Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:07 pm
HOORAY!!!...Way to go all!....Bet you were glad to finally hear the music! I missed it by one day....Dang it!...Will you fly Hot Stuff this coming Saturday? Hope to be thru there then...
Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:53 pm
Gary, It's possible.....we'll be out there, one way or another, so you're welcome to stop by.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot stuff'
www.amhf.org
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot stuff'
www.amhf.org
Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:23 pm
Congrats to all of y'all. I have enjoyed reading the saga and am glad that you had such successful engine runs. Looking forwarding to seeing the plane fly again !!!!!!
Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:03 am
Again, thanks to you WIXers for your support on this project. Looking back through all of this post, I see one person who hasn't received the thanks and credit that they are due....That would be our own Indy Jen. It's not her way to give herself a lot of credit, so I will.
Famous Jenny is the very definition of moxie, whether it be elbow deep in oil or knee deep in snow, she is often the first to arrive on a maintenance day and the last to leave. She's kept us all safe on the ramp and can translate the Navy manuals into common language that we can all understand ( anyone who has read those manuals knows what I'm talking about here). There is no task on the PV-2 that she won't tackle. She endures lots of good natured ribbing about rickety ladders and what shenanigans we have planned for the rare day that she doesn't show up for Harpoon work.
Thanks from your maintenance team. You're why we try so hard.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Famous Jenny is the very definition of moxie, whether it be elbow deep in oil or knee deep in snow, she is often the first to arrive on a maintenance day and the last to leave. She's kept us all safe on the ramp and can translate the Navy manuals into common language that we can all understand ( anyone who has read those manuals knows what I'm talking about here). There is no task on the PV-2 that she won't tackle. She endures lots of good natured ribbing about rickety ladders and what shenanigans we have planned for the rare day that she doesn't show up for Harpoon work.
Thanks from your maintenance team. You're why we try so hard.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:28 am
Aww, ain't that a sweet thing to say! What PJ neglects to mention above is how certain of the Harpoonies enjoy tormenting me until I unleash the blistering torrent of profanity, such that passing birdies overhead are set on fire by it. In the AMHF, this is called "entertainment." Anything to keep the troops amused!
Okay, enough of the mutual love-fest. I guess we do all work for each other as much as we do for the beloved old plane, though. And speaking of work, just because we finally ran engines doesn't mean that there isn't still a ton of work to do. Our foiks were out there yesterday afternoon (instead of the usual Wednesday), attacking some of it.
We've been having an annoying problem with the fuel boost pump breaker popping, and we have had a hard time running down the source of the trouble. Electrical Guru Roy and copilot Scotty were out there with Gaylon to investigate. Roy brought his high-dollar test equipment, and it seems to have paid off. He was able to isolate a major impedance mis-match between the left and right boost pumps. The left pump on "low" is drawing about three times the current as does the right pump on "high." And it draws a few amps less on "high" than it does on "low."
Well, that's enough for me; I'm persuaded. There's a replacement pump on the way, should be here in time for the weekend maintenance. I guess that's what I'm doing Saturday.
Scotty did a good advance job for me, though, taking it upon himself to get all the fuel out of the left forward inboard tank, which is where the pump lives. That'll be a big time-saver for us Saturday.
PJ is also carrying in a spare wheel hub to a local manufacturer of seals, o-rings, and the like. Our left brake weeps hydraulic fluid, and repeated changing of seals hasn't cured it. We're going to have them make us up a couple sizes, in incrementally thicker thicknesses, because we would rather have the fluid stay inside the system. So we'll be attacking that, too.
There's still the compression test to get done on the right engine, too, and the primer solenoid to attend to on the left side.
That's the mid-week update. Looking at the fullness of our plate, it's not a complete write-off, but it is doubtful that we'll fly Saturday. Still I expect that we'll be back in the air within the week, barring the unexpected.
Look for us to be darkening your skies soon,
Okay, enough of the mutual love-fest. I guess we do all work for each other as much as we do for the beloved old plane, though. And speaking of work, just because we finally ran engines doesn't mean that there isn't still a ton of work to do. Our foiks were out there yesterday afternoon (instead of the usual Wednesday), attacking some of it.
We've been having an annoying problem with the fuel boost pump breaker popping, and we have had a hard time running down the source of the trouble. Electrical Guru Roy and copilot Scotty were out there with Gaylon to investigate. Roy brought his high-dollar test equipment, and it seems to have paid off. He was able to isolate a major impedance mis-match between the left and right boost pumps. The left pump on "low" is drawing about three times the current as does the right pump on "high." And it draws a few amps less on "high" than it does on "low."
Well, that's enough for me; I'm persuaded. There's a replacement pump on the way, should be here in time for the weekend maintenance. I guess that's what I'm doing Saturday.
