Koti Ilmailijan blogi EX-Chairman's blog

 

Overhauling O-300-D Engine                                                                         

 

 

Ilmailijan blogi EX-Chairman's blog

 

 

                                                                     

 

 

 

 

My second Year running the Flying Club has been a Year of challenges . There is a lot of unfinished busines going on

with the Club that cannot be done on one-year  bases. 

But  I  have  also been  flying a lot with my own Cessna.  As a start I decided to tell You about overhauling an engine.

In October 15'th  last year I was flying around in Lappland and I just coudn't help noticing that my Roll-Royce/Continental

O-300D engine was giving more noices and vibrations than it used to be. It was still running smoother than Lycoming

but not "silk-smooth" as it used to be . Maybe that was normal for an engine that has been running 2558 hours SMOH ,

however  it still troubled me . I retired last year and for the first time in my life I had plenty of spare time for the January

2007 . So I decided to ask quotations for an engine overhaul . 

I requested Quotations by e-mail from  TMC-Continental Factory New York (www.tmclink.com), ScanAviation (www.scanaviation.dk)

in Danemark and AirServiceVamrup (www.airservice.dk) in Danemark.

The Engine Rebuid  quotation from the Factory was by far the most expensive one as you could expect. I studied a couple of

NTSB-reports where a newly rebuild engine had failed . I felt uncomfortable with those reports and consulted my mechanic

about them . He also felt , that the rebuilding-process gives only minor extra value for the engine overhaul considering  the really

high expences.

ScanAviation gave me a quotation that was slightly  more expensive than the quotation I received from AirServiceVamdrup.

When comparing the quotations I found out that they were approximately similar and done by the Overhaul Manual according to the

regulations .  When I pointed out to ScanAviation by e-mail  that I had received a more affordable  quotation  from their

competitor , they answered that "they are the best and will never be the cheapest".  Well - Our Flying Club had  a  Lycoming

engine overhauled there and we are very satisfied with it.  But Howcome  - I  have visited ScanAviations Website last year and

this year  - always with the result that their website's Product-page is "under construction".  In my opinion they are too busy if they

have no time to update their website . 

AirServiceVamdrup has a website that is top-class : I found out everything I needed to know and received a quotation in a very

short notice. The Quotation had been edited carefully and the quarantee for the work was as good as with the others.

My impressions about ASV were positive and I was sure my engine will be overhauled professionally and with high quality

there . My Mechanic agreed with me - so ASV  it was going to be . 

I have had no regrets about my choice . When I delivered the Engine to Vamdrup I found out that the people were nice and friendly and

the place was exactly as I had imagined it by reading their  website . They promised  to e-mail me pictures about the progress of the overhaul

and that really has happened. 

I shall include a photo story about the overhaul :

Sampo Kukkola from  ArcticAirService in Ranua removed the engine and packed it into the trunk of my car for delivery

 

Me and my wife admiring the engine

The Bridge of the Big-Belt along the way to Vamdrup

Unloading the engine in Vamdrup . To the left Shop manager Torben Jensen. To the right  engine specialist Vasudavan Iyer Balasubramaniam -  better known as "Vasu" is preparing

for the work

One of the Hangars - take a notice to the cleanliness and to the highly polished planes

The engine parts removed

Pictures taken during the overhaul process

The Engine having its first test run 090207 - and running  perfectly

 

I left my Home for Engine pickup 190207 via Viking-line from Turku to Stockholm . I stayed overnight at Vamdrup Hotell , 

which was kindly booked for me by Mr. H.P.Hansen from AirServiceVamdrup. This time I was in no hurry so I could

take some photos around the Airfield:

In one of the Hangars the Engine was already packed for delivery . We gathered together for a coffee break and discussed about general aviation among

 else ( there was a big snowstorm approaching Danemark).  "Vasu" gave me instructions for the becoming Engine Break-in period .

Lifting the engine into my car. From  left Vasu , Me and Mr. Niels Jensen

Vasu transferring the responsibility of the Engine management to me

I drove then via Sweden to the ArcticAirService - Ranua  in Northern Finland , where I left the Engine to be installed back to the Plane.

Next Target was my summer Cottage up there in Lappland .  The weather was very fresh when I arrived in the evening 21'th of February.

Temperature was minus 21 degrees and going down. I was lucky  to have  plenty of firewood in store for warming up the Cabin . It slowly

became warmer and warmer inside . However , outside temperature was minus 28 degrees at night .

Sampo had the Engine installed as we planned 150307.

