4/11/08 - made my first trip to Sun-n-Fun and attended many forums including this one by William Wynne

4/25/08 - applied Loctite 620 to the studs for the WW deep sump oil pan. These came with the kit with locknuts

3/22/08 - today I completed the install of all six cylinder/piston/rod assemblies to the crankshaft

3/22/08 -- all the arrows on the piston tops pointing to the prop end of the crankshaft on both sides

3/22/08 - another shot

3/22/08 - this evening I went and retapped all the threads on the case using some aluminum tapping fluid. They all looked clean and shiny when I was done

4/5/08 - the stainless socket head hardware I ordered from McMaster arrived this weekend so I installed the front cover to the short block

3/21/08 - very nice looking tig welding here on top of the machined off head surface. The gold above is just a reflection of the camera flash

3/21/08 - I think every Corvair conversion builder has an image of their engine becoming something similar to that in this picture. This beautiful engine was built by Pat Panzera.

3/22/08 - here's where I did the job of compressing the rings and inserting the pistons in the cylinders. I ended up placing the bottom of the cylinders on a couple of 2x4 blocks which made it much easier to work with the ring compressor

3/22/08 - here's a shot of torquing the 12 point ARP rod bolt nuts. Yes that's a clicker torque wrench even though WW recommends a non-clicker. I went looking for one at Sears and couldn't find one with a 3/8 drive. I torqued them three times each to 26 ft-lbs per the ARP instructions to properly stretch the rod bolt

3/22/08 - just a shot of rods number 1 and 2 installed with the numbers facing up

3/16/08 - here are my balanced connecting rods from Clark's and one of the set of forged pistons from Larry's Corvair. Today I tried the WW approach of heating the rod end with a propane torch and then slipping the rod pin in quickly as demonstrated in his video. I had very limited success lining up the pins in the pistons before they froze in place. I ended up taking them to the machine shop to install

3/21/08 - here are the piston/rod assemblies as I picked up from the machine shop today.

3/21/08 - here's the number 1 piston/rod/cylinder assembly installed and bolted to the crankshaft. That's PVC pipe bolted to the top of the cylinder to keep it from moving when I rotate the crank

3/21/08 - and here's number 2 installed. Note the arrow pointing towards the propeller end of the crankshaft

3/21/08 - I picked up my rebuilt heads today from the machine shop and they also had the intake tubes welded on for me.

3/15/08 - per the recommendation in WW's conversion manual, I marked the timing marks on both the cam and crank with extended lines. To assure myself that I had this correct, I purposely misaligned the gears one tooth in both directions and saw that both those positions were way off visibly. The above puts the cam keyway towards the bottom of the case or at six o'clock and the crank keyway is at nine o'clock

3/15/08 - one lubed up and in place I turned the crank to ensure there was no binding. Almost forgot to put the cam lube on the cam lobes

3/16/08 - I coated the threads of the eight case bolts with silver antiseize

3/16/08 - and also, per the conversion manual, applied sealer to the underside of the bolt head and nut face

3/16/08 - I torqued up the case bolts in 10 pound increments making sure to tap the case webbing with a dead bow mallet to ensure the dowel pins were seating. Click the above pic to see a movie of me testing the rotation of drag of the crankshaft.

3/9/08 - this is the counter sink bit.

3/9/08 - I saw a suggestion from Mark Langford in the Corvaircraft archives about removing the belt from my drill press and turning the pulley by hand to tap the hole. I did this and it worked nicely. Caution, though, while tapping the hole, you need to also rotate the handles on the drill press. I was startled to see my case lifting off my makeshift table which caused the tapping to be slightly askew as I found the stud to slightly off straight after I installed.

3/9/08 - the finished time sert

3/15/08 - I put the crankshaft in the case today without oiling the main bearings, placed a couple threads of plastigage, and then closed and torqued up the case. Checking the plastigage showed the clearance within the spec of .001 to .003 clearance

3/15/08 - another shot of the plastigage

3/9/0 - After cleaning the cae threads with brake cleaner and blowing them out with air, I replaced with standard size case studs. I kept them in the freezer over night and coated the threads with Loc-tite 620.

