Installing engine on mount
 

Hi

I'm getting my YS160 serviced. I'm about to remove from engine mount and there is what looks to be lock tight used (I didn't install the engine at the original build stage).

It's really difficult to unscrew the screws holding the engine to the mount.

Can an anyone suggest :
a) how best to get the screws out - it feels like they will snap (Allan key ends)
b) what to use when screwing them back in again? - lock tight?

Thanks,

Steve

Some ARF manufacturers actually use loctite on their hardware. If it is blue loctite, a little heat from a soldering iron should do the trick. Assuming that the engine mount is metal, yes, you should use blue loctite to re-assemble.

Wow, I typed up that whole answer without looking at the pictures. When I clicked on them I got really scared and was about to ask where was the other half of your engine mount. Then I saw that your engine mount actually supports the front of the engine with a 3rd member. weird, but it works.

Rafael

That set up would scare me to death. I'd change out the rails on the sides for ones that run full length of the mounting flanges. The flanges are designed to support the engine across their length, not on half of it.

As we know, aluminum shrinks more that steel. Therefore, if you can remove the engine mount from the plane, you can put the engine and mount in the freezer for several hours. The aluminum will shrink and the steel bolt will remain the same size. This should pull the aluminum away from the steel bolt loosening the bolt.

Another method would be to use a torch on the aluminum to heat it. Aluminum will expand more than the steel.

Either way, the bolt will loosen.

Frank

Hi Chaps,

Great advice - I heated up the area and sure enough the bolts came free.

Next thing is there are rubber mounts which attach the exhaust to the fuselage. I managed to get one free but the other has detached from the metal screw piece... hard to explain.

I taken a couple of photos of it. Anyone know what they are called so I can search for some from a UK supplier?

Thanks for all the help so far.

BTW - agree the engine mount doesn't look great but the metal arms go into a rubber back plate which is glued and screwed to the firewall (think that's what it's called). So it looks like I'm stuck with this set up!

Steve

...thanks again!

If I'm looking at those correctly, they are simply threaded rubber spacers. Although its hard to make out because they look like the bolt goes all the way thru. I've used some of those to create some "lift" on my helicopters to prevent a tail strike on the ground.

Rafael