...the re-manufactured drive coupling rests inside the worked-over bell housing, with both mounted firmly (and apparently squarely) on the V-drive! How about them apples?
This isn't to say we are in deep water yet. Fittings must be located to plumb the V-drive into the cooling system, said cooling system which is now mostly disassembled for the water heater mod. In addition all of these various bits and pieces have to be bolted back together. A big sigh of relief will echo out of the boat when the bell housing / V-drive is hanging on the back of the tranny. That end of the bell housing doesn't show any evidence of being damaged, but it is a pretty close fit, so...
...once that is on all that remains is to align the engine / tranny / bell housing / V-drive (all sitting on 6 brand new engine mounts) with the prop shaft, install the starter, hook up wires and tubes and hoses and such, take a deep breath, hit the starter button...
...and fix all the things that pop up.
It could be worse. I was supposed to do a photo flight Tuesday morning, piloting the camera ship to take some areal pictures of the world's only remaining Monosport; a 1920's once upon a time air-race dominator. A friend put more than a year into rebuilding the thing from a box of parts. A fast taxi a few days ago uncovered a serious design fluke with the landing gear. Rework led up to a first flight a day or so later - which was cut short by falling oil pressure and a few other niggles. Come Tuesday morning and we may have discovered why there is only one of these things left in the world. Just minutes after take-off the builder / test pilot experienced a case of aileron reversal that (fortunately) he was able to fly though to get back on the ground. (I have more than a little experience with antique airplanes and have flown though some evil handling characteristics of my own, which is why I now fly the camera ship. We don't build 'em like we used to, and there are lots of good reasons why.)
A year plus of solid work to resurrect an airplane that, as it turns out, is best left in the hangar.
At least Kintala still floats.
(Aileron reversal - for those who are curious - is when a pilot moves the flight controls expecting the airplane to roll one way, and it rolls the other way instead. It is a nasty gremlin that lurks in the dark reaches of aerodynamics. Mention it at a gathering of aviators or aeronautical engineers and a heated debate well surly break out as to the cause, though the cause matters not to the pilot in such straights. All he knows is that the airplane is trying very hard to commit suicide and there are scant seconds available to dissuade it from doing so.)
1 comment:
At least with a boat you have more time to react.
Glad to hear you are gaining on the drive train.
Bill Kelleher
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