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I've been really active in the garage for the past few days. As
background for those who are new and those who've forgotten, I bought my
engine a while back from a gentleman who was building a 2/3rd scale
Stearman. He wanted a radial engine, and when he couldn't find one
small enough, he started converting a 13B so that it looked like a
radial. Later he found a small radial and abandoned the 13B project.
I pretty much bought a 'pig in a poke', only having a chance to look
over the PSRU and bellhousing before handing over money, but at $2500
for a rebuilt engine and reduction unit, combined with Joe Hunt's
stellar reputation, I didn't see to much of a downside.
Fast forward a couple years, and I'm now moving into the process of
completing this project and having to redirect it from a engine for a
plane that needed extra nose weight to a engine for a plane that needs
to keep as much weight off the nose as possible.
My first goal is to remove the manual flywheel and clutch plate. We
discussed this just a week or two ago, and the pictures below show the
result. My buddy Mark let me use his lathe, and I cut a jig out of a
piece of scrap iron round bar. I turned down two ledges; one such that
the flex plate was a push fit, and another such that the clutch plate
was a push fit. I didn't remove the jig in the process to guaranteed
that the plates would end up perfect concentric. Then I drilled out the
rivets to remove one side of the friction material from the clutch plate
(the center one was needed as a spacer), and then match drilled holes
through both plates for 5/16 bolts. The only modification I think I
will need to do now is add large area washers on both sides to spread
out the bolt's compression forces so that more of the friction material
is engaged.
EngineFlywheel.jpg
EngineFlywheelBack.jpg
EngineFlywheelBoltClearance.jpg
EngineFlywheelParts.jpg
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