Engine mounted!
I called up the rental place this morning and they are going to be closed starting at noon tomorrow until Monday. I didn’t want to rent the hoist for 2 days, and didn’t want to wait until Monday. I guess today is the day. I swung by and picked up the hoist. It is an ugly beast–about 3X larger than it needs to be. I assembled it fairly easily, but took a while figuring out how to rig something on the end of it to lift the engine. With that done, I discovered the thing wouldn’t fit around the pallet that the engine was sitting on. Time to pull out the Sawzall. A few quick cuts and the hoist was in position.
Getting the engine unbolted from the pallet was a bit of a hassle. Once I figured out that the nuts on the bottom mounts were 11/16″, things went much quicker. It took quite a bit of jockeying to get the hoist into position, especially since one wheel on the darn thing would not pivot. I was planning on just pushing the plane into the driveway, but it rained all afternoon. Julie helped keep the engine steady while I wheeled and lifted it into place. I had to remove the oil filter since it’s on an adapter, but I expected that. The prop governor was not in the way at all. I’m very glad I mounted that while the back of the engine was more accessible.
I followed the guide in the 24 years of the RVator. The first and second bolts went in very easily.
The third bolt was a bit more of a challenge.
The fourth bolt looked impossible. I took a break for dinner. After re-reading the guide, I loosened two of the previous bolts and was able to apply just the right leverage on the rubber mount with a large screwdriver and some wood blocks. The bolt slipped right into place!
This is quite an inspiring step. If I wasn’t so beat, I would pull out the exhaust, fuel lines, baffles, and cowls and start going to town.