Scotty did a good advance job for me, though, taking it upon himself to get all the fuel out of the left forward inboard tank, which is where the pump lives. That'll be a big time-saver for us Saturday.
PJ is also carrying in a spare wheel hub to a local manufacturer of seals, o-rings, and the like. Our left brake weeps hydraulic fluid, and repeated changing of seals hasn't cured it. We're going to have them make us up a couple sizes, in incrementally thicker thicknesses, because we would rather have the fluid stay inside the system. So we'll be attacking that, too.
There's still the compression test to get done on the right engine, too, and the primer solenoid to attend to on the left side.
That's the mid-week update. Looking at the fullness of our plate, it's not a complete write-off, but it is doubtful that we'll fly Saturday. Still I expect that we'll be back in the air within the week, barring the unexpected.
Look for us to be darkening your skies soon,
Mon May 04, 2009 10:41 pm
Hello WIXers,
We're running late with the maintenance report this week, but tht's mainly because the maintenance is still not over. We've had teams working on the plane straight through since Saturday, and more to follow each day through the week. We're intending to fly this coming Saturday, and we will, too, or know the reason why.
As usual with Hot Stuff, though, the items on the do-list are the least of our worries--always things cropping up. The main idea is to finish with the annual in time to get her signed off and test-hopped.
Saturday's work boiled down to two main efforts: compression check on the right engine, and replacing the main fuel boost pump on the left side. There you see the layout. A few of the boys looked into the balky ground power cart, too.
Machine Shop Gaylon led the compression check effort, assisted mainly by Rich no. 1 and Hot Rod Steve. It takes a while to do 18 cylinders. The helpers rotate the prop to get each cylinder to TDC in turn, then hold the prop stationary while the compressed air is applied. 80 psi goes in, and the pressure held by the cylinder is recorded. We want to see all cylinders within 20% of each other. The engine checked out good to go.
Before the check was over, a group of visitors came by: radio people from local station WFBQ, buddies of Rich no. 1. They've heard the old man telling tales of the old bomber for a while now, and wanted to see the goings-on. They got an eyefull, certainly.
While that was going on, PJ and I were under the left wing, taking care of the boost pump install.
There's PJ, soldering the splices in the wiring harness. Before we could get to that point, we had to go through the heap of old soldering irons on the shelf to figure out which were good. By the time we'd tried three different weak, barely-warm irons, I noticed PJ tinning one with the air of someone who's been there, done that. Turns out that she was a soldering technician for several years. From that instant, the solder splices became her job. Solder them together for a good strong bond, then heat-shrink over the individual wires, more heat-shrink over the pair, RF shielding over the whole package.
We threw away all those bad irons, too. Enough is enough with the worn-out stuff!
There's me, finishing up the install after PJ wrapped up the wiring. The flange bolts take a light torque, no more than 30 in-lbs. It doesn't seem like much, but over-torqueing will make it leak and dribble fuel all over. This is about the third one of these I've installed, and I've not yet had one leak.
Once we were done with the pump, we took off to visit our AI, George, who had a replacement battery for us. While we were at his shop, we got a load of the Waco UPF-7 he's been restoring. It is a thing of beauty. We got there just in time to help him hang the engine. It's going to be at Oshkosh this year, I believe, and it sure is looking like a trophy winner--shiny inside and out, and a feat of craftsmanship.
Of course, I didn't think to take my camera on the errand! Next time I go out, I won't be so forgetful.
While PJ and I were gone, the crew had lunch, courtesy of Rich no. 1, who brought an enormous pizza. I managed to get one little piece on the way out the door, but I figured it'd be consumed by the time I got back. Yep.
Having returned with the battery, we set about moving fuel back into the empty left inboard tank, to leak-check that pump installation.
There's Barnstormer Joe, in the cockpit manipulating the valves. We moved enough fuel to make sure of the pump (no leaks), then called over the fuel truck to put a decent load in there.
We capped off the day with another engine run--just the left engine. It's still running like a peach, as you'd expect.
Sunday's crew came out in the afternoon to address a nagging problem with the left brake. We've changed the seal in that hub three times at least, and each time, it's begun weeping hydraulic fluid before too much time passed again.
We've had a local fabricator of o-rings and the like make up these things for us, but we decided this time to work it up ourselves. Buna rubber stock, oversized by ten thousandths this time.
Long Tall Glen and his EAA buddy Randy taking care of business in the shop, there. They used a spare hub to find the correct circumference, and then it's a steady hand and a careful clean cut. A special CA glue, formulated for the buna, joined the ends together--another use for a steady hand.
And there it is.
We've gone through this particular evolution a dozen times at least--pull the wheel, disassemble the brake stack, pack the bearings, clean the brake segments. Then we can put the new seal in, and hope that this time is the time.
