I was just wondering if anyone here has built their own engine mount. I have an Older Thunder Tiger Sky Lark-40s that I cannot find a engine mount to fit the holes and blind nuts already installed. I was thinking about fabricating an engine mount out of some hard wood and epoxying it to the frame.

Any suggestions?

Or would the firewall be ok with another 4 holes drilled into it?

Just punch out the old blind nuts, fill the holes with epoxy and install the new mount. You should be just fine. Good Luck, Dave

You could also use a dowel rod to fill the old holes. Insert a dowel rod to fit the hole and glue it in place, then saw it flush with the firewall when the glue is dry.

While it's possible to make a wood engine mount when the wood is part of the frame of the plane, you want to steer clear of that here. Unless it's constructed properly the chances are that it will fail. This could result in a dangerous situation if the motor is running as it could hit somebody and injure them. Install a regular engine mount.

Hope this helps

Ken

I have built my own engine mounts and they work well. When I changed engines in my Twist (.40 LA to .46 Evo) I needed a new mount. Went to several LHS but no one had one to fit the Twist. I wanted to fly the nest day so I took some UHMW (or Delron) and made my own mount. It has stood up very well. If you go to some of the Spad sites or combat sites you can find various methods for engine mounts. The UHMW mounts are not as rigid as OEM mounts, but they do work well.

Rob