New Engine for Dorothy

[Coop]

You don't often get a chance to buy an overhauled engine for an old machine like mine, so when one came up on the market I jumped at it.

 

This involved a quick trip to Archerfield to see the engine before parting with any cash, and I also needed to organise packing, insurance and transport.

 

At this time of the year, the cheapest flights are early am, so it was a bleary-eyed start to Thursday with the Virgin Adelaide to Brisbane, direct flight on one of their Embraer machines. Nothing eventful about the flight, it all went smoothly, and I had a chat with a hydraulic engineer and we discovered a mutual friend- Adelaide really is a small place...

 

Brother met me at the airport and we proceeded direct to Archerfield where the engine was already bolted to a test stand. We spent the rest of the morning connecting up oil and fuel lines, priming the oil pump, checking ignition wiring, checking tappets and ignition timing, filling the rocker hats, removing the exhaust blanks and filing and fitting a motley selection of exhaust stacks. Eventually all seemed ready, everything was double checked (especially the magneto connections- don't want to be in a situation were it starts and then can't be stopped!) and we were ready to fire it up. Fuel on, prime (four blades forward), throttle wide, blow out (eight blades backwards), close and set the throttle, contact! It coughed on the first swing, the second swing, the third swing and the fourth swing, blowing a cloud of blue smoke each time (inhibiting oil). With all the cylinders thereby cleared, it fired on the fifth attempt and ran smoothly, with the oil pressure climbing to a good level within a few seconds. (Not bad for an engine that was overhauled 12 years ago and has been in storage ever since). After a few minutes to warm it up we checked magneto drop, and oil pressure at varying revs, then gave it a burst at full throttle to check static rpm. All the numbers were as they should be and the engine scarcely missed a beat. My brother, who took this photo, reckoned I looked like a parachutist when the engine was at full power- with rippling cheeks and all. That prop certainly shifts some air!

 

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We got the machine back inside just before the thunderstorms that had been building up all day let their deluge and lightning go off, and spent the rest of that day and half the next removing all the test gear and mounting and packing the engine ready for transport.

 

Arrived at Brisbane airport on Saturday bright and early (well, early, anyway) for a 6:10am departure. Got to the gate to see an Alliance machine at the bottom of the stairs. It was still there close to boarding time, and the mystery was solved when Virgin announced they had chartered Alliance to fulfill their contract as Virgin had run out of aeroplanes. As I presented my boarding pass to the Virgin lass at the top of the ramp I said, in my best fake-German accent: "Zo, ve haf exchanged ze 737 for zis little Fokker, no?" (it was an F100)- she cracked up, and laughingly chastised me for swearing... "No, iz not Swearingen, is Fokker" I replied.....

 

I was sitting near the front (4A) and was pleased with the little Fokker's legroom, which was more than I've been used to in recent commercial trips. The trip was smooth, and very quiet (I'd forgotten how nice it is to have all the engines right at the back) if a little slow (thanks to the 100 knot jet stream head wind). The young lass sitting next to me was happy to chatter away about various subjects, and the time passed quickly in spite of the extended duration of the flight.

 

A very successful trip. Now if the transport company just do their part properly, we'll soon have a spare engine waiting for when Dorothy's current engine gets to the stage where it needs overhaul....

 

Coop

 

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[sixtiesrelic]

A two engine Oyster ... Wow!

 

Pity you didn't have more time here, I could have shown you the longest Auster rebuild in history...

 

We pulled it to peices in about 1976 and she's been 'gunna fly soon' ever since.

 

Afternoon thunderstorms... best year for them I can remember.

 

Full tanks and swampy lawn.