Workd on the fitting of the oil cooler intake in readiness for getting this set ahead of any planned engine run.

The aim, I believe, is to get it stuck well and truly into the airflow and get a funnel effect going so that it has a form of ram air cooling.

This fitting will let me mount the cooler upright .. put the oil pipes down vertically into the top (so you dont get air locks) and still keep it reasonably accessible

Update 20 Feb –

Now etched and brackets trimmed a little. This will be bolted on vs riveted on in case I need to remove the entire arrangement.

Having got the first fit of upper and lower cowls .. just leaves a bit of fine tuning to round out any square cut edges so I dont get age fractures at any ‘hard’ corners.

Got a presentation at the Jersey Aero Club tomorrow night so needs to look her best !

Reminds me so much of Thomas the Tank engine characters .. that startled look

Late night last night and finally finished the top cowl …

Big relief not to have cocked this one up !! Still, only 3 bits had to be replaced .. two tubes at around £3 each and this 🙂

Can start to finish off and fill any marks, rub down and then plan to get top painted Drab Olive Green

Bob at Channel Island Aero Services has kindly loaned me with Corrosion X treatment equipment. Consists of a pressurised container and a long steel tube wand with a small brass end with slots that ensure a 360 surface coverage

Set this up last Sunday but just not sufficient oil to get it to work properly but certainly looks like it will do the job easily. Tried to obtain Corrsion X oil locally and no joy so got on the net and luckily got hold of a fantastic chap at http://www.corrosion-x.co.uk called Rob Mugglestone. Within minutes of contacting the very helpful secretary at the firm Rob rang and said he would check Jersey based suppliers and sort something. Rang back at 8pm to say none but he would ship 5 litres in 2 days. Now that is service !

18 Feb – 5 litre bottle duly arrived and cranked up the cylinder to pressure (not sure exactly what it should be so tried 2 bar … then 4 bar) At 4 the trigger press gave me a resonable sprey from part of the 180 degree slits and certainly in the confined space of the mainspar this will coat reasonably well.

Now the aircraft is off the trailer nad sitting ‘properly’ ie on her tail .. after about an hour the wing tip ends started dripping .. so its worked its way through. Useful to spray these as we are in such sea based air around here. Aim to give second coat this weekend and also spray inside the drag spar.

Having already pre cut for the Spitfire variometer .. I will plan to add 4 small corner brackets for an iPad fitting in the front

What a pain .. the adaptor that I bought turned out to be incorrect … looked fine on the internet !

So will try Sky Craft to see if they have the correct part and also the female adaptor for the cylinder head temperature lead.

10 Feb 2015 – Sky Craft have one and are shipping it today. so hopefully a weekend of connecting ?

Having tried a number of local stores to source a 4.5 mm allen key my good friend Mike Fleming managed to locate one and hey presto … it first not only the cylinder head cover plates but also the exhaust manifold bolts. The manifold bolts were surprisingly easy to slacken .. had expected quite a bit of grunt.

A couple of turns and the downpipes were freely moving

Admission time ! – Yes , I did cut the holes in the wrong place ! Then spotted the TLAC perfectly marked holes !

Nice neat fit … leaves a few minor eeking out of the holes to make sure its a snug fit but looks great.

Paul H S has sourced me a replacement top cowl which has been shipped to my son at Williams F1 ! so they will be wondering where exactly on the FW37 this part actually fits !!!  Driving over with a van to drop Benjamin’s house bits off so coming back empty which will mean I get the cowl back in one piece.

I spotted late last night that I had managed to miss the two lower ailerons for the polyurethane treatment and they had picked up a surface colouring whilst in the barn. I sanded it off last night but had no polyurethane in the barn so .. an early morning post 7 am to get it all treated and drying today

Waiting for replacement top cowl so got on with trimming down the engine cooling shrouds.

These came in the engine box that I bought and already had the mod that puts an air dam in the back of the shroud so that incoming air flows over the cylinder heads and is then forced down the back of the rear cylinder head instead of just washing out at the back.

I found that all the indented hex heads that secure the cylinder top plate and exhaust manifolds are odd sizes and don’t fit any of my socket drive hex heads or even my allen key set !

I cant get at the manifold bolts as the socket will need an extended head to make sure I miss all the cylinder fins etc that shroud the fittings. These all need to be loosened off so that I can get the exhaust temporarily fitted to estimate where the lower cowl needs holes for outlets.