PV-2D Harpoon 84062 (Tanker 101) comes back to life

[phil65]

Great job....

Keep those old Pratt's turning………

Phil

[Craig59]

Excellent news!

[Taigh Ramey]

The next weekend the Arizona gang drove up from Phoenix to help with the engine change. What a great bunch of guys to come all that way to help out on their holiday weekend.

The first order of business was to disassemble the QEC by removing the engine driven accessories namely the starter, generator, vacuum pump, tach generator, hydraulic pump and fuel pump. Then the speed ring, cowl flap ring, exhaust and carb are next. Engine mount and dishpan will come off of the Lord mounts (rubber mounts to reduce vibration to the airframe) and then the Lord mounts will be removed from the engine.

Here is Aaron, Morgan and Mark doing just that



With the engine all bare it is set in its shipping stand all ready to head off to Anderson Aeromotive in Idaho



The attention is then put on the "new" engine where the reverse of the above begins. Here is Bill installing the Lord mounts



The Lord mounts have been installed and the starter and other accessories that do not interfere with the engine mount can be installed



Sydney cries out WILSONNN!!



The engine mount is cleaned and prepped for installation. No restoration work will be done here just maintenance as needed. When we can fund the overhaul of the failed engine it will be installed with freshly restored mounts and accessories. For now it is pretty much remove and replace with an IRAN (Inspect and Repair As necessary)

The oil cooler has been removed for overhaul/cleaning/replacement. One problem with the failed engine is the copious amounts of metal contamination that has been distributed all throughout the oil system. Pretty much everything that had oil in it will now need to be cleaned and all of that metal removed. This means not only the oil cooler but the oil lines, filter heads, regulator, prop, prop governor, prop feathering pump, pre oil pump, oil tank etc. Lots to clean.



Including the firewall which is prepped for the eventual installation of the QEC. Hoses are changed and hard lines flushed and blasted clean



The engine mount and dishpan goes back on and is secured to the Lord mounts



The Arizona gang worked late into the night to get as much accomplished as they could before heading back home. We could have hung the engine back on the firewall if it weren't for the other things that were easier to get to with the engine off. You guys did an awesome job.



Thanks so much!

[Taigh Ramey]

After the Arizona gang departed Steve, Ricky, Syd and Caleb worked at cleaning out the airframe.

We flushed the oil system with avgas running through a transfer pump and a filter to clean and catch the debris. Then the lines were blasted with the steam cleaner to make sure the contaminates were completely removed. Many hard lines were removed and checked and all was good. This is Steve steam cleaning the firewall and oil system lines



Here work begins on the oil tank. After draining and flushing it was removed for a real cleaning



The oil tank was just like one of the Gold Rush type of TV reality shows in that we we flushed the tank the heavy metal settled in the ripples of the rubber self sealing tank. This was a new old stock tank that was installed back when we were prepping for Oshkosh. Here you can see lots of silver all over the bottom of the tank. You should see what the filter looked like. That would make for a good post all by itself.







All clean and ready to go back in



The prop was in need of disassembly and cleaning to get the metal out but also it was almost due for the AD compliance. The AD or Airworthiness Directive is for an inspection for corrosion on the prop blade shanks. This needs to be accomplished every 5 years if no corrosion is found. Our props sit outside so this can be a real problem.

The props are disassembled and cleaned and the teflon anti friction strips are removed and the blade shanks are inspected. They were beautiful with no corrosion present. The blades are like new and are full dimension in every aspect.

This shot was taken just after the outer barrel half was removed. The prop can act like a centrifuge where heavy particles and dirt tends to seperate out and build up near the blade shanks. If moisture is in the oil or condensation in the prop it can concentrate around the blade shanks and cause the corrosion that the inspection is looking for. Another good part of the AD is that these props will be cleaned at least every 5 years which is a good thing. Desludging annually is the best way to go



The props are paint stripped and inspected and prepared for the new teflon strips.



For all of you rivet counters and serial number junkies out there I found a couple of interesting items. These blades which are 6477A-12's were build under an Army contract with W535 stamps. Why would the Navy prop (6477A-12's used only with Venturas and Harpoons) have Army markings? Sure the B-34 might have been a possibility but I wouldn't have expected this. Also the original hamilton standard decal positions were visible under the paint. You can even make out the Remington Rand part of the decal since these blades were made by them and have RR serial numbers. I wouldn't have expected to see markings like the decals were applied directly to the blade as I assumed that they would have been applied over the black painted blades thus not leaving their mark on the bare aluminum.

Since the 6477 blades are used on C-47's, B-24's and B-17's I guess they could have been built for those contracts and then diverted to the Navy and cut down for the Ventura/Harpoon production.

I am also amazed that these are the same blades used on C-47's, B-17's and B-24's propellers and yet they were cut down 6 to 12 inches. Same exact 3 blade propeller yet cut down in diameter quite a lot and used on an engine that has 800 to 1000 more horsepower. It's all in the nose case gearing I know but wow. To look at the prop on the same basic engine on a B-26, C-46 or P-47 and look at the massive difference between their prop at 14-15 foot diameter and four blades and the Harpoon/Ventura 3 blade prop at 11 foot diameter.

Interesting.





Here are the blade shanks being prepped for the corrosion barrier and teflon anti friction strips



The engine is ready to hang on the firewall so Sydney and Steve did just that







Good job guys. Now we need to hook it all up

[Taigh Ramey]

The oil temp harness was damaged when it was removed with the engine mount so it needed to be replaced. It sure is nice to have spares available. I bought a stash of Harpoon parts very early on in the project and boy has it paid off over the years. From new brakes, fuel valves, hydraulic components and these NOS electrical junction boxes it has been wonderful to be able to have such an inventory to draw from. Here is an oil temp harness being harvested from a factory new engine J box. When we build up the QEC's (once we can afford to have Ray Anderson overhaul our engine) we will use new components like this in the rework.



