moni_engine

Moni Gets An Engine!

Well we hope it does.
The hopes are to convert the military teledyne 32 Cubic Inch generator motor into a power plant for the Moni Motorglider. Several on line are making efforts to do the same for other aircraft, but this may well be the fist for the Moni design.

1/29/2002
     Today I removed all from the engine that I know for certain will not be used on the engine for the aircraft application. Cover plates were created and installed for the fuel pump, and governor. I find a lot of genius in this little engine. Efficiency, and about everything you'd need firewall forward is in the package. Probable carburetor change will occur, as well as adaptation for an electrical system, and starter. Stay tuned! 3

2/7/2002

     Spent time considering the engine mounting. Four lengths of bushing stock were cut and mounted to the firewall at standard attach points called out on the plans. Four attach points were created on the aft end of the engine. Two from the shipping mount, and two from some scrap aluminum angle I had in the shop. This will allow a standard tube mounting system like you'd see on a C-85 or a VW engine in an airplane. Now is where we have the problem with chicken or the egg. Best thing would be to have the engine mounted and then fit the stock cowling to it. But, I need to gauge where to place this engine by where and how the cowling fits. 3

2/9/2002
     Rummaged around through friend's metal stock, and obtained enough material to weld up the engine mounting system. I probably spent 2 hours in all just measuring, to obtain a proper thrust line, and square with the fuselage. When either satisfied, or maybe surrendered to good enough, I cut four 1" I.D. tubes to hold the shock absorber grommets, and bolted them to the engine mounting tabs, with great care to assure that they were centered. Rechecked to make sure the engine was again centered, and I started cutting and welding pipes. By 1630 this afternoon, I removed the support below the engine, and set the tail on the ground. Though only tack welded, (a bit better than that) the engine is sitting square, and tall! Placing the cowling near and around the engine, I see that for the most part, it should fit. The valve covers will protrude a bit, and the front oil pan cooling tin mounts will need to be trimmed a bit. The carburetor will probably not fit with out modification of either the cowl, or intake system. Stay tuned! 4

2/11/2002      Finished up welding the engine mount today, and remounted the engine using the final shock grommets. I still have to add an inner ring to the grommet rings to keep the grommets from sliding. Once engine again secured, and checked for squareness, hinge strips were clecoed to the firewall for cowl mounting purposes. Then the cowling halves, were fitted to the engine. Sadly, more modification to the cowlings will have to be done than expected. At present, I've got them fitting to where the cowling is split down the middle by only about two inches. Major conflicts were in the front cylinders, intake manifold, and spark plugs. May have to saw off the plugs to make them shorter. 4

2/12/2002      More trimming, and fiberglass dust flying today.   Now a mere 1/2" separates the two halves at the aft end on top. The front seems to be fitting well at this point. One engine mounting lug on the engine is being difficult, and is having to be cut down. May need to put another bump in the cowl!? The oil add and dipstick tube had to be cut down. A plug will have to be fashioned at a later time. The oil pan will fit nicely in the normal boundaries of the stock cowling. Going to be a chore to get a carburetor set up. It will probably have to be routed to behind the engine, or a significant bump will have to be created in the top of the cowl. 2

2/14/2002      Valentines day. No better day to work on airplanes! Working on taxes for a friend, and then reviving his power plant on a V max, not much was done to the Moni. The engine was removed and placed aside so the engine mount could be finished, and painted.   I cut and positioned 4 rings into the mount cups to help center the grommets. Will weld them tomorrow. 1

2/15/2002
     First thing today, I finished all the welding in the engine mount system. I then sanded all surface rust off and primed it. Later I painted it while so it could show up well in pictures on the web site. I then finished fitting the firewall, and riveted it into place. Then at lunch, I took a call from Bruce Holtz, that is being an invaluable source of information, in the development of this little engine for an aircraft application. See his sight here. After lunch, I remounted the engine mount with final nuts and bolts, and rehung the engine for the purpose of fitting the cowl. Further trimming of the cowling 2

2/17/2002      Sunday. Just spend about 30 minutes focused on the airplane today. Drilled and clecoed the two cowl halves together using the recommended hinge. 1

2/18/2002      Well, the airplane didn't cooperate for sure. After several hours of fighting with the cowling, I gave up this war, and went off in search of battles I could win. I did get to the point thought that I know I'll have to split the cowling in a couple of places, to make it fit. Just too narrow. 2