Me and my Wife arrived to ranua according to the plan during  afternoon 150307 and I sent my wife upstears to Customers  lounge to read books meanwhile 

I would take a Test Flight. But as You could guess these big Projects do not always  go as we planned them: Sampo had started the engine for testing earlier

and found out that it won't idle. So it wasn't ready for test-flight after all. I called to Vamdrup to Mr. H.P. with my mobile and he handed the call on to Vasu. 

Sampo wasn't very keen on doing anything to the Carburetor because we might lose the quarantee. Vasu convinced us that we could remove the carburetor  

and clean it. Sampo did as adviced:

Carburetor removed

Sampo cleaning the Carburetor

After installing the Carburetor back the engine behaved as perfectly as it had been behaving in Vamdrup. Maybe there were some small inpurities in the 

carburetor left from the overhaul-process in the USA and they flowed to the smallest duct in the Carburetor: the duct that regulates idling. Next day I called 

to Vamdrup and heard that they were so worried about the situation that  they  had ordered another  overhauled carburetor from USA in case we can't get 

this one fixed. So there it is now  in storage ready for another engine overhaul.

But let's get back to the Test-Flight:  There was an area of freezing rain approaching us from the North, so I had to be very effective and fast to make the 

prefight and one hour test-flight before the rain. I managed to do that just barely: When I made turns on the north side of the runway ,  my windshield got wet ,

but it always dried on the south side. But the actual test flight was a huge success: I had  altitude  in use up to 1950 ft and I used  average speed of 100 kt 

at 70% power( 2450rpm). I made three touch and goes during which the engine behaved perfectly. During acceleration on ground at take-off it took 

2450 rpm on full power and during taxi  idling was steady. The test Protocoll included notes about many affecting values, for instance oil pressure was a 

steady 60 psi during the test-flight.

My impression from the  test-flight  was that the engine was powerful and had a very beautifull sound and all the annoying noices that harassed me 

before were gone.

The Plane parked after the test flight just before it began to rain

Couple of days later I was able to take a longer test flight when the weather was better.

I made a lond distance  flight to Pudasjärvi and back again and flew around  Ranua to make it a 1,5 hour flight. I had no difficulties whatsoever. And the 

engine sounded great all the time ( I must admit that I use active LightSpeed Head Phones and the noice level is about the same as inside a car). I decided 

that the plane was ready for a longer flight  back home to south. Me and my wife left Ranua 230307 at noon when the weather was excellent:

We flew at 4500 ft and had a very smooth ride

We flew over Oulu city at 4500 ft and you can see Hailuoto island to the right .

It took us about three hours  back home but  the visibility decreased and the cloudbase lowered significantly during the last 20 minutes of 

the ride. We had a very positive feeling though because the Overhaul-process  had succeeded very well . The engine  behaved just like a new engine should. 

Next day I took a one hour flight over  our home city Rauma and found out that the oil consumption had lowered to a minimum - so the break-in period was 

on the better side.

23.05.07  Cessna was at the 25 hour Oil-change service in Ranua. The old "straight Oil" that Sampo drained out  was considerably clean. The Oil consumption 

before the Oil change was next to nothing. Referring to Cessnas insructions for break-in  Sampo and I decided that the Break-in was done and it was  time 

to put multi-gear Oil in (15-50W). When I flew back to south that evening I was very happy with the engine. Altitude changes upwards were fast and the engine 

was very willing to co-operate with me.

One thing that I found out during the break-n Period was that the 100 LL fuel is not the best choice for this engine.  It has four times the Lead-content that

this engine needs . I had to lean all the time except when using full power. Allways before Magneto-testing I had had to lean for a moment otherwise  the left 

Magneto would  drop  to the limits. The inside of the Exhaust Pipes was dark grey. When I used Autofuel about 50% mixed with 100 LL before the overhaul 

the  Magnetos had a 25 rpm drop both steadily and the inside of the exhaust Pipes were light grey. I am going to mix  Autofuel first about 25% and later about

50%  to the 100 LL. The Lead content for the Valves will still be twice the amount needed. In my opinion this is the way to avoid valve sticking and besides

lower the expenses. I have the Pedersen Autofuel STC for the plane and the Engine. ( In Finland Autofuel is 20-30 cents cheaper than 100LL/ litre and the 

price of the 100LL is getting considerably higher in Europe next Year).

Tero

 

 

 

Muutettu: 28. elokuuta 2007
 

 

Muutettu: 10. marraskuuta 2009