There's PJ with the representative components, one each rotor and stator. The brake stack consists of a dozen of one and eleven of the other--or is it 13 of one and 12 of the other?--and everything must be clean and dry before we reinstall it. Hydraulic fluid dribbling all over it does not make for good braking action!
There's L.T. Glen putting the new seal in. It was a good tight fit, this one was. It has promise. Two days later, still no sign of so much as a molecule of fluid coming out of there.
Then Randy takes each rotor/stator pair and puts them on the hub. The stators have teeth that engage slots in the hub, keeping them stationary. The rotors have teeth that engage slots in the wheel, spinning them with the wheel as it rotates.
And there's the whole thing assembled, just waiting for the wheel and tire. Glen's tightening the nut, which locks all those plates in place. Turn it down as far and hard as you can with hands alone, then back it off one full turn and secure.
While all this was going on, Sideshow Ted was over at the right nacelle, removing the fire bottle. Each engine has two bottles, which can be individually released. This gives us two shots at putting out a fire, if we should ever have one. No. 1 on the right engine needs to be recharged, so Ted was pulling it.
It's infrequent that Ted's schedule lets him come out and work on the plane. He is frequently out working on our ramp shack, though. it was good to see him.
Today's work was more of the same--the right brake hasn't been leaking, but it needed to be pulled, inspected, bearings packed, and reassembled to satisfy the annual. That's been done.
Tomorrow there'll be another crew out, and possibly another engine run with a hope of capturing usable date. We've still got the idle speed, idle mixture, and prop governor to verify and adjust as necessary, plus a couple primer solenoids that need attention.
If we can get this plane in the air _before_ the weekend--a long shot, but potentially do-able--we may be able to get our boys a bit of practice, and potentially their type rides. I'd like to see that! But the main thing is to get the plane into the air safely and back again.
It's coming.
More reports as the maintenance week progresses,
We're running late with the maintenance report this week, but tht's mainly because the maintenance is still not over. We've had teams working on the plane straight through since Saturday, and more to follow each day through the week. We're intending to fly this coming Saturday, and we will, too, or know the reason why.
As usual with Hot Stuff, though, the items on the do-list are the least of our worries--always things cropping up. The main idea is to finish with the annual in time to get her signed off and test-hopped.
Saturday's work boiled down to two main efforts: compression check on the right engine, and replacing the main fuel boost pump on the left side. There you see the layout. A few of the boys looked into the balky ground power cart, too.
Machine Shop Gaylon led the compression check effort, assisted mainly by Rich no. 1 and Hot Rod Steve. It takes a while to do 18 cylinders. The helpers rotate the prop to get each cylinder to TDC in turn, then hold the prop stationary while the compressed air is applied. 80 psi goes in, and the pressure held by the cylinder is recorded. We want to see all cylinders within 20% of each other. The engine checked out good to go.
Before the check was over, a group of visitors came by: radio people from local station WFBQ, buddies of Rich no. 1. They've heard the old man telling tales of the old bomber for a while now, and wanted to see the goings-on. They got an eyefull, certainly.
While that was going on, PJ and I were under the left wing, taking care of the boost pump install.
There's PJ, soldering the splices in the wiring harness. Before we could get to that point, we had to go through the heap of old soldering irons on the shelf to figure out which were good. By the time we'd tried three different weak, barely-warm irons, I noticed PJ tinning one with the air of someone who's been there, done that. Turns out that she was a soldering technician for several years. From that instant, the solder splices became her job. Solder them together for a good strong bond, then heat-shrink over the individual wires, more heat-shrink over the pair, RF shielding over the whole package.
We threw away all those bad irons, too. Enough is enough with the worn-out stuff!
There's me, finishing up the install after PJ wrapped up the wiring. The flange bolts take a light torque, no more than 30 in-lbs. It doesn't seem like much, but over-torqueing will make it leak and dribble fuel all over. This is about the third one of these I've installed, and I've not yet had one leak.
Once we were done with the pump, we took off to visit our AI, George, who had a replacement battery for us. While we were at his shop, we got a load of the Waco UPF-7 he's been restoring. It is a thing of beauty. We got there just in time to help him hang the engine. It's going to be at Oshkosh this year, I believe, and it sure is looking like a trophy winner--shiny inside and out, and a feat of craftsmanship.
Of course, I didn't think to take my camera on the errand! Next time I go out, I won't be so forgetful.
While PJ and I were gone, the crew had lunch, courtesy of Rich no. 1, who brought an enormous pizza. I managed to get one little piece on the way out the door, but I figured it'd be consumed by the time I got back. Yep.
Having returned with the battery, we set about moving fuel back into the empty left inboard tank, to leak-check that pump installation.
There's Barnstormer Joe, in the cockpit manipulating the valves. We moved enough fuel to make sure of the pump (no leaks), then called over the fuel truck to put a decent load in there.
We capped off the day with another engine run--just the left engine. It's still running like a peach, as you'd expect.
