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Friday was a big day that I had been planning for over 2+ months -- Engine Hanging! My friend Andy was in town from Chicago, along with local RV-7 builder Bill Rogers and RV-4/8 builder Jack Savage. Jack got to my place an hour earlier than I asked him to get there so we started getting everything prepped. We ended up turning the fuselage around so just a little bit of the nose was in the garage, and the tail was outside. This gave us a lot of nice smooth concrete to make wheeling the engine hoist easier.



We pretty much followed the Illustrated Guide to Hanging Engines (on Doug Reeves' site), starting with the top right bolt first. This one was a piece of cake to get in. Took 20 seconds. The second bolt is the top left and that one gave us a real fit. Bill showed up about 20 minutes into fighting with the second bolt and took control of the situation. Bill has hung a bunch of engines before and did his SOLO on his RV-7! After tightening up the first bolt and pushing the engine, the bolt was in! The bottom two bolts went is pretty easily once we let the engine down and compress the bottom mounts. Here I am tightening up the last nut.



After the engine was on, we talked RV's for a long while and pigged out eating some burgers on the deck.

Here the final pic of the plane with the engine on and backed into the garage again!



It's a great day in the project when the engine goes on, and it was great celebrating it with a few friends!

Nice engine! That's a mighty clean looking firewall you have there.

Way to go Mike! I helped Rob hang his engine, and those bolts can be a real PITA!! The guys at work make it look easy, but there's definitely a trick to it! Glad you had some experience there to make it quicker.

NICE!!

Are you gonna start off running mags?

cjensen wrote:Way to go Mike! I helped Rob hang his engine, and those bolts can be a real PITA!! The guys at work make it look easy, but there's definitely a trick to it! Glad you had some experience there to make it quicker.

NICE!!

Are you gonna start off running mags?

Thanks Chad! I *might* swap out one of the mags for a PMAG, but then again I might wait until after it is flying. There will always be at least one mag in her!

What are your thoughts on that (always having one mag)? I've been wandering around the EI sites trying to figure out what to do...

cjensen wrote:What are your thoughts on that (always having one mag)? I've been wandering around the EI sites trying to figure out what to do...

I like the idea behind the EI system (hotter spark, variable timing, lighter and smoother) and the people who fly behind them seem to do nothing but great things to say (both about the LSE and EMAG equipment). My personal opinion is the LSE Plasma ignition is a more reliable product but that's only because they have been in the field for at least 5 years and you don't hear people complain about them at all. In fact, I would imagine some engines have gone pretty close to TBO if not to it using them. I don't know how many hours the EMAG's have reached on engines in the field

I do really like how the EMAG products mount (i.e. no control box to futz with, just pop it where the mag was). Also I really like the idea of self contained power generation of the PMAG. Nice belt and suspender system there!

I want to combine the two of them to have two totally independent ignition systems, but have all the advantages of electronic ignition.

Congrats!! I didn't know you and Jack were acquainted. He is a good guy.

Looks good dude!

Nice! It's good to see that engine hanging! Now the really fun work begins.

Guy

That's great Mike! Must be something to have reached that important milestone, it is more than just an airframe now.

Sweet!!!

CONGRATULATIONS. Engine hanging is a very big milestone. It just keeps getting better, enjoy the trek.

Mike, in keeping with recent tradition, shouldn't there also be a picture of some cheap but effective adult beverage?

RV7Factory wrote:Mike, in keeping with recent tradition, shouldn't there also be a picture of some cheap but effective adult beverage?

Maybe some fruit flavored beer?

Joe

rv8or wrote:Maybe some fruit flavored beer?

Joe

Joe, you're this >< close to getting banned from the campsite!!

Congrats!!!! Looks GREAT!!!