2/19/2002
     I guess if there is any one item I despise the most about building an airplane it must be the fitting of the cowling. I now have all the mounting hinges are all clecoed in place. When all pins are in place, the cowling fits tight, and there does not seem to be any binding or play. The firewall tabs were then bent to profile, and the upper firewall wrap was fashioned and installed. Tomorrow's tasks will be the riveting of the hinges in the cowl halves. Attention will then turn to the mechanics of the engine, the canopy installation 2

2/20/2002
     I pulled all the rivets as advertised today. I left the lower seam open until I get the replacement hinge that will allow the gap to be filled. 1

2/24/2002
     Well just for grins, I went out and hung the prop Bruce Hotz sent me on the engine today, strictly for the purpose of taking this picture. . . .Thanks Bruce 0

2/26/2002      I took my prop hub over to a friends machine shop today, and made it nice and round. I also faced the hub so both materials involved would have a flat surface for the prop to mate on. I then placed the prop on the mill to bore out the pilot hole to match the 1 1/2" pilot ridge on the prop hub. 2

2/27/2002      Today I removed and replace the hinge holding the lower cowl seam together with a wider one that would span the gap. I then cut out the area around the crank shaft to allow the installation of the prop hub to the shaft. 1

4/23/2002      I removed the engine today so I can prepare it for it's first run. Decisions are still being made on location of the ignition modules. Search has begun for a replacement plug so a standard automotive type ignition harness could be used. The interior of the engine will be checked for debris and closed up, carburetor reinstalled, and engine remounted to mount. 1

5/19/2002
     Today I finished removing the ignition from the cast housings that once were connected to the cylinder heads. The ignition coils, and modules were mounted behind the firewall, as seen in the picture at left. A standard Slick ignition harness was disassembled, and modified to fit to the ignition coils mounted through the firewall. the opposite ends will be modified to fit standard automotive type spark plugs. 2

5/20/2002      Spent the day running around trying to find parts to complete the ignition system. Ignition wire caps were found at a motorcycle shop, oil filter and plugs were found at a local chain auto parts store. After a quick on line conversation with Bruce Hotz I proceeded to wire my ignition system. I've got it about 95% done at this point other than a couple of Plug wires. I replaced the stock plug with champion D21's. All that remains for the first start are, oil, oil pressure, and temp probes, and a prop. I have them all, I just need to spend the time to install them. 2

5/21/2002
     It runs! Some final electrical rigging, and plumbing had the engine ready to run by noon today. Seems to run a bit lean until fully warmed up. I think I have some problems with the spark plug cables not making consistent contact. Will be looking at options here. I converted the original cannon cable from one of head mounted ignition boxes to carry the wires from the engine mounted coils to the firewall. Nice neat installation. Looks like it belongs on an airplane now! 3

5/22/2002
     A lot of time was spent today on refining the installation. All plug wires were replaced with new, auto type cables, with the same ends that were once attached to the original attempt wires. Oil Pressure, and temperature, were routed through the fire wall, and a kill switch was mounted to the instrument panel. Engine was run a total of about 45 minutes in all. Once fully warmed up, it idles around 1000 rpm with a slight lope. Full throttle was achieved today several times. Good, smooth power. I hope the picture to the left can show just how incredibly simple and clean the installation of this engine is. The only thing to be added through the firewall is the fuel line. Next steps will be the design and fabrication of an exhaust system. Decisions still remain for location of the carburetor. 3

5/24/2002      Well, starting the trial and error phase of converting the engine. It takes more than just a prop hub to make it airworthy. Slight modifications were made to the throttle butterfly valve. The prop tips were given a new plan form, and the aft edge of the blade was trimmed. After each modification, the engine was run up to check for improvements. I even pulled the carburetor off the lawn tractor and mounted it in place.   In all I've comfortably added just over 100 rpm. I feel at this point all further improvements in rpm and power will come from increasing the compression ration, and trimming the prop. 2

5/25/2002
    First thing today I pulled the carburetor off the airplane and replaced it to the tractor. Placing the original carburetor back on the engine allowed another test run to see if the prop trimming was more significant than the carburetor in achieving the rpm increase so far. I then made cuts in the header pipes to allow them to be bent down under the engine and not stick out the sides where they would be hitting the cowling. Flanges were made from plate steel, and and exhaust system was welded up from material laying around the shop. Though quickly assembled and welded, noise reduction was significant. 4