Sunday's crew came out in the afternoon to address a nagging problem with the left brake. We've changed the seal in that hub three times at least, and each time, it's begun weeping hydraulic fluid before too much time passed again.
We've had a local fabricator of o-rings and the like make up these things for us, but we decided this time to work it up ourselves. Buna rubber stock, oversized by ten thousandths this time.
Long Tall Glen and his EAA buddy Randy taking care of business in the shop, there. They used a spare hub to find the correct circumference, and then it's a steady hand and a careful clean cut. A special CA glue, formulated for the buna, joined the ends together--another use for a steady hand.
And there it is.
We've gone through this particular evolution a dozen times at least--pull the wheel, disassemble the brake stack, pack the bearings, clean the brake segments. Then we can put the new seal in, and hope that this time is the time.
There's PJ with the representative components, one each rotor and stator. The brake stack consists of a dozen of one and eleven of the other--or is it 13 of one and 12 of the other?--and everything must be clean and dry before we reinstall it. Hydraulic fluid dribbling all over it does not make for good braking action!
There's L.T. Glen putting the new seal in. It was a good tight fit, this one was. It has promise. Two days later, still no sign of so much as a molecule of fluid coming out of there.
Then Randy takes each rotor/stator pair and puts them on the hub. The stators have teeth that engage slots in the hub, keeping them stationary. The rotors have teeth that engage slots in the wheel, spinning them with the wheel as it rotates.
And there's the whole thing assembled, just waiting for the wheel and tire. Glen's tightening the nut, which locks all those plates in place. Turn it down as far and hard as you can with hands alone, then back it off one full turn and secure.
While all this was going on, Sideshow Ted was over at the right nacelle, removing the fire bottle. Each engine has two bottles, which can be individually released. This gives us two shots at putting out a fire, if we should ever have one. No. 1 on the right engine needs to be recharged, so Ted was pulling it.
It's infrequent that Ted's schedule lets him come out and work on the plane. He is frequently out working on our ramp shack, though. it was good to see him.
Today's work was more of the same--the right brake hasn't been leaking, but it needed to be pulled, inspected, bearings packed, and reassembled to satisfy the annual. That's been done.
Tomorrow there'll be another crew out, and possibly another engine run with a hope of capturing usable date. We've still got the idle speed, idle mixture, and prop governor to verify and adjust as necessary, plus a couple primer solenoids that need attention.
If we can get this plane in the air _before_ the weekend--a long shot, but potentially do-able--we may be able to get our boys a bit of practice, and potentially their type rides. I'd like to see that! But the main thing is to get the plane into the air safely and back again.
It's coming.
More reports as the maintenance week progresses,
Mon May 11, 2009 7:35 pm
Hello WIXers,
Another week come and gone, and an exhausting week it was, too. Work crews out at the ramp ten--or is it eleven?--days out of the last fourteen, pressing to get the annual completed. We have two pilots to get type rides for, and until late last week, we had a show to make, too. That fell through due to availability of our lone type-rated guy, which is a big reason why we're so focused on getting our other guys rated--the more flexibility you have, the more gigs you can take. And that, friends, is how you stay alive as a non-profit airshow bird.
So, we finally slowed down the pace a bit as of this weekend, but we're still basically done with the annual. And boy, did our people attack the discrepancies during the recent flurry of activity. A short list:
* Hydraulic leaks isolated and fixed
* Nagging leaky left brake fixed at last
* Bad right main-wheel bearing replaced
* Engine inspections and test runs done
* Left engine prop governor set
* Left boost pump replaced
And ah heck, more than that, even, but you get the idea.
So, this past weekend saw even more odds and ends attended to, but the main event, since we couldn't fly, was taxi tests. We needed to see that re-done left brake in action, and anyhow, it's been almost two years since Hot Stuff has moved anywhere under her own power.
There's a look at the setup. We had work to do in the right nacelle, in the right gear well, in the electrical bay in the nose, and in the tailwheel well.
The right generator was one problem. We haven't gotten it on line yet. Just one of those things--it was working when removed, and now it just won't happen. We've verified connections, ohmed out the switches, pulled and checked the regulator, and generally wrung out that system from end to end.
There's a look at the thing in the right nacelle. One visible difference between the two is a jumper bus between two posts (D and E) on this one, that doesn't exist on the other. Problem is, that jumper wasn't on the left generator when it was removed, either--there are photos. So is is still a bit of a mystification.
Back at the tail, Machine Shop Gaylon had a couple helpers to get the tailwheel and strut lubed. Long Tall Glen and IndyJen took care of lubing the right main, and that completed the lube points.
In the pic above, we have Machine Shop Gaylon, Johnny Gearpin, and PJ. Bob the New Guy ended up back there with Gaylon after a bit, and the other two went off to other pursuits.
