Engine

Last night I drained the engine preservation oil and added 6 quarts of mineral oil. I ran out of time to set the engine timing, but that is a quick job I can accomplish next time I’m at the hangar.

While I was changing the oil, I took the time to replace the oil drain plug with a quick drain fitting, and put some RTV between the starter solenoid and the snorkel.

I started by removing the snorkle and inspecting the fuel servo. Sure enough, some preservative oil had drained down the intake pipes and collected in the bottom of the servo. Rather than removing the servo, I was able to suck the oil out using a small piece of flexible plastic hose, and the wiping up the residue. There’s still a film of oil, but no pooling of oil at all.

View down the fuel servo’s air inlet. A small amount of oil had pooled at the back of air intake

Then I removed the bottom set of spark plugs, and rotated the prop a few times to push out the remaining oil. A lot of oil came out of cylinder 2, and just a small amount from the other cylinders. I leveled the airplane to help drain as much as possible. I also used a borescope to check the cylinders and take a few pictures, just because.

A small amount of preservative oil leaks out of the lower spark plug hole on one of the cylinders

Oil from the spark plug hole ran down the exhaust pipes and dripped all over the place. The red bucket caught most of it

With that done, I removed the oil drain plug and let the rest of the oil drain out the bottom.

The original oil drain plug, safety wired to the oil screen cover

After consulting a number of threads from Vansairforce, I left the oil filter alone. This is a new filter added by Lycoming, so I’ll just keep it on for the first 10 hours of engine time. At $40 per filter, no need to waste a new one.

Once all the oil was out, I cleaned and installed the quick drain fitting. I used some loctite to seal the threads, and torqued it to 14 foot pounds, per the table of limits for a 1/2-14 pipe fitting. The quick drain should make future oil changes a lot easier – just push on a drain hose, and push the fitting up and rotate to release all of the engine oil.

Preservative oil draining from the sump. By the time I thought to take a photo, most of the oil had drained out

Oil pan and a bucket collected most of the oil.

The quick drain fitting (finished in blue)

The underside of the quick drain fitting showing the safety wire securing it to the oil screen cover

I then cleaned and reinstalled the spark plugs. After wiping off all the oil, I used some acetone to clean the threads and carefully wiped the spark plugs down. I added some copper based anti-seize and reinstalled, torquing to 35 foot pounds per Lycoming’s spec.

Then I put the snorkle back on, adding a bead of RTV to help protect it from the starter. There’s plenty of clearance, but the RTV will help reduce any chance of rubbing and damage as things heat up, shift around and vibrate etc.

With that done, I poured in 6 quarts of straight mineral oil.

I’m adding Aeroshell 80 straight mineral oil which is SAE-40 oil, and is good for a wide range of outside air temperatures

Today I installed the panel that covers the exhaust channel, and match drilled the 4 holes along the forward edge.

I was able to easily install screws in 8 of the 10 nut plates, but 2 of them are refusing to accept screws. The 2 nut plates are slightly misaligned, so I’ll need to remove them and re-install them. The aft-most nut plate will be the hardest to remove as it’s underneath the seat and the seat ribs will make access particularly challenging. Just one more job for the to-do list.

Offending nut plate holes circled in red. Match-drilled holes visible along the forward edge.

In other news, the firewall forward kit arrived today. The only thing missing is the exhaust, which is on backorder with a 4-6 week delivery estimate. That’s fine, as I have everything I need to get the engine ready to be hung.

Oil change

Cowl flap

Engine delivery