Bald Eagle Aviation

airnutz · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 11:02 am

51fixer wrote:

The Finger that the cam lobe displaces has a contact pad coated in a layer of hard chrome. If that chrome breaks down and flakes off it becomes a cutting tool and erodes the cam lobe.

Rich, will the damaged Finger and Cam be repaired and returned to stock?

51fixer · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 10:51 pm

I doubt the cam is salvageable but the Griffon Mk 58 maint book says to use a stone on the burrs and to replace the finger and to soldier on. Mk 58s were fitting to the Shackleton. The finger could be resurrected by machining the lobe pad and replacing with a carbide insert as done with Merlin Fingers.

Got the Spit running tonight-

Rich

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

As I recall (from JRS) the Merlin cams are gas carburized about .020 deep. Once you get through that the cam lobe is too soft to last. Probably the same on the Griffon.

AvroAvian · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 5:39 am

I have heard of the boat guys resurrecting cams by plasma spraying and regrinding the cam. How you would go about that legally for an aeroplane part, I don't know.

51fixer · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 7:31 am

A couple shots from last nite-

Taken by my son but thought the flames look cool.
Rich

51fixer · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 7:45 am

Some more taken by my other son-

Rich

Glenn Wegman · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 9:24 am

51fixer wrote:

the Griffon Mk 58 maint book says to use a stone on the burrs and to replace the finger and to soldier on.

I believe there will be a minimum serviceable lobe height dimension published in the Table of Limits.

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 3:51 pm

Rich, you can never get enought flame shots, well done...

Lynn

b29flteng · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 5:01 pm

Lynn Allen wrote:

Rich, you can never get enought flame shots, well done...

Lynn

Now to get the sound to go with it....

Airplanejunkie · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 6:21 pm

Lynn Allen wrote:

Rich, you can never get enought flame shots, well done...

Lynn

Amen to that...Kudos to your son, Rich!!

51fixer · **Posted:** Fri May 21, 2010 10:10 pm

It has been real busy here so sorry for lack of posts lately-
Spitfire flew today but some things done include rotating tires on the rims to wear off the other edge.
Tire and split rim parts-

What it takes to remove or install retainer and ring-

Spit ready to go-

I wish I had my kids with today but this is all I got of the aviating-

They take better action pics.
Taxing back-

Cool down-

The last corner dweller has been receiving attention.
Stress doors out of paint and ready for install-

Lines came out close. Laid out by measurement, not by matching in place-

Rich

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Sat May 22, 2010 8:05 am

Getting this Griffon tuned has been an interesting ride but worth it. After endless pressure checks on the low and high systems, Rich seems to have figured out how to obtain proper oiling to both A and B banks. The Griffon is notorious for eating cams and fingers in the rear part of the A (right side as you are in the cockpit) bank. A 5 and 6 are the two furthest cylinders from the oil system, so they are always the last to receive oil pressure and flow.

Not any more (so we hope). Rich reconfigured the pre-oil system to provide direct feed to both A and B banks. In exploring the preoil system as we received it, much work was required. Initially almost no oil was getting to the banks. By redoing the lines to provide a better size, and then plumbing to the heads as well, both sides get good oil pressure and flow all the way to A5 and A6. That is a significant improvement. We also had our friends at Roush drill .040 holes on the leading part of the cam lobes (a Packard-based mod done to increase oil to the finger/lobe interface on the Merlin cams) to further lubricate the cams and fingers. You can see the oil coming out of the cams in one of Rich's recent photos of the cams.

She flew great yesterday but that Griffon is still something to get used to after flying that "little" Merlin engine or that horrid radial on the Corsair

Jim

51fixer wrote:

It has been real busy here so sorry for lack of posts lately-
Spitfire flew today but some things done include rotating tires on the rims to wear off the other edge.

Cool down-

Rich

Erik H · **Posted:** Sat May 22, 2010 11:32 am

Hi!

I am a typical "lurker" here at WIX, checking in every day, but rarly post anything.
I just want to say that this is one of the threads I always check for updates. It's very interessting to get a glimps of what it takes to operate the "big, serious" warbirds...
Involved with aircraft maintenance myself (of slightly more modern vintage), I find the pictures and descriptions that Rich post very interesting. Keep'em coming!

Thanks to Rich and Jim for keeping this thread and the warbirds flying..!

-
E

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Sat May 22, 2010 3:13 pm

Wish the Mods would put a sticky on in and place it at the top so one wouldn't have to go looking for it... :wink:

As I too also look for updates and have it on my watch list....

Lynn

51fixer · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 7:49 am

OK

This what happens-

When you let the kids be in charge-

Of the camera

Now this is what it is supposed to look like-

Some shots of the work to get it on the floor-
Lifting the tail to remove jack and drum-

Getting the tail down a bit allowed us to get the main wheels on-
Our friend Karl came out to help-

Lowering the jacks-

Touch down-

Lowering the tail-

All down-

Rich

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