Johnny Gearpin continued his project for replacing the pilot's sliding window. Its seal leaked, and replacement of the seal resulted in the thing not latching properly. It's always whack-a-mole at the Harpoon--fix one thing, and two other problems pop up in its place.
John identified a problem with the slide-track pins, and he's overhauling that segment of the assembly. Test-fitting it indicates that he's got it, so good catch, J. Gearpin!
In the cockpit, putting the floorboards and side panels in for at least the fourth time, was PJ. She also cleaned up the main switch panel between the seats, about the last electrical box to get that treatment.
There we see ol' copilot Scotty, up on the right wing. He's scouting for corroded fasteners to replace, a job that's never-ending with a plane that lives outdoors. Scotty's an international freight pilot, and his schedule's been allowing him a good bit of time out at the ramp lately. It's always good to have him out there--he has an eye for spotting discrepancies that's second to none. He's one of the type-ride candidates.
And here's Long Tall Glen, another type-ride up-and-comer, and one of our lead mechanics. He's investigating that generator problem here, ohming out and cleaning the field switch. There's not much space in that space he's in, and Glen, as previously noted, is both long and tall. He may still be stuck in there, now I think of it. I hope somebody checked.
Here's a view up the gun hatch, of Scotty inside the nose bay, looking at the other side of that field switch. This is a terrible picture, of course. The only reason I include it is that I stuck the camera up in there and fired it off ... while two guys were power-on, in the midst of searching for an electrical fault. Ooooh. Nothing like a surprise brilliant flash of light when you're looking for a spark, eh Scotty? I believe he may have filled his pantaloons on that one. And yet he forgave me.
Eventually, we wrapped up our little projects, and we needed to run engines to see if we'd solved the generator issue anyhow, so why not taxi her about while we're at it?
There's the plane, buttoned up and re-spotted into the wind--it was yet another day of strong breezes out at Mount Comfort Airport, but that's little enough to deal with.
The pic above has both engines idling, coming up to temperature. Until they've warmed up, the oil pressure is ridiculously high, and you just don't advance the power until the temp regulating valve opens up and the pressure drops down to normal.
And there she is, trundling about under her own power. It was a good sight to see. All's well with that left brake, and it sure is nice to see her now that she's fallen off her "Harpoon Lean." Jacking up this plane, the main strut almost always sticks in an extended position until something jars it (such as a high-power run).
That's the story for this week. This upcoming Saturday, we'll take care of a few discrepancies identified by the most recent inspections, and if we have the necessary crew, I'll be able to do the idle mixture adjustments, and we'll be ready for flight when our left-seater's back in town.
And the Indy Air Show is only two weeks after that. It'll be good to be in the air in front of the home crowd, you know that.
Till next time,
Another week come and gone, and an exhausting week it was, too. Work crews out at the ramp ten--or is it eleven?--days out of the last fourteen, pressing to get the annual completed. We have two pilots to get type rides for, and until late last week, we had a show to make, too. That fell through due to availability of our lone type-rated guy, which is a big reason why we're so focused on getting our other guys rated--the more flexibility you have, the more gigs you can take. And that, friends, is how you stay alive as a non-profit airshow bird.
So, we finally slowed down the pace a bit as of this weekend, but we're still basically done with the annual. And boy, did our people attack the discrepancies during the recent flurry of activity. A short list:
* Hydraulic leaks isolated and fixed
* Nagging leaky left brake fixed at last
* Bad right main-wheel bearing replaced
* Engine inspections and test runs done
* Left engine prop governor set
* Left boost pump replaced
And ah heck, more than that, even, but you get the idea.
So, this past weekend saw even more odds and ends attended to, but the main event, since we couldn't fly, was taxi tests. We needed to see that re-done left brake in action, and anyhow, it's been almost two years since Hot Stuff has moved anywhere under her own power.
There's a look at the setup. We had work to do in the right nacelle, in the right gear well, in the electrical bay in the nose, and in the tailwheel well.
The right generator was one problem. We haven't gotten it on line yet. Just one of those things--it was working when removed, and now it just won't happen. We've verified connections, ohmed out the switches, pulled and checked the regulator, and generally wrung out that system from end to end.
There's a look at the thing in the right nacelle. One visible difference between the two is a jumper bus between two posts (D and E) on this one, that doesn't exist on the other. Problem is, that jumper wasn't on the left generator when it was removed, either--there are photos. So is is still a bit of a mystification.
Back at the tail, Machine Shop Gaylon had a couple helpers to get the tailwheel and strut lubed. Long Tall Glen and IndyJen took care of lubing the right main, and that completed the lube points.
In the pic above, we have Machine Shop Gaylon, Johnny Gearpin, and PJ. Bob the New Guy ended up back there with Gaylon after a bit, and the other two went off to other pursuits.
