And So it Begins......T-41B Restoration

[L-4Pilot]

Ran the engine today. Oil pressure and temps good, new prop, prop governor, and newly overhauled fuel system worked perfectly. Mag check was good, test flight sometime next week. You Tube video link below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclLo9Y ... e=youtu.be

Last edited by L-4Pilot on Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[DH82EH]

Sweet!

Nice milestone.

Thanks for the update. She's getting close. Very exciting.

Andy

[L-4Pilot]

We started doing the interior stencils today, stripping continues, the two newly rebuilt/reskinned flaps go on this week. Belts and harness by this weekend.

[flightsimer]

Very nice!

[Zac Yates]

Awesome progress!

[L-4Pilot]

Thanks Guys,

Took her out for taxi tests today (play around ) Video link here, my wife caught some of it on the IPAD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXBiNBx ... e=youtu.be

Temporary serial # on tail and 3" N number below and in front of Stab. RJ Dauhn did a very nice job rebuilding the flaps.

I think the aircraft will look pretty good with the low gloss Coin Grey and black markings.

[Scott Rose]

Thanks for documenting this project so well. It is very interesting.

[L-4Pilot]

Thank you Scott, I appreciate your comment.

[L-4Pilot]

I did not have these photos in the thread and wanted to share with you some more of the quality work RJ did for me on the aircraft. In addition to the flaps he rebuilt both wings and replaced the inboard rear spars along with the flap hangers and inboard top and bottom wing skins. I had the wings shipped down to him. The first photo is one of the original rear spars that were replaced due to cracks. In the first photo you can see the elongated rivet holes where the flap hanger had been moving and was loose against the spar, not long till complete failure. There were a total of 8 cracks in the rear spars 4 on each side some running completely from rivet to rivet and several inches in length. The cracks were caused by frequently dropping the flaps above 100 mph.

[L-4Pilot]

All civilian antennas now gone and the original FM Com 54" Whip, FM Homing, and UHF/VHF blade antenna are installed back in their original locations. Have one long wire ADF antenna still to install. Managed to get one flap installed. Removed the electric aux pump today, new one has been ordered and will arrive next week. The aux pump was last overhauled March 2005 and was due replacement. The large blade antennas make excellent com antennas, I used them as my primary on all three of my Cessna O-1s.

[JohnB]

Looking at the Cessna parts drawings, I'm reminded how complex even a "simple" warbird can be!

[rwdfresno]

We started doing the interior stencils today, stripping continues, the two newly rebuilt/reskinned flaps go on this week. Belts and harness by this weekend.

The interior is looking great.

[L-4Pilot]

Still waiting for the right flap to come back. We found a problem with the rebuild and had to send it back to be redone. I installed the window glass, along with new hinges and repaired the window latches over the weekend and today went ahead and installed the cowlings with new camlocs. We repacked the main gear wheel bearings and drained and flushed the system over the weekend. She is ready to go when the flap comes back.

[flightsimer]

Can't wait to see this done!

[L-4Pilot]

We finally received the right flap and got it installed. WE also ran a new Wt. & Balance this week to insure the aircraft was safe to test fly. We will run a final Wt. & Balance after the aircraft returns from the avionics and paint shop.

The aircraft weighed 1818 lbs. with full fuel (52 gals) and oil. Subtracting the 46 gallons of useable fuel gave us a weight of 1542 lbs. and a useful load of 958 lbs. as the aircraft sits at the moment. The CG calculated out within range so we are good to go for the test flight.

Last edited by L-4Pilot on Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:24 am, edited 1 time in total.