How Do You Eat an Elephant?..........1 (50k) Bite at a time.

[EDowning]

We decided to do a really, really thorough annual this year. All the normal stuff, plus a little thing like pull the engine and replace the blower section with an overhauled section that I had Jeff Abbott build up. Nothing really major wrong with the old one, but it was letting a little oil through and the oil consumption had been on the high side since I have owned it. As I have said in previous posts, I want this Spad clean.

And what the hey, I figured since we had to take the engine off anyway, why not redo virtually everything firewall forward.

We are making excellent headway. Mike Rawson is doing a great job. Every accessory overhauled, every hydraulic line replaced, all wiring harnesses re-wired, firewall stripped bare and repainted. Just little stuff that makes a big difference.

Won't need to be embarrassed to open the closet door, in a couple of weeks.


Before.















After









More to do. More to come. Should be flying in a couple of weeks.

Last edited by EDowning on Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Cking]

[quote="EDowning"][b][size=24]



quote]

Looks fantastic!
Just a quick question. The big yellow tank is the engine oil tank, the small yellow tank is the hydraulic oil tank but what are the three green cylinders below them? I guess they are hydraulic accumulators, but why three?
Thanks for posting, I look forward for the next set

Rgds Cking

[Trey Carroll]

WOW! That looks awesome Eric! Job well done to you and your crew.

I bet Eric wishes that oil tank just wasn't so d@mn big.

[retroaviation]

With a "Dirty-Three-Filthy" up front, I bet he's glad that oil tank is so d@mn big!

Actually, Eric is on the right track here. One can actually make a 3350 run pretty dang clean. I applaud him for taking the huge amount of time and money to get this done.

Gary

[Ztex]

Very cool...what a monster!

How about a little captioning so us knownothins can learn a little...



It is always cool to see the gear up!

Z

[Robbie Stuart]

You guys are doing a great job. That really looks nice. Of course it helps to have the talent of someone like Mike. Keep up the good work.
Robbie

[K5DH]

Great work! Your ship is already a masterpiece, and this freshening-up will take it to the next level. Kudos to you and your team!

How about posting some pics of those very interesting classic automobiles? Perhaps in another section of the WIX, since they're not airplanes.

Cheers!

[Jack Cook]

I certainly hope you're tracking those p/ns.

[Forgotten Field]

Somebody can actually get Mike Rawson to finish something. Very impressive... Tell Mike I said Hi.

[Jack Cook]

Eric that's really cool

[Bill Greenwood]

There you have it, the real cause of why oil has gotten so expensive. It's not Exxon or Bush or Congress or Arabs after all.

[Matt Gunsch]

Eric,
That is the wrong shade of green, sorry, but you have to redo it. Oh and the Hyd tank is the wrong dash number as well.

[EDowning]

K5DH wrote:

How about posting some pics of those very interesting classic automobiles? Perhaps in another section of the WIX, since they're not airplanes

Check out my website at www.wildrelics.com for the car pics. I think most of the cars are on there now, except the Maserati and maybe one other.

Jack Cook wrote:

I certainly hope you're tracking those p/ns

Actually, I forgot to mention that we would have been done with the whole project by now if it hadn't taken so long to grind off all the part #s. Damm the anoraks!

Matt Gunsch wrote:

Eric,
That is the wrong shade of green, sorry, but you have to redo it. Oh and the Hyd tank is the wrong dash number as well.

Don't worry, it will look fine once we get the purple polka dots on the firewall. Dash #s get ground off with the other pesky part #s.

Bill Greenwood wrote:

There you have it, the real cause of why oil has gotten so expensive. It's not Exxon or Bush or Congress or Arabs after all.

My carbon footprint (that's how much energy I use, for all you who are non-liberals, or don't have your Gore(acle)-English dictionary handy) is HUGE. But don't despair, you can all get there as well, if you'll just focus.
If I had enough money I'd restore a B-58 "Hustler" and paint a picture of Larry Flynt on the tail. I would do the pre flight wearing one of those big fur Rusky hats, 1950s silver "spacesuit" flightsuits with a pair of chromed, pearl handled Desert Eagle .50s, while I ate a turkey leg and drank a Henieken. I could use my new ECO friendly toy to crop dust lead based pesticides at full afterburner, near a grade school playground, while I sat in the cockpit and watched pornos and read the Wall Street Journal and talked on my cell phone, all at the same time.

This would virtually guarantee 3 things, job security for Mike Rawson, job security for my attorneys, and that the CAF would invite me to AIRSHO every year.

But, alas, everybody's got to have a dream.


We will post other pics step by step as we put this back together. BTW, has anyone on this board ever got an engine back when the shop said you would have it? My experience has been that they always give you a month, but can't commit to which year.

Last edited by EDowning on Sat May 24, 2008 2:30 pm, edited 10 times in total.

[Obergrafeter]

While you are out it don't forget to add the historically accurate invasion stripes.

[Bill Greenwood]

Two thought:

If God had meant Skyraiderasorus to fly he wouldn't have made Avgas go up to $6 per gallon.

What a great opportunity to put a nice civilized Griffon off a Shackleton on there.