Johnny Gearpin continued his project for replacing the pilot's sliding window. Its seal leaked, and replacement of the seal resulted in the thing not latching properly. It's always whack-a-mole at the Harpoon--fix one thing, and two other problems pop up in its place.
John identified a problem with the slide-track pins, and he's overhauling that segment of the assembly. Test-fitting it indicates that he's got it, so good catch, J. Gearpin!
In the cockpit, putting the floorboards and side panels in for at least the fourth time, was PJ. She also cleaned up the main switch panel between the seats, about the last electrical box to get that treatment.
There we see ol' copilot Scotty, up on the right wing. He's scouting for corroded fasteners to replace, a job that's never-ending with a plane that lives outdoors. Scotty's an international freight pilot, and his schedule's been allowing him a good bit of time out at the ramp lately. It's always good to have him out there--he has an eye for spotting discrepancies that's second to none. He's one of the type-ride candidates.
And here's Long Tall Glen, another type-ride up-and-comer, and one of our lead mechanics. He's investigating that generator problem here, ohming out and cleaning the field switch. There's not much space in that space he's in, and Glen, as previously noted, is both long and tall. He may still be stuck in there, now I think of it. I hope somebody checked.
Here's a view up the gun hatch, of Scotty inside the nose bay, looking at the other side of that field switch. This is a terrible picture, of course. The only reason I include it is that I stuck the camera up in there and fired it off ... while two guys were power-on, in the midst of searching for an electrical fault. Ooooh. Nothing like a surprise brilliant flash of light when you're looking for a spark, eh Scotty? I believe he may have filled his pantaloons on that one. And yet he forgave me.
Eventually, we wrapped up our little projects, and we needed to run engines to see if we'd solved the generator issue anyhow, so why not taxi her about while we're at it?
There's the plane, buttoned up and re-spotted into the wind--it was yet another day of strong breezes out at Mount Comfort Airport, but that's little enough to deal with.
The pic above has both engines idling, coming up to temperature. Until they've warmed up, the oil pressure is ridiculously high, and you just don't advance the power until the temp regulating valve opens up and the pressure drops down to normal.
And there she is, trundling about under her own power. It was a good sight to see. All's well with that left brake, and it sure is nice to see her now that she's fallen off her "Harpoon Lean." Jacking up this plane, the main strut almost always sticks in an extended position until something jars it (such as a high-power run).
That's the story for this week. This upcoming Saturday, we'll take care of a few discrepancies identified by the most recent inspections, and if we have the necessary crew, I'll be able to do the idle mixture adjustments, and we'll be ready for flight when our left-seater's back in town.
And the Indy Air Show is only two weeks after that. It'll be good to be in the air in front of the home crowd, you know that.
Till next time,
Mon May 11, 2009 8:17 pm
Do you happen to know the part numbers on the rotors and stators for the brakes? I have a crapload of rotors & stators here that I'd sure like to sell. 
Gary
Gary
Mon May 11, 2009 8:43 pm
Congratulations on the excellent work! I can't wait to see her in the air the first weekend of June!
Tue May 12, 2009 4:31 am
Hi Gary,
Here you go: Disc-Rotating P/N 530269-2
Disc-Stationary P/N 530268-2
Disc-Insulator P/N 530276
Taken from the PV-2 Parts Manual.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Here you go: Disc-Rotating P/N 530269-2
Disc-Stationary P/N 530268-2
Disc-Insulator P/N 530276
Taken from the PV-2 Parts Manual.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Tue May 12, 2009 7:20 am
Great stuff, IndyJen, and as usual you've given me a laugh or two.
You have (another) PM!
You have (another) PM!
Tue May 12, 2009 8:38 am
PJ wrote:Hi Gary,
Here you go: Disc-Rotating P/N 530269-2
Disc-Stationary P/N 530268-2
Disc-Insulator P/N 530276
Taken from the PV-2 Parts Manual.
PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org
Thanks PJ. I'll go have a look and see if there's anything here that can help y'all.
Gary
Wed May 13, 2009 8:09 pm
James? I don't seem to have a PM after all. Maybe it fell out of the system during the recent outage?
Mon May 18, 2009 7:42 pm
Hello WIX people,
Another week gone, and we're about there with the old PV-2. The last couple remaining discrepancies, I believe, have been successfully troubleshot, source of the problems identified, and the fix(es) are on the way.
The big problem has been the left generator. We haven't been able to get it on line since we hung the engine, which is distressing, as it was working fine when we pulled it, a year ago. But it sure has been acting like a boat anchor.
We've looked at the whole system, and nothing has done us any good. Regulator removed, checked, and terminals cleaned. Reverse current relay checked. Wiring checked, main switch checked, field switch checked. Everything checks good.
Finally, we bit the bullet and did the last thing left to do: remove the unit from the right engine and swap 'em. Aha. Works like a champion on the left side, too. That left gen is a boat anchor, after all.
