Engine mounting:

I am currently upgrading the engine in my Ultrastick 40. I’m upgrading from a GP42 to an Aviastar 53, which is a lot heavier. To try to make the CG rebalancing as easy as possible, I set the engine as far back on the new mount as I could. The mount is all drilled, tapped and ready to bolt up to the firewall. When I did my final fit up, I realized that the copper fuel tank leads came out of the firewall, directly into the cavity on the rear engine plate, making it impossible to get the lines plumbed up the engine. I hope to redrill the mount for a slightly more forward engine mounting this weekend. Grrrrrr!

It is easier to move the engine forward 1/4-3/8 of an inch, than it will be to find and replacing the fuel tank with one that does not have the lines coming out in the middle of the mount.

Jack