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I tried calling Bar

I tried calling Bart Lalonde at Aero Sport Power on Monday, but he was sick. I did talk to Sue, his very capable office manager, and she talked to Bart on Tuesday. There were a couple of rounds of back and forth, and we finally sorted out all the details on Wednesday.

We discussed several options, but settled on them sending me a first run overhauled cylinder. They need to paint it and assemble all the pieces (valves, rocker arms, etc) then get it to me, along with rings, gaskets, O-rings, etc. I could have sent my cylinder back and they would have removed various pieces to install on the new cylinder, which would have reduced the price somewhat. But, that would take time, and I can get assistance from Ron M., a local AME, if I get this done before he heads to Florida. I'm going to be on the road a fair bit over the next three weeks, and Ron disappears at the end of the month, so I don't have much time to spare. If I miss him I'll have to track down an AME from another airport, which will take time and money. I tried and failed to get an AME to come out to help me with the helicoil - I don't want to have to track one down to help with a cylinder replacement.

t Lalonde at Aero Sport Power on Monday, but he was sick. I did talk to Sue, his very capable office manager, and she talked to Bart on Tuesday. There were a couple of rounds of back and forth, and we finally sorted out all the details on Wednesday.

We discussed several options, but settled on them sending me a first run overhauled cylinder. They need to paint it and assemble all the pieces (valves, rocker arms, etc) then get it to me. I could have sent my cylinder back and they would have removed various pieces to install on the new cylinder, which would have reduced the price somewhat. But, that would take time, and I can get assistance from Ron M., a local AME, if I get this done before he heads to Florida. I'm going to be on the road a fair bit over the next three weeks, and Ron disappears at the end of the month, so I don't have much time to spare. If I miss him I'll have to track down an AME from another airport, which will take time and money. I tried and failed to get an AME to come out to help me with the helicoil - I don't want to have to track one down to help with a cylinder replacement.

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I spent all day Saturday at the hangar, working on the autopilot wiring. I need to do all the wiring on the instrument panel side of things. It took some digging to find all the GPS wires I needed to hook up to, but I tracked them all down. Hooking up to the previous wiring for the roll servo turned out to be much more difficult than I expected, but I finally managed to get those wires all connected. I still have to hook up the pitch servo wires - they are done at the servo end, but not yet at the instrument panel end.

I finished all the power, GPS and roll servo wires at the end of the afternoon, and then powered it up to do the first ground functional tests. The control head powered up OK, but it wouldn't engage the roll servo. I would hear a "clunk" from the servo, but it wouldn't stay engaged. Reading through the manual again Saturday evening, I came up with four theories on what could be wrong. I'll check out those theories next time I'm at the hangar, and if that doesn't do it I'll call tech support at Trio Avionics.

Hopefully Bart Lalonde will be back at work tomorrow, so I can talk to him about my cylinder problem.

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I recently discovered that I cannot find my Avery Speed Deburring Tool, which I last used when I was installing the autopilot pitch servo mount in the aircraft. The last place I can definitely recall seeing it was in the cockpit, while the cockpit and aft baggage bay floors were removed. I was pretty sure that I hadn't left it under the floors, but I couldn't be certain. If it was under the floor, there would be a chance it could jam the pitch control, or the flaps, or do some other nefarious thing.

I looked all over the place, and still couldn't find the deburring tool, so I spent Saturday morning removing the seats, and the cockpit and baggage bay floors, and then putting the floors back in again. I didn't find the missing tool, but at least I am 100% certain that it isn't in the aircraft. I left the seats out as I will be crawling under the instrument panel to finish the autopilot installation while the cylinder issue gets sorted out.

I'm holding off ordering a replacement tool for a bit, but eventually I'll have to crack and buy a new one. But, I know from past experience that the missing tool will show up shortly after I've acquired a new one.

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I finally got a chance to get out to the hangar again and attacked putting the new helicoil spark plug thread insert in. I put a bunch of grease on the tap to catch any debris, and very, very carefully started the tap in the threads. It felt like it was going in correctly, with very little force required to turn the tap, but there were a lot more shavings in the grease than I expected to see when I pulled the tap out. I peered into the hole with a small mirror and a bright light, and it is clear that the tap was cross-threaded. Drat!

I’m pretty sure there is no acceptable repair scheme for this problem, or at least none that I would be comfortable flying behind. So, I need a new cylinder. I called Aero Sport Power, but found that Bart was out of the office until the end of the month. I’ll contact him when he gets back, and have him paint a new cylinder and send it out to me, along with a set of rings, gaskets, etc.

The electrical and pitot-static connectors that I need to finish off the autopilot installation arrived yesterday, so I’ll work on that while the aircraft is down.

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I called Bart Lalonde at Aero Sport Power late Wednesday afternoon to discuss my spark plug thread issue. Based on my verbal description, he is quite satisfied that all I need to do is replace the helicoil thread insert. He talked me through retapping the threads that the insert screw into and putting the new insert in - I'm satisfied that I can safely attempt this task. He also mentioned the difference between thread inserts for cars and Lycomings, and said to be sure I had the correct type. The ones for Lycomings have a serated outer edge on the outermost thread to help keep it in place. The ones for cars don't have those serrations. The ones that I was given by Ron M didn't have the serrations, as near as I could remember, so Bart offered to send me two thread inserts - no charge. Great support!

Saturday morning I went out to the hangar early. I confirmed that the thread inserts I had were the automotive type. I was going to retap the threads in the head, but discovered that my tap wrench was too small to fit over the large shank of the helicoil tap. I couldn't find a compatible tap wrench at Canadian Tire, NAPA Auto Parts, Princess Auto or Busy Bee Tools, so I gave up for the day. I assume that Ron M. has a compatible tap wrench, and I should be able to track him down this week. Failing that, it shouldn't take too much torque to run the tap through the threads to clean them up, so I'll find a piece of stiff hose with an ID about right, use a hose clamp to secure it over the end of the tap and put two holes in the hose so I can stick a screwdriver in to turn it. I could just use an adjustable wrench on the end of the tap, but it is hard to get it started straight if you are doing it that way, and this cylinder head is worth too much to risk screwing it up.

When I went out to get the newspaper this morning I discovered an envelope from UPS on the door step. It turns out that they delivered the thread inserts from Aero Sport Power mid-day on Friday. I'll get out to the hangar sometime this week to try replacing the thread insert.

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I took some comp time this afternoon and zipped out to the hangar. Ron M., the local AME, took a close look at my spark plug hole problem. He thought that the piece of thread hanging out was the end of the helicoil, not a piece of the aluminum thread as I had thought. I cut a piece off with my diagonal cutters - it was much harder than aluminum, and it stuck to a magnet, so Ron was right.

He thought the cylinder was likely OK, but that the helicoil would need to be replaced. I grabbed the end with needle nose pliers, pulled it towards the centre of the spark plug and then gently twisted to unscrew it. It came out very easily.

Ron said that if it was his cylinder he would replace the helicoil himself with the cylinder still on the engine, but that he didn't want to do it on someone else's cylinder. I'm not comfortable doing it myself, so I'm going to call an AME with much more engine experience and see if he will drive over to do the job.