Except mebbe not--a fellow of our acquaintance, who used to work at an overhaul shop, informed us of a cleaning procedure, very simple. When these things sit---let us say, oh, for a year or so--they can develop a patina on the armature that effectively insulates the whole business, and prevents it from moving any electrons at all. Remove that patina, and once again there are electrons.
And sure enough. Long Tall Glen and Roy the electrical guru were out there today, trying that process, and they reported by phone, not long ago, that they were having a hard time not smiling big smiles. When we run that engine next, we'll know for sure, but it sure looks good. And as that is six hundred bucks that your extremely cash-strapped AMHF does not have to fork over, you better believe that is something to smile about!
So, on to the weekend report:
There's our good ol' bird, right there. It was a weekend of detail work, interrupted briefly by a visit from the local media: one of the local TV feature writers wanted to do a piece about the Harpoon, so we had a little bit of a dog-and-pony show early in the day. Yours truly ended up sitting in her crew position, talking to the man about the plane, the hard-working maintenance crew who take care of her, and the veterans she's met who flew such planes back in the day.
You may as well believe me when I say that I would rather have eaten live worms than to be talking to the microphone with the prospect of my chubby mug ending up on the television, but you do what you have to do. It wasn't as bad as I'd dreaded, and the man actually congratulated me on being "such a good guest." Usually, he said, people have to be drawn out, and made to talk, but by golly, he sure did like it that IndyJen just talked up a storm, and didn't have to be prompted hardly at all.
"That's nothing," said Long Tall Glen, overhearing this. "The big trick is to get her to shut up."
Hmph.
I don't know when this thing is supposed to air, but I hope it's before the Indy air show. A little exposure can go a long way towards priming the donation jar, and we're going to need all we can get, there. Apparently, the airshow won't be ponying up the usual appearance fee, and we're to get only replacement fuel and oil. That's all well and good, but you know that replacement fuel and oil don't pay the bills. We were counting on that money, too.
Apart from the big media extravaganza, we had people working on the various remaining items. Roy the electrical guru, there, was looking into a glitch with the right landing light--it goes down and illuminates, but it doesn't want to go back up again. Our vast collection of incorrect landing-light drive motors was not much help to him. He did succeed in resurrecting the defective unit, to some extent, before the day was over. He's not done with it, though, and I expect it'll be working better than the currently-good unit by next weekend.
We also were investigating the bad right-hand oil temperature indication. These old triple gauges of ours have two fluid ports (oil and fuel pressure) and one four-pin electrical connection (oil temp), and it's the electrical connection that goes bad, every time. We had to have the left one overhauled a couple years ago, and it looks like it's time for the right one now. That's Rich no. 1 (the Official Dad of IndyJen) up in the cockpit, pulling the gauge. He only seems to be mooning the camera, there; he's actually working hard and unaware that the rest of the crew is down below, egging IndyJen on to shoot that picture, Jen, that'll be a hoot.
There's two of 'em right there: PJ and Hot Rod Steve. Oh yes, they were amused all right.
The gauge is going to Pennsylvania (Intercontinental Avionics) for repair tomorrow. Those are some good people, there at Intercontinental, and they promise a quick turnaround, so we won't be prevented from flying for long.
In preparation for the day when we fly again, we've been going around, tying up loose ends. here, yours truly and PJ are safetying the main sump plug on the left side. You pull this plug when it's pre-oiling time. Pump the oil in and pull through the prop, and when clean oil comes out the sump, you're done. We've been running often enough of late, we haven't had to pre-oil for a couple weeks at least.
We also disconnected the manifold pressure line and leak-checked that system end to end. We've been getting unreliable indications on the left side, and although we did find and replace a leaky hose, we'll be putting in a freshly yellow-tagged MP gauge as soon as it comes back from Intercontinental.
That's about the story of the day. The activities were all fairly time-consuming, and the poor guys (Rich no. 2 and Hot Rod Steve) who were swapping generators suffered manfully. These things weigh at least 35 pounds, and have at least a couple nuts that are hard to reach, and it's nothing but trouble, sweating, and profanity for the mechanics involved. And then they don't even get their picture taken!
Which, yep, sorry for the lack of pictures, but the old camera ran out of batteries early on, and no one else remembered theirs. More pics next time, I promise.
And soon we'll be flying. It's no longer a question of fixing discrepancies. It's more of a crew-availability thing. All known remaining discrepancies ought to be fixed and signed off as of this weekend.
Till next time,
Another week gone, and we're about there with the old PV-2. The last couple remaining discrepancies, I believe, have been successfully troubleshot, source of the problems identified, and the fix(es) are on the way.
The big problem has been the left generator. We haven't been able to get it on line since we hung the engine, which is distressing, as it was working fine when we pulled it, a year ago. But it sure has been acting like a boat anchor.
