I’m making depressingly slow progress on the engine reinstallation. I’m not able to get as much time at the hangar as I would like, as I’m very busy at work. When I am at the hangar, I’ve been slowed down by two issues:

  1. When Aero Sport Power inspected the engine, they found the aluminum oil pump housing was impregnated with steel shavings. The oil pump housing is part of the crankcase, so they replaced my crankcase. The new crankcase is a different part number than my original one, and it has additional metal in some areas. This has affected the fit of some of the baffle pieces, which means I spent way too much time doing test fits, then remove a bit more material, then another test fit, etc.
  2. I’m changing the way the exhaust pipes are supported. When I built mine originally, I followed Larry Vetterman’s instructions at the time, which were to hang the exhaust from the engine mount. Now that I am reinstalling the engine, I’m moving to his later guidance to hang the exhaust from the back of the oil sump. But, I’ve spent a huge amount of time trying to find a way to get a straight shot from the left exhaust pipe to one of the oil sump bolts. An engine mount tube is in the way, as is my heat muff on the pipe from cylinder #4. I posted a request on the VAF Forums, looking for pictures of other builder’s installations. I got several useful responses, some on the web, and some via email. I studied things a bit more today, and I think I have it figured out. I hope to finish this off the next time I’m at the hangar.

I made good progress today, but still have several hours more work to do.