3/9/08 - before inserting each stud I heated each hole with a propane torch

3/9/08 - and then threaded in the studs with a two nuts locked together on top

3/9/08 - I had one stud that did not come out easily and when I attempted to thread in the stud it gave me quite a lot of resistance halfway in. I backed it out and decided to install a time sert in this hole. The time sert requires you rethread the bottom of the stud to 3/8-16. I tried my hand at rethreading a couple 3/8-16 bolts shanks, cut off the thread that was on the bolt to start with, and then tried my new 3/8-16 thread in a time sert to check for fit. Once happy with the adjustment to the die, I rethreaded the end of the case stud as seen above

3/9/08 - before drilling the hole for the time sert, I had marked the drill with tape to be sure I only when as far as the time sert was deep.

3/8/08 - all 6 came out with just using the wrench on the lower nut and heaving with a pair of leather gloves on. Only the last one required more force. I decided to work on it a bit with an impact wrench since I was bending it with the wrench. After a few raps with the impact, reheating with the torch, I was able to remove with the wrench. None of the studs took any aluminum with them as they came out so I will not be using the time serts.

3/8/08 - I inspected all the case threads after cleaning/brushing thoroughly with brake cleaner and compressed air. I put the new standard size case studs in the freezer today and will install with Loctite 620 tomorrow. Today I also cut the required 5 inches off my dipstick tube. I went looking for my dipstick amongst my core parts, but I guess I never had one I'll have to pick one up at the auto parts to shorten when I get my WW oil pan.

3/8/08 - today I cut my aluminum U-bend that I had ordered from Burns Stainless (part # 6061-UB-150-25-16UB-150-25-16-6061 4x4 Legs). I finished the cut end on the belt sander.

3/8/08 - I'll be taking my heads and head parts to the machine shop this week and will also have them mill off the intake flange and weld on the intake tubes.

3/9/08 - I needed a small brush to clean out the threaded holes on the case with braker cleaner.. Today when shopping with my wife at the local Wal-Greens drug store I spotted a small spare mascara brush. It has perfect sized bristles and a durable wire stem. Yep, that's a spare one in the background my wife said she didn't need anymore.

2/26/08 - last weekend I painted my cylinders with black high temp 1200 degree ceramic engine paint.

2/26/08 - here's how they came out. I coated the inside of cylinders with some fogging oil using a cotton pad to protect them from corrosion

2/26/08 - the other day I built a case stand out of 2x4s, wood glue, and screws. This should make it a little easier to assemble the case when I get my crankshaft back from machine shop where it's currently being polished and balanced

3/8/08 - last weekend I finally finished cleaning up my case so I decided to paint it with high temp engine paint. Today I worked to remove the top row of case studs that had badly rusted threads. I had time serts and an install kit on hand but didn't need them as the studs came out cleanly without bringing aluminum with them. In this pic I use the WW approach to removal: heat the case with a propane torch at the base of the stud and let candle wax (see the lump abvove just to the left of the stud) wick in when it heats up. I have the case half kept stationary with two 2x4's screwed to the bench

3/8/08 - before heating any studs I had slid a closed end 9/16 wrench over the stud and then double nutted the top of the stud

2/15/08 - cleaned up my pushrod tubes on a scotchbrite wheel. This worked better than I expected.

2/15/08 - here's the result. After this I took a shotgun cleaner with a rag and used brake cleaner to clean out the inside of each of the tubes. I also wire wheeled the O-ring grooves. Tomorrow I'll get some high temp white paint on these before they rust.

2/15/08 - yesterday I tallied up what I've ordered/spent so far on the Corvair conversion. Nothing received so far from flycorvair.com .. course some guys have waited over a year for stuff from WW, so I guess I can be patient as I do not expect to have my fuselage ready for the engine until about a year from now at least.

2/16/08 - painted my pushrod tubes today with white Dupli-Color (with Ceramic) high heat paint. Except for just a couple runs, I like how they came out. Some folks bake in the their ovens to cure the paint but I'm not sure my wife would be thrilled if I did that, so they'll air cure in the garage.

2/16/08 - today I made a lot of aluminum sawdust on my bandsaw cutting the bell housing. Cuts nicely if you use a blade that has 18 teeth per inch. I did some filing and grinding with a hand held grinder. Tomorrow I will finish it up on my belt sander.

2/2/08 - Larry called today and said my crankshaft was back from being nitrided. His son Cody shared these pictures with me taken by Advanced Nitriding Solutions in Batesville during the nitriding process.