We've looked at the whole system, and nothing has done us any good. Regulator removed, checked, and terminals cleaned. Reverse current relay checked. Wiring checked, main switch checked, field switch checked. Everything checks good.
Finally, we bit the bullet and did the last thing left to do: remove the unit from the right engine and swap 'em. Aha. Works like a champion on the left side, too. That left gen is a boat anchor, after all.
Except mebbe not--a fellow of our acquaintance, who used to work at an overhaul shop, informed us of a cleaning procedure, very simple. When these things sit---let us say, oh, for a year or so--they can develop a patina on the armature that effectively insulates the whole business, and prevents it from moving any electrons at all. Remove that patina, and once again there are electrons.
And sure enough. Long Tall Glen and Roy the electrical guru were out there today, trying that process, and they reported by phone, not long ago, that they were having a hard time not smiling big smiles. When we run that engine next, we'll know for sure, but it sure looks good. And as that is six hundred bucks that your extremely cash-strapped AMHF does not have to fork over, you better believe that is something to smile about!
So, on to the weekend report:
There's our good ol' bird, right there. It was a weekend of detail work, interrupted briefly by a visit from the local media: one of the local TV feature writers wanted to do a piece about the Harpoon, so we had a little bit of a dog-and-pony show early in the day. Yours truly ended up sitting in her crew position, talking to the man about the plane, the hard-working maintenance crew who take care of her, and the veterans she's met who flew such planes back in the day.
You may as well believe me when I say that I would rather have eaten live worms than to be talking to the microphone with the prospect of my chubby mug ending up on the television, but you do what you have to do. It wasn't as bad as I'd dreaded, and the man actually congratulated me on being "such a good guest." Usually, he said, people have to be drawn out, and made to talk, but by golly, he sure did like it that IndyJen just talked up a storm, and didn't have to be prompted hardly at all.
"That's nothing," said Long Tall Glen, overhearing this. "The big trick is to get her to shut up."
Hmph.
I don't know when this thing is supposed to air, but I hope it's before the Indy air show. A little exposure can go a long way towards priming the donation jar, and we're going to need all we can get, there. Apparently, the airshow won't be ponying up the usual appearance fee, and we're to get only replacement fuel and oil. That's all well and good, but you know that replacement fuel and oil don't pay the bills. We were counting on that money, too.
Apart from the big media extravaganza, we had people working on the various remaining items. Roy the electrical guru, there, was looking into a glitch with the right landing light--it goes down and illuminates, but it doesn't want to go back up again. Our vast collection of incorrect landing-light drive motors was not much help to him. He did succeed in resurrecting the defective unit, to some extent, before the day was over. He's not done with it, though, and I expect it'll be working better than the currently-good unit by next weekend.
We also were investigating the bad right-hand oil temperature indication. These old triple gauges of ours have two fluid ports (oil and fuel pressure) and one four-pin electrical connection (oil temp), and it's the electrical connection that goes bad, every time. We had to have the left one overhauled a couple years ago, and it looks like it's time for the right one now. That's Rich no. 1 (the Official Dad of IndyJen) up in the cockpit, pulling the gauge. He only seems to be mooning the camera, there; he's actually working hard and unaware that the rest of the crew is down below, egging IndyJen on to shoot that picture, Jen, that'll be a hoot.
There's two of 'em right there: PJ and Hot Rod Steve. Oh yes, they were amused all right.
The gauge is going to Pennsylvania (Intercontinental Avionics) for repair tomorrow. Those are some good people, there at Intercontinental, and they promise a quick turnaround, so we won't be prevented from flying for long.
In preparation for the day when we fly again, we've been going around, tying up loose ends. here, yours truly and PJ are safetying the main sump plug on the left side. You pull this plug when it's pre-oiling time. Pump the oil in and pull through the prop, and when clean oil comes out the sump, you're done. We've been running often enough of late, we haven't had to pre-oil for a couple weeks at least.
We also disconnected the manifold pressure line and leak-checked that system end to end. We've been getting unreliable indications on the left side, and although we did find and replace a leaky hose, we'll be putting in a freshly yellow-tagged MP gauge as soon as it comes back from Intercontinental.
That's about the story of the day. The activities were all fairly time-consuming, and the poor guys (Rich no. 2 and Hot Rod Steve) who were swapping generators suffered manfully. These things weigh at least 35 pounds, and have at least a couple nuts that are hard to reach, and it's nothing but trouble, sweating, and profanity for the mechanics involved. And then they don't even get their picture taken!
Which, yep, sorry for the lack of pictures, but the old camera ran out of batteries early on, and no one else remembered theirs. More pics next time, I promise.
And soon we'll be flying. It's no longer a question of fixing discrepancies. It's more of a crew-availability thing. All known remaining discrepancies ought to be fixed and signed off as of this weekend.
Till next time,