The restore continues at a pace that is slower than I would ideally like ..
There are quite a lot of ‘moving parts’ in this project and it’s nit just a case of ‘go out and buy sonething’
The engine is in .. but may need to come out again so we can see if it’s possible to angle one of the rear cooling pipes to make the pipe feed miss the mounting brackets … getting the engine in ..with all it’s rubbers and multiple angled brackets and bolts was a bit trickier than the ‘out in 30 mins’ Jabiru !
Bob, at Priory, suggested leaving the engine in its mount and simply removing the 4 mounting bracket bolts from the bulkhead .. way easier
The repaired wing is now hanging in my garage at home to allow final finish and prep for recovering
The upper tank edge ribs are in place and capping Beech strips going in which has meant I can now measure the balsa rear trailing edge. This will then allow the ply Oratex landing plates to be fitted and the running of the fuel line from the top tank downwards.
At the same time, I’ve had Will helping review what is the best way to repair or replace the scuffed Oratex on the tail feathers.
He decided that removing back to a rib line was best bet, which means a bit of cleaning up, glue application will give me a good strong termination point for the small repair above (rudder) and outer edge (elevator). Ironically, both these were scuffed NOT in the crash but in the claim lift to turn her back over from upside down
The elevator trim tab is almost complete and just needs the hinge shaping around the tube-rib
Finally, the change of some aileron mount end brackets- which was spotted by the factory, will be completed in the next few days.
My very dear friend Christophe who lives just South of Paris has been a great help !
I have been working closely with him to help contact possible sources in France who have several Rangers with conversions to Rotax 912s and so have exhausts and cowls and cooling specs that could really help progress…
Having stripped the slightly damaged wing completely of Oratex covering and a more detailed inspection we collectively agreed it should and could be repaired.
This would entail drawing out a proposed ‘repair scheme’ which Algy and The Light Aircraft Company did noting how the damaged leading section of Rib 2 would be sandwiched either side for the spar to the nose ..leaving the old part in place as a KT point and added residual strength.
This has made a super string excellent repair job and, with the addition of a full new Rib 1 we were nearly ready to go.
To gain access however, we had had to remove the partially damaged 1mm ply leading edge so this required new scarfed sections to be made up and fitted.
Just 107 days after the incident.. we had the first test fit of the new Rotax engine.
Having fitted and removed the old engine several times, I had got used to the design and features of it, so this new and more complex and modern engine presented some challenges.
The brackets and flanges provided by The Light Aicraft Company had been beautifully finished and coated and, along with a pack of bolts and washers we set to work.
The question was .. should we fit the combined bracket to the engine mount first and then offer the engine up OR fit it all to the engine then offer the engine into the bracket ?
It was a problem .. we tried the former .. fitting the brackets and rubbers neatly to the frame .. then realised this left very little room for manoeuvre as the mounting rubbers impeded the angled engine side plates from allowing a gentle lowering of the hoist to seat the plates.
So, after removing and re hoisting .. we made the engine bade cradle up and fitted it to the lower engine brackets.
Although positioning the (rear) long engine bolts through the rubbers was slightly tricky they slid in.
The run of a couple of the cooling pipes is going to need adjusting but, after taking advice from TLAC, it seems that the flange on the outlet pipes are able to be slackened, turned and reset .. with appropriate use of loctite.
One thing I wanted to check was if the large oil cooling cylinder would fit. The securing ring was released and the chamber offered up from below and then reintroduced the top pieces in situ. Fitted a treat and was held (temporarily) in place with an extended cable tie pending sourcing suitable long jubilee steel straps.
Last week, saw the Jabiru engine coming out and being put in a car for its nip up to Yorkshire for ground checking
We still haven’t located a definitive reason for the inflight engine stop … and this trip was to strip down key parts to check for such.
It is always good to spend a day with Kevin Hyam … at Beverley. His knowledge is vast and is a genuinely nice guy to work with. He had another chap working with him rebuilding a classic engine from every bolt upwards .. a positive work of art as the pictures show.
We mounted my Jabiru engine ‘nose down’ ..having had it supprted and strapped down in the back bucket seats of the BMW .. didnt quite fit in the boot ! ..We stripped a range of items down to check … all looked fine .. Kevin also removed the fuel pump and completely refurbished it adding a slightly softer spring to aid pressure. His neat tool for setting the diaphragm placement was really clever.
Valves and gaps were checked along with the entire ignition circuit
Some of he new parts that Kevin is engineering are really smart, not relying on the vagaries of foreign imports and bringing more and more under U.K. abased design, manufacturer and fit can only bode well !
Returning home with a ‘fit’ engine was a relief .. this engine is now destined for my sons rebuild Jabiru project
A few days later, I return to Priory to begin labelling all the existing firewall forward wires ahead of decoupling the mass.
