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Rotorway-Rework

The real time eaters are not readily seen within this site. The major benchmarks are obvious but the detail work, alignments, adjustments, trimming, fabricating, routing, securing and calibrating are sometimes overwhelming. 



1. Fitting radiator shroud to the radiator. Tape the ring in position during trial fit to clear the fan. Rivet in place once aligned. I scallop the top lip at the rivet locations to allow access for the riveter. 










2. Radiator assembly installed. Believe it or not all these weldments worked out on the mark. Shroud ring had to be relocated to clear the fan blade about 1/8" or so. The body panels had to be trimmed quite a bit to allow for the larger radiator assy. 










3. I had previously installed baffling from another 162 and it was a puzzle to get it together. It may have been easier to fabricate all new? I installed anchor nuts vice PK screws with my installation. The pass through holes for the exhaust pipes became quite large due to this engine being further forward because of the cog drive. Some things cascade during the build. You change one item for a reason only to discover later how it affected something further down the line.







4. I wrapped the exhaust using material purchased at a local Advance Auto (cheaper). Be careful of the exhaust gaskets they are very sharp. Make sure mating surfaces are smooth and clean. It took two of us to get the pipes aligned. They needed to be spread forcibly to mate to the engine. Use an awl or "bullet" to align the screw holes. I used the factory 12 point bolts on all but two holes. There are holes located just under the pipe bend on the top flanges. I used internal wrenching bolts in those two places with a cut down Allen wrench. Check torques frequently after initial engine runs.






5. Muffler was pretty straight forward. The problem here was locating the short expansion flange springs. Even Aircraft Spruce didn't have them! You also have to make tailpipe hangers with rubber straps. I used stainless steel hardware anywhere I could. In Florida corrosion is ever present.








6. Here it is a progress report. A picture is worth a thousand words. Almost ready to start. Compare some of the earlier pictures and you will see the change.

Cooling System