixer and new P-51 pilot soloed yesterday at MQS in Bald Eagle.
Congratulations Andrew McKenna.

Rolling-

[51fixer]

After Air Work and 3 landings on the larger and longer runway at Lancaster PA Andrew returned for his 1st landing at the home base at MQS.
Overhead-

Circling approach to 11-

[51fixer]

After rolling out he returned to the mother ship hangar-

Lots of smiles-






Everything packed away for the night.