The engine mount is a useful platform on which to locate and mount and secure cable runs. These all have to be clipped, marked and moved to clear the way for the engine cradle removal.
I still marvel at the relatively small 4 bolts that hold the engine mount in place. I seem to remember that the size of these bolts EACH have a sheer strength of something like 14,000kg !
The bolts duly removed … and after nearly 7 years since they were originally fitted …and the old frame simply slides off.
The new (Rotax) mount looks pretty sturdy compared to the old mount and slips easily into position.. ready to take the new shiny Rotax 912 ULS any day 😊
The Light Aviation Authority have come back really quickly … thank you Ben….
So today, about 10 minutes after Sam and I removed the Jabiru 2200 fro the airframe for ground checking, I received an email from the LAA approving all the stress analysis from The Light Aircraft Company (TLAC) and my approval to install and begin the full process of putting the Rotax 912 ULS 100hp engine in ❤️👍
The engine was ordered and we await delivery schedule.
I hadn’t realised it comes without a silencer so will need to plan that when I get it mounted and some idea of the cowl fitting.
Off to Yorkshire tomorrow to get the Jabiru ground checked and run out checks.. this is going to go into my sons Jabiru aircraft rebuild.
Re checked the packing list and laid out at Priory Farm ready
The fittings are all cut to size and a ‘soft fit’ showed that it would be a little tricky to fit in situ. This meant a bit of judicial readiness mouting some of the brackets to the tank and bringing it all into position
Releasing existing bolts .. some of which were blind behind riveted cross members was a little tight but not impossible
The neat rubber mounts are an exact fit so great accuracy in production
Yesterday, Friday 6th of September, I got a call from Paul at the factory … your first parts set are ready !
September the 6th is a special day in my Ranger terms … being the day (in 2016) that I first opened the throttle on all these assembled parts and (after 3 test hops) took her into the air for the first time.
In one of the TV interviews Immediatly after the flight I said I had a few months of tweaking and adjusting post test but, in reality, she flew almost perfectly from that first second.
Wind forward to today, and I now have a few boxes of goodies to check through. The pick regime at TLAC is ultra professional of course, and every little nut, bolt, rivet, washer, bracket is uniquely labelled and bagged .. so I cross check and get it all loaded into the car.
This pack should see almost all the major parts I am changing, upgrading in place including the new engine mount.
The 2 new tanks are a work of art, thanks to Chris at TLAC for such a professional job👍
Planning a sequence will help maintain levels of access as I progress the engine swap. So plan sequence is :
Start to fit new top tank … this will almost double the range
This work will not impeded anything relating to the engine
The top tank comes with the necessary plumbing to fit the valve, tubing and fittings for the dump tank operation – turn a key and gravity moves fuel from top to lower tank
The next piece is to cut a section out of the starboard trailing edge elevator
This will allow a hinged trim tab to be made up and fitted and will involve a new sub rib being made
As the tail is all covered I’m hoping to put a new termination section on the existing Oratex which should save a full top and bottom recover
The operating cable for this is a Throttle style lever but mounted on the starboard side of the cockpit (throttle being port side) and a piano wire stiff cable run .. so we won’t get bends
I’m leaving the new main tank out as this provides full access to the rear of the firewall which will defiantly be handy as the new engine gets plumbed in !
As I left the factory it was good to have a proper chat with James (Milne) my ever helpful inspector. I walked through the steps above and he reminded me to keep the LAA worksheet going ..as it’s easy to forget the myriad of things you are doing. I’ve already got this underway so will very much be a multi sheet document by the time we are finished.
I also asked if I can do all this work back at Priory which is so much easier as all my tools and hoists are there .. James said he will pop down a couple of times as things progress and will, in good time, approve for test flying when things are looking good.
Although we have yet to ascertain the exact reason for the stoppage, and I will be removing bone engine as soon as I get the nod from Kevin my engineer in Yorkshire, I have decided to explore alternatives.
The Jabiru is a neat fit in the Ranger and I have got used to the way it operates and, with all my new multi port monitoring guages can see it has been performing amazingly well and running at a really good temp and compression.
But ….
With a lot of recent flights 2 up, as I train and get Will up to speed and the desire to go further and faster …. The thought has turned to what other options might there be..
The Ranger is certified for 3 engines :
Jabiru 2200
D Motor
Rotax 512 – 2 stroke
I’ve flown G-TLAC a number of times and it does zip around the sky on the 2 Stroke Rotax but the high revving is a slight put off
The D motor had issues on earlier models but seems to be sorted now but I don’t like the deep square fronted lines it demands getting it into the Ranger
And I’m on my 2nd Jabiru …
So, with enforced downtime, as I rebuild wings and do some other improvements (see next blog) it’s time to see if the 912 ULS is a complete ‘no no’ or not !