Once we disassembled it we found that our main exhaust collector was chewed up on one of the flanges. Sure we could repair it by fabricating a new stainless strip and welding it in but it is a lot easier to go to the parts stash and pull out a new collector







Steve installed the new collector and the rest of the exhaust as well as lots of other work. Ricky and Caleb kicked it hard too. Well done guys!



We were coming up on a deadline to try and get the harpoon to the California Capitol Air Show in Sacramento so we were working long hours and enlisted the help of Vintage Aircraft to get it done in time



The prop, all cleaned, AD'd, painted and ready for installation



All hooked up and ready to make some noise. Now for lots of pre oil



If you want to see this engine start up for the first time in a long time check out this youtube video

https://youtu.be/QKkgj33EKCs

She came back to life beautifully

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Warbird Kid]

You guys do some amazing magic. Well done!

[CAPFlyer]

Saw the video yesterday night of your first start so congratulations on at least getting to that point!

One question with the start - it seemed like you guys were running off the primer for quite a while after start. Was that just me hearing things wrong? If not, why run on primer that long?

As a guy who love the R2800 it never ceases to amaze me how few cylinders it takes for them to idle reliably.

[Taigh Ramey]

The original primer system was removed from 062 long ago back in her Tanker 101 days. I have been doing mixture starts on these R2800's. I have been collecting the parts to replace the original primer system and we will put it back in the future.

My starting technique brings one item in at a time. Engage the starter and look for hydraulic lock (at least 6 blades usually a few more) and then magneto switch to both and then mixture to somewhere between very lean manual lean to auto rich depending on the temperature and how recently the engine ran last.

In the video you can see the fuel just starting to flow out of the blower drain and shortly thereafter she fires up. Watch the turnbuckles on the cables between the firewall and the carburetor and you can see the variation of the mixture control to be sure the mixture is not too rich or too lean. With ignition on and fuel flow starting up she will fire up when the fuel air ratio is just right but it is easy for it to get too rich so you need to be on your toes and quick with the mixture. This particular start took a lot longer than usual meaning more cranking. We had pumped fuel in the carb well prior for a good soak but maybe it still needed some bleeding. This carb hasn't run since July 19th. Subsequent starts, since the video, have been nice and quick like the right engine. You can count on it firing up at about the same blade each time.

It takes a while for the lower cylinders to come online but she cleaned up nicely, idled smooth and makes good power. We have a magneto issue to work out before we can fly. We almost made the air show last Saturday and if it wasn't for the mag problem we would have been there.

So far so good.

[CAPFlyer]

I was watching it on my tablet, so I couldn't see the turnbuckles. Thanks for the info though. You did a great job of getting her started and running no doubt. Always love watching a slumbering giant awake.

[cwmc]

Looking good, Taigh. Are you guys going to build up a QEC with the mount that came with the recently acquired engine, it looked like a lot of good components came with it. Pardon if I missed it that you are.
When my Dad flew the Green Howard they had a QEC on a low boy at ATL which included full cowlings and I always marvelled at the spares required and the low hours between needed engine changes on these airplanes compared to DC-3, Twin Beech and of course jets.
He said they would go about 200 hours and usually it was a bearing failure in the reduction gearbox at cruise. Once he was at TWA and flying the Connie, he realized how it was that Green couldn't get over 200 hours and the airline was getting 1000 hrs whence they were removed for overhaul. TWA cruised at 33% rated power and the Green Howard was cruised at 65% rated power of which that rated power was wet!



I have two pics in period of N200G, pm me if you want them Taigh.

Chris...

*MOD note* I fixed the image links for you. WIXMODCharlie

[Taigh Ramey]

65% power wet on CB's. They must have been hauling. I wonder what kind of speed they were getting.

Awesome photos. Yes I would love to get copies. It looks just like our Super Ventura project except for the pressurization. Very cool.

The mount that our "new" -31 came on was for a DC-6 as was the oil tank. I picked up a spare PV-2 mount with our spares package so I was planning on setting up our spare as a Harpoon engine QEC for display on the stand. Anyone have any spare Harpoon dishpans and a prop available?

[Dan Johnson II]

Sure missed our old girl. Good to see she's still going strong. Took the time to re-read the story from the beginning. It still amazes me. Now about that book that pulls this all together...

[mike furline]

Also the original hamilton standard decal positions were visible under the paint. You can even make out the Remington Rand part of the decal since these blades were made by them and have RR serial numbers. I wouldn't have expected to see markings like the decals were applied directly to the blade as I assumed that they would have been applied over the black painted blades thus not leaving their mark on the bare aluminum.

Interesting.

Not sure if this provides any useful information, but here's an SNJ-6 possibly on Midway with decals applied directly to the blades.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=59397&p=579106#p579106

Last edited by mike furline on Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Taigh Ramey]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the photo. I have seen new old stock factory HS blades that are bare (chronic acid anodize finish) on many aircraft with the decal just like in your photo. What surprises me is that the blades on the PV-1 and PV-2 would have been camouflaged for combat by painting them black. If the decal was applied over the black paint I wouldn't have expected that it would have left such an impression on the bare metal. Maybe the intense sun at Litchfield left the mark through the paint.

It's a stupid thing to ponder but so am I! I should go back to worrying about the carburator serial numbers and gear door paint.

[OZFURYFAN]

Hi Taigh, great thread!! What will you do with the DC6 engine mount, is the mount ring ok?? Pete