Warbird Information Exchange

The Sparrow engine has Merlin Fingers.
Rich

"Could you explain why you are changing Princes's Merlin,is it due for overhaul or would you rather have a differently overhauled one in there?"

The engine in her has a neat history. Pete Regina found this engine NOS in a packard crate in 1979. (I think he paid $5k for it!). Anyway he had it when Princess was Shangri La and it's got, perhaps, 400 hrs tt. The rings were changed in 05ish but when we did a compression test after the Gathering B3 was leaking pretty bad between where the heads and banks meet. Given that the neither the bottom end nor the blower had ever been apart, and needing to pull the heads and banks, it seemed logical to just pull it now, put the Roush engine in her, and then we've got a great -9 to work with when we decide to overhaul it.

That's why.

btw had two flights in Bald Eagle today. All seems okay but the prop needs more balancing. Otherwise pressures temps and power checks are in order.

jb

thanks for all the pics guys, and that is great news on Bald Eagle's flights. glad you got the issue resolved.

i would love to be able to work on engines like those someday once i manage to get back and finish up school.

The -9A Merlin is out of Princess. Several components need to be transfered over to the -7 before it is installed.








It didn't take to much to clean up the firewall forward area.

Rich your clock must have stopped it's the weekend take a day off!

Mr. Beasley,

I am very happy that you have kept Princess Elizabeth as she was at TFC. What they did with that airframe while they owned her (returning her to single seat configuration, etc.) was/is amazing. I was fortunate enough to have sat in Bald Eagle many moons ago at Geneseo. I've got the photo somewhere. My mom knew one of the T-6 display pilots there that year. She told me that he was flying one of your airplanes. I'll ask her what the guy's name was. Anyway, keep up the good work.

_________________
I'm looking for that buried Corsair(s) that I can dig up, pressure wash, and fly!

Tanks for posting these pictures, Rich
Very interesting for the people like me who never seen the details of a P-51 engine mount.

Basically, there are only 8 bolts to hold the engine ?

_________________
Sorry for my bad English:-(

Jim,

You and your team are doing great work with those Mustangs!! Glad to see Bald Eagle is good to go.

There are 8 bolts that are 1/2" dia that hold the engine to alum pads. The pads are bolted to 10 Lord mounts. A lord mount is a large steel tube about 2" in dia. Inside there is a smaller tube that a 1/2" dia bolt will fit thru. In between there is a rubber compound. This allows the engine to move and shake without transmitting the vibrations directly into the airframe.
The front Lord Mount fittings are visible in the foreground. They are gray and look like 3 cans mounted together. The rear Lord mounts have 2 on each side. A 1/2" bolt goes thru each Lord mount.

Of course then there are only 4 bolts that hold the entire mount to the fuselage and 4 nolts that hold the wing to the fuselage. But they are very large bolts.
Rich

Tanks for the details, Rich
That very cool to have the opportunity to discuss with the people who "keep them flying"

Regards

_________________
Sorry for my bad English:-(

Thank you guys for all of the great photos! It is wonderful to be able to see some of what takes place 'behind the scenes'. To me, a Merlin definitely looks better painted all black, and I love the looks of the example going into Princess Elizabeth. It is also great to hear the good news on Bald Eagle!

I've been detailing Princess Elizabeth and B/C model manuals for the last eight months working on this project of mine, which is close to being finished. The model itself is designed to be factory stock, for period schemes, and I was able to use a great majority of Princess Elizabeth as reference. Thankfully, PE is a well photographed airplane.

It was a fun challenge, reverse-engineering much of the working components. I think the greatest challenge was copying all of the many parts of the canopy frames, and getting them to work like the real thing. While it doesn't compare, I have gained a greater appreciation for what it takes to build/restore/maintain the real aircraft...it is amazing just how much goes into them.

Mr. Beasley,

The guy my mom knew from her childhood who introduced us was Rick Yersak. His father was a friend of my grandfather's from either Van Sant or Old Star Airport in PA. Anyway it was a real thrill to be so young and be able to sit in the cockpit of your airplane while so many others watched and drooled!!! A belated thank you to you sir!!

_________________
I'm looking for that buried Corsair(s) that I can dig up, pressure wash, and fly!

JohnTerrell: very nice.
It's for Flight simulator ?

_________________
Sorry for my bad English:-(

Jim ,Thanks for the explanation,I didn't reliase that the engine wasn't overhauled when TFC first purcahsed it.
Glad everything was okay on your test flights.



You might be interested to know the tha RR Avon jet engine in a Canberra is held in place by 4 fixings and the Avon produces a lot of thrust!
I can post a picture showing a couple of the fixing points if anyone would like to see.

_________________
Those that can do,those that can't be bothered,TALK about it.
Volunteer with Classic Flight and a member of Beech Restorations team.
http://beechrestorations.wordpress.com/about-us/
http://www.classicflight.com.

inserting powerplant:


a little further:


and this relationship is consumated. Another satisfied female


Hopefully this one will talk to us the next day ....