Status Brantel #72823

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:21 pm

Yesterday I reached a major milestone in my build....

I PICKED UP MY ENGINE!

There is a very long story behind how I came to aquire this engine but lets suffice to say that I ended up with what I feel is a very good value for me and my airplane!

My rebuilt (new to me) engine is a O-360 Lycomming with 3.0 SMOH. The engine was recently torn down, inspected and reassembled and test ran by Don from Don's Dream Machines. Along with many new parts, many of the parts were inspected and yellow tagged by Aircraft Specialties. The crank was reconditioned, brought up to snuff on about 4 SB's including the SB505 (yes.. who knew that some cranks could be repaired to meet the SB505?), and recertified/yellow tagged by Aircraft Specialties.

Aquiring the engine for an aircraft project is most likely the most emotional and exciting time for a homebuilder so here are a few acknowledgements from me to people that helped make this happen for me!

Thank God for allowing me to have a blessed life in order to participate in such a hobby!

Thanks to Tim McGinnis for his friendship and the opportunity to purchase this engine from him along with many other related items etc. I want Tim to know that I understand that he went out on a limb for me and without his generosity, it may have been many more years before I could aquire an engine! The list is long and I know that he sacrificed some of his personal investment in this engine when he made it available to me and saw this thing through!

Thanks to Bob Dougherty and Chuck Windham for all the millions of questions I ask them all the time about engines!

Thanks to Don from Don's Dream Machines http://www.donsdreammachines.com/site for being one of the most stand up guys I have ever met. I do not want to get into the particulars here but let me assure you, Don went above and beyond by about 2000 percent of what most people in his line of work would have done in a million years to make a long list of bad circumstances go away and to deliver me what should prove to be a great engine! That is one multigenerational family business that will be around a long, long time!

TomC · Post by **TomC** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:21 pm

Brian,

Way to go! Does it have a hollow or solid crankshaft?

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:34 pm

Thanks,

It is a hollow crank that has been repaired and coated to meet the SB505 standards.

I wanted to have a hollow crank in order to keep the options open later for a CS prop.

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:52 pm

Glad to hear that you were able to work out the details and get an engine. That has to be exciting.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:34 pm

That's great news Brian!! I know Jeff Sword's, and my friend Jack had his engine done at Don's as well. Nice!!!

Post by **Spike** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:25 pm

Nifty. Congrats!!

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:32 am

THAT is a very nice looking engine! I suspect you will keep it gray and not paint it to be some kind of charm bracelet bobble ehh?

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:32 am

For the sake of simplicity and the fact that I am artistically challenged, I will keep it grey.

Would not want to try and compete with Chad

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:27 am

I like the drilled prop flange...did Don do that, or did it come that way?

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:45 am

Not sure Chad,

Don originally built this engine about ten years ago. It was not run for 10 years.

Fast forward to this year, he totally disassembled it for me (I watched him do this from start to finish, less than an hour! No corrosion was found!) and rebuilt it with all yellow tagged or new parts. The crank was already that way when I aquired the engine prior to the rebuild.

He said the engine was originally built for speed and not for long life so some things were changed back to stock because I want long life/reliability and not so much interested in a couple miles per hour.

It originally had 9.5:1 pistons, stage III cam, lots of work done on a 3 angle valve job and undercut valves, etc.

It went back together with stock pistons, stock cam, reman cylinders with stock valve seats/valves, etc.

I guess all that remains of the HOTRODDING is the drilled prop flange. Seems Aircraft Specialties has no problem certifying it that way. Maybe it is a stock feature on this particular crank????

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:41 am

I know you got a deal on that engine! Jeff called me in 2006 about that engine, and I was no where near ready for one...didn't know they still had it! Way to go Brian!!!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:37 am

Not sure were talking about the same one, this one has been in the possession of a local friend for about 4 years. He bought it as part of a RV6A project and was planning to run it but decided to buy a new one from Barrett. They have a few hundred engines down there so we may or may not be talking about the same one.

Get this Chad, it was originally red and silver and someone took the time to paint all the cyld fin edges silver. I asked Don to just put it back grey to make it simple.

Seems the original starter of the kit brought it to Don for some small work, then he sold it to another fellow in Griffin GA and this guy had Don do all the HOTROD mods to it. He never ran it and then sold the partial completed kit, engine, and all to my friend.

cjensen wrote:I know you got a deal on that engine! Jeff called me in 2006 about that engine, and I was no where near ready for one...didn't know they still had it! Way to go Brian!!!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:07 pm

Ah...could be the same, maybe not. I remember Jeff saying something about an engine having some mods on it, and if I wanted it, they would rebuild it the way I wanted it. Could've been any number of engines though.

So, it WAS red and silver, and you changed it back!!??

Man...

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:33 pm

Man it did look good but after you posted picks of yours, there was no-way I could do that as well, these guys would have never let me hear the end of it

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:22 pm

Come...join me in the revolution...the red and silver revolution!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:51 am

Nothing earth shattering here but since I was on vac and getting transitioned over the past couple weeks, nothing has happened with the build.

This weekend, I pulled it out so it could see the sky for the first time! Cleaned and reorganized a bit to get ready to hang that engine tonight!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:35 am

That's a SWEET pic Brian!! You have a very peaceful looking build environment out your backyard. I like the pants and fairings!

aparchment · Post by **aparchment** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:11 pm

Brian that is totally awesome! With the canopy, tailfeathers and wheelpants it looks like a real airplane.

That must be very motivating.

Antony

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:10 pm

yep, that's a great outside shot.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:44 am

Followed the guide to engine hanging off of the VAF site and in less than an hour start to finish, I had an engine hanging on my plane!

Thanks to my uncle, Al Swan and a local RV7A builder named Paul Bennett for their help! (Paul did not know what he was in for when he emailed me yesturday morning asking if he could drop in!) Could not have done it without them! Also thanks to Tim McGinnis and Bob Dougherty for the phone support prior to the event!

RivetBangers.com

Status Brantel #72823

Major Milestone! Engine in hand!

Congrats!

like a real airplane

Milestone! Engine Hung!