I’m looking at 912 as the 80hp Rotax would not offer any real advantage for going through the certification … the 100hp .. does !
For a start, it offers pretty much VNE in straight and level flight …not in a screaming dive that I do on my annual flight test !
Also, with 2 up and fuel she doesn’t exactly leap away from the ground .. something more under the bonnet would be nice.
Paul at TLAC very kindly disucssed the ups and downs with me but said he would be very happy to help me progress and support certification with them.
Duly emailed Ben Syson – Head of Design at the LAA and got a response in a couple of days! Excellent …
Ben advised completing a MOD 5 .. this is specifically for Engine changes and asks a load of questions about design for the mount, stress analysis, weight and balance, prop details and also testing regime. I drafted what I thought was a good first stab on the form, Paul kindly gave at once over and tweak and off it went to Ben.
Not entirely sure of the next steps … but will update this blog as I go ….
Having not been through an insurance claim before, I am pleasantly surprised at the efficiency and (relative) speed the whole process has taken.
I say relative, as I would like it all done tomorrow ! But realise there are a huge number of moving parts (bad analogy) in this process and not everyone is just waiting for David to email! Having provided my own assessment of damage, I felt the insurers would require a professional summation and so James (from The Light Aircraft Company) popped down .. I say popped … he had nipped over to Gloucester to fit a starter motor in an aircraft and popped back to Priory (via Little Snoring) to assess the broken Ranger.
This of course was in the incredible Shark …. Makes the country feel VERY small but means that support can be one side of the U.K. and back in no time .. incredible 😊🔥
The assessment confirmed my list, namely:
Both upper wings look pretty much right offs ..Starboard being worst with most leading edge sections of the ribs cracked
Port upper looks like only rib 1 and 2. … the inboard ribs, damage around the sacrificial wing peg support ripping the plywood
Incredibly, and a sign of the solid construction, the hysol rib fitting glue had not allowed ANY movement on the main spar of ANY ribs
The centre cabane had crushed as she turned over .. its only 3 ribs making a support for the 1mm plytop so again ..designed not for strength but shape
The cabane topped ariel bent through more degrees than it should
The immaculate Hercules prop .. stationary for the last few minutes of flight, stopped at about 45’ so caught on landing and cracked one end of it .. more a split .. so not much force was applied (albeit a run out check of crank will still be done)
The lower cowl got a couple of cracks as the also damaged oil cooler matrix was pushed back
The P1 windscreen was the only thing Will actually broke as he exited the aircraft upside down.!
The estimate was turned around in a couple of days by Paul at TLAC and sent off to the insurers.
A week later I received a call that it would all be settled and the aircraft would be released to me to decide it’s fate.
STRIP DOWN
Having trestled the aircraft tail into the wall of the hangar and at an angle so as to allow full walk around but not impede other aircraft getting out I began the strip down.
First remove all the lock wire from the turnbuckles… slacken .. check lower wings are supported both sides and wheels chocked
Then remove all access panels and remove both upper ailerons and store. Both upper ailerons and wing tips are untouched and fine for reuse.
Then slacken the main central wing bolt – this secures the top main spar to the wing strut.
With the rigging cables now slack it’s easy to remove the inboard, upper bolt that secures their anchor point and provides the plate for the jury strut.
At this stage the wing is held in position simply by the single large bolt through the main spar and the trailing edge hinge point. Pushing the main bolt out whilst one person supports the weight at the centre of the wing near the strut whilst person no 2 unbolts the trailing edge hinge and collects that large ‘penny’ washers …and you lift the wing away.
Next the tank was removed and fuel lines (renewed at last Decembers annual) are checked along with fuel filter, tank filter
The tank hasn’t been out of the aircraft in over 7 years but shows no sign of deterioration. Its made of fibreglass but has ALWAYS had AvGas in it. Never mogas. mogas has been known to have long term effects on fibreglass .. hardening
The Port wing was then removed using the same process.
The prop, oil cooler, wing tips, radio ariel and compass (which fractured its mounting lugs in the incident) are all removed and laid to one side.
To decide if the Port upper is recoverable I strip all the Oratex covering. This needs judicial use of the heat gun to take the material back up to movement temps … needs about 220-250’C and then ease the material away as the hot melt glue re melts.
If you try to push this the material simply rips the wood as it brings strips of plywood with each pull.
This wing was then strapped to the roof of my sons car and driven to the factory at Little Snoring for assessment. It was felt that it was worth a try to remove Rib 1 but, rib 2 is pretty much unmoveable due to the angle of the drag spar cutting through.
Paul suggested a MOD form to the LAA which I’ve done, a MOD3 to request a part repair to Rib 2 .. cutting away the spilt leading part of the rib and cutting in a replacement from nose to the main spar.
Jersey Sherwood Ranger 