Sabremech

More progress today. Lower cowling has been fit to the airplane and camlocs installed. All is good except for the left cowl flap does not fit as well as it should on the inner flange. I will need to cut it and modify it to make another mold. All in all, that’s not too bad considering the size of the project. I also made a modification to the prototype carb air box and it fits great now. That can be finished and I’ll call it final for this cowling. Tomorrow, it’s time to fit the upper cowling and get it trimmed to fit.

I’m actually thinking of making my new carb air box available with an adapter to the stock C & G model filter. Would like to find a way to not have to do an STC though.

Just a few more photos to document the installation progress. David

Trimming the cowl flap to clear the tail pipe by 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch will be included in the installation instructions.

Today the cowl flaps were fit and drilled for the pivot. I’m planning on installing oil lite bushings in both the cowling side and flap side as the wear parts. The right side cowl flap will need to be notched for the tailpipe on my C and potentially others depending on what’s installed.

No turning back now. Final fit to drill for the firewall camlocs under way. Also fit the new prototype carb air box for the C & G models. Minor adjustment to clear the cowling found during initial fit but looks like this will work well. Also fit the plug to the prop hub for the forward bulkhead to make the carbon fiber spinner. Making some progress. David

Looks like Monday I can send this your way. Thanks, David

I got lucky for once. Usually I have to make a couple before it’s just right. David

Ok, Just knocked one out for mine. I’ll finish it up tomorrow and get the holes drilled. Should be able to ship it out to you Thursday. David

Ok, I’ll try to get mine fabricated this week and then let you know that I’ll be ready to send it out. It’s yours if you cover the shipping. Thanks, David

Are you still looking for one of the step trim pieces? I’m going to make a new one for mine and will part with my old one which isn’t in bad shape if you still want or need one. It will be available once I make my new one. This is off of my 66C. Thanks, David

Hi Andy, I was trying to stay with something FAA/PMA as well as another option for my landing light in the cowling issue I had. David

As an A&P/IA, I don’t always agree with Mike Busch and have challenged him on a few of his assertions, his writings would be good for you to learn some maintenance fundamentals. Don’t allow yourself to take his words as the maintenance gospel, but allow it to give you the knowledge to know what questions to ask.

I had been thinking about a taxi or landing light on the gear for a while and today took a closer look. I used my LED landing light to place it around the gear and I don’t see anywhere something like it could be mounted and fit into the wheel well. Still scratching my head for an idea!

Planning on using factory fasteners and picking up the existing locations.

I lost count the number of times my cowlings have been on and off !

Fitting continues with cutting open the access panel openings and trial fitting a cowl flap. Biggest challenge is designing a new carb air box to fit. I have an idea that if it fits will make it fairly easy and cost effective. Going to make it out of wood to test my theory. David

Those will be maintenance access panels on both sides. It will also be able to have louvers added in the future by just switching out the panel if needed say for a turbo’d Mooney.

Working on fitting the lower cowling. I expected to have an issue with the carb air box and that is a definite need to redesign. The much more sloped cowling is going to require a new lower profile carb air box. What I didn’t expect was an issue with the landing light. I found that the O-360 muffler hits it. I now understand why as the difference with the fuel injected O-360’s moves the muffler down and aft. O-360 is up and forward due to the carb. I will have to move the landing light to the center on the carbureted Mooneys. I’m also thinking I will need to move one of the air fittings on the muffler shroud. I did manage to get it on today and do some initial fitting to verify if I’ll have any other issues.

Hi James, I think LASAR powder coats their blocks as the ones I have from them are powder coated. I personally don’t care for it as its chipping off in the contact areas. I think the anodizing will be better in the long run as it won’t chip but will show where it contacts and wears over time. Just my .02 bit you can powder coat if you choose. Thanks, David

Hi ReconJon, There were no extras made as that would fall outside the owner produced rules. I could make some for you but you’d need to supply me with at least the raw materials in order to qualify for owner produced and they would be pricey for a single set. I’m told LASAR has stock again on theirs. You might try them and if they are out of stock, I can see what the pricing would be. Thank you, David

Hi Don, There is tracking information but I wasn’t going to try and send out all 23 orders tracking info. If you don’t have yours by Wednesday, let me know and I’ll track it. Thanks, David

I suspected that was the case as I had one blow up in the press and then saw the cutout. I typically don’t disassemble a sealed bearing and decided it was much better to go new as my airplane has 7600 hours on it. Bearings were $200 for a pair. No worries now for a long time.

You won’t be able to remove the bearings from the shaft without a press and a bearing plate to hold the inner race. I took mine to a machine shop to have them removed and the new bearings pressed back on. The bearings are sealed so you won’t be able to disassemble them to clean and grease. David

Good morning to the group. The parts shipped this morning. I have one set left to ship to Clarence (for Ned) that I will work on this afternoon. Hopefully no issues shipping to Canada. Thank you all, David