"Nitriding is a surface-hardening heat treatment that introduces nitrogen into the surface of steel at a temperature range (500 to 550°C, or 930 to 1020°F), while it is in the ferrite condition. Thus, nitriding is similar to carburizing in that surface composition is altered, but different in that nitrogen is added into ferrite instead of austenite. Because nitriding does not involve heating into the austenite phase field and a subsequent quench to form martensite, nitriding can be accomplished with a minimum of distortion and with excellent dimensional control."

www.Key-to-Steel.com

"Ion (or Plasma) Nitriding
Since the mid-1960s, nitriding equipment utilizing the glow-discharge phenomenon has been commercially available. Initially termed glow-discharge nitriding, the process is now generally known as ion, or plasma, nitriding. The term plasma nitriding is gaining acceptance.
Ion nitriding is an extension of conventional nitriding processes using plasma-discharge physics. In vacuum, high-voltage electrical energy is used to form a plasma, through which nitrogen ions are accelerated to impinge on the workpiece. This ion bombardment heats the workpiece, cleans the surface, and provides active nitrogen."

www.Key-to-Steel.com

2/2/08 - here's my nitrided crankshaft. Note the milky candy-stripe appearance of the crank caused by the nitriding process,

2/2/08 - closeup of my crank. Next step is to take to it the shop to have it polished and balanced.

1/20/08 - been a while since I pulled out my Corvair engine parts to assess the work I need to do. I could accomplish some prep and parts ordering over the next few months until my fuselage is ready to pick up at Zenith. Yesterday I was was able to get together with some other local Corvair conversion builders and now I have renewed interest in building my own aircraft engine. My crankshaft is on it's way to be turned, tapped, and nitrided!

1/25/08 - my crankshaft is one of the batch above on its' way to be nitrided at Advanced Nitriding Soutions in Batesville, IN. Larry Hudson is a fellow builder south of Indianapolis. He and his son Cody are experienced at building Corvair conversions and provide help and support to several area builders like myself.

2/2/08 - this pic of Larry and Cody Hudson was taken by Zodiac 601XL builder Robert Luken of Dayton, OH on 1/19 as they disassembled his Corvair core.

1/25 - the batch of crankshafts loaded up for the trip to ANS

1/25/08 - the nitriding equipment at ANS in Batesville, IN.

9/20/05 - no visible issues with the valves (course they'll be replaced) or the combustion chambers that I could see except for this one intake valve stuck open

9/21/05 - rear case removed

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9/21/05 - I split the case this evening. Most of the time required was removing the rods from the crank prior to separating the halves

9/21/05 - all the pieces on my bench. The crank looks great and the cam case journals look clean and in good shape.

9/22/05 - this evening gave the case halves three short treatments of Super Clean and hosed it off each time. This stuff works fast and I didn't leave it on for more than couple minutes each time before rinsing.

9/19/05 - and the inside of the first head off. Lots of corrosion here like some water was sitting in here though one cylinder on this side was filled with oil

9/19/05 - the case with one head off.

9/19/05 - both heads propped up so I can look at them .. lots of clean up needed here.

9/19/05 - I wish I had taken the same care with the vice grips on the bottom row of head nuts. They all came off easy but one backed out a head stud I could not see until too late. Consequences of working on the garage floor .. d'oh. I will need to assess the condition of the case hole and see if any aluminum is on the stud threads.

9/20/05 - tonight after work I cleaned up both heads with Super Clean and a stiff brush, hosed them down, and blew off the water with air. They look a lot better even with this little cleaning than when I pulled them off last night.

9/17/05 - Today I am the proud owner of a Corvair core! It's a RH case, matched set of non-smog heads numbered 3856759, and the right 8409 crank. This week I'll start taking it apart to assess the condition of this core. My two garage buddies are in the pic: Chloe and Max

9/17/05 - another shot of the engine

9/17/05 and another. This is going to be fun to work on. I've already ordered catalogs from Clarks and Corvair Underground and assembly videos from WW

9/19/05 - for the last couple days I have soaked the upper head nuts with PB Blaster to loosen the rust. I locked the head studs with vice grips and was able to remove all the upper nuts with a little effort.

9/19/05 - the inside of the case. Fairly clean.