6/3/2002      In efforts to achieve more rpm from the engine, I've again done some trimming to the prop. To sum up the changes, I placed the prop on the table saw, and reduced the depth, or thickness of the blade near the hub. From there, I ran the belt sander to return the bottom surface of the blades to a flat surface. The changes are only visible from a short distance. After balancing it as close as possible in time, and available setup. I returned the prop to the engine for a run. With all the attempts made above, I was able to achieve right at 2380 consistently. I now see right at 2550 steady. 1

6/12/2002      Checked clearances between the pistons, and heads today after the mill work last week to achieve a higher compression ratio. I had time to install cylinders 1 and 3 including all valve operating hardware. One rocker arm had to be shaped a bit to allow proper adjustment of the valve screw. Considerably more compression feel than before. Can't wait to run it and see what we've done. 2

6/13/2002      Today, I finished the assembly of the engine after the cylinder head work. Set the valves cold, so I'd have something to start from, and started the engine. I see real quickly it is running stronger than before. Full throttle runs were now giving at least 2750 rpm. It is becoming quite a effort to hold onto the airplane now in the garage.   The hand held tach was not doing very well, in the low light situation present during a level 5 thunderstorm! Maybe tomorrow, I'll have enough light to get in a good run and be able to record the rpm. After the third run, engine hot, I went ahead and set the valves to .014 as prescribed on the cylinder head covers.   3

9/25/2002

After receiving a new walbro carburetor I welded up a new manifold adapter, and mounted the carb to the engine. Again, a temporary fuel system was hooked up, and the engine started. Once warm, the engine idled nicely at 950 rpm, and at full throttle, ran strong at 2800 rpm. Just feeling it, I can't imagine this not being enough power to fly this bird! Next task? I don't know either. . . . .
2

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1/29/2002	Today I removed all from the engine that I know for certain will not be used on the engine for the aircraft application. Cover plates were created and installed for the fuel pump, and governor. I find a lot of genius in this little engine. Efficiency, and about everything you'd need firewall forward is in the package. Probable carburetor change will occur, as well as adaptation for an electrical system, and starter. Stay tuned!	3
2/7/2002	Spent time considering the engine mounting. Four lengths of bushing stock were cut and mounted to the firewall at standard attach points called out on the plans. Four attach points were created on the aft end of the engine. Two from the shipping mount, and two from some scrap aluminum angle I had in the shop. This will allow a standard tube mounting system like you'd see on a C-85 or a VW engine in an airplane. Now is where we have the problem with chicken or the egg. Best thing would be to have the engine mounted and then fit the stock cowling to it. But, I need to gauge where to place this engine by where and how the cowling fits.	3
2/9/2002	Rummaged around through friend's metal stock, and obtained enough material to weld up the engine mounting system. I probably spent 2 hours in all just measuring, to obtain a proper thrust line, and square with the fuselage. When either satisfied, or maybe surrendered to good enough, I cut four 1" I.D. tubes to hold the shock absorber grommets, and bolted them to the engine mounting tabs, with great care to assure that they were centered. Rechecked to make sure the engine was again centered, and I started cutting and welding pipes. By 1630 this afternoon, I removed the support below the engine, and set the tail on the ground. Though only tack welded, (a bit better than that) the engine is sitting square, and tall! Placing the cowling near and around the engine, I see that for the most part, it should fit. The valve covers will protrude a bit, and the front oil pan cooling tin mounts will need to be trimmed a bit. The carburetor will probably not fit with out modification of either the cowl, or intake system. Stay tuned!	4
2/11/2002	Finished up welding the engine mount today, and remounted the engine using the final shock grommets. I still have to add an inner ring to the grommet rings to keep the grommets from sliding. Once engine again secured, and checked for squareness, hinge strips were clecoed to the firewall for cowl mounting purposes. Then the cowling halves, were fitted to the engine. Sadly, more modification to the cowlings will have to be done than expected. At present, I've got them fitting to where the cowling is split down the middle by only about two inches. Major conflicts were in the front cylinders, intake manifold, and spark plugs. May have to saw off the plugs to make them shorter.	4
2/12/2002	More trimming, and fiberglass dust flying today. Now a mere 1/2" separates the two halves at the aft end on top. The front seems to be fitting well at this point. One engine mounting lug on the engine is being difficult, and is having to be cut down. May need to put another bump in the cowl!? The oil add and dipstick tube had to be cut down. A plug will have to be fashioned at a later time. The oil pan will fit nicely in the normal boundaries of the stock cowling. Going to be a chore to get a carburetor set up. It will probably have to be routed to behind the engine, or a significant bump will have to be created in the top of the cowl.	2
2/14/2002	Valentines day. No better day to work on airplanes! Working on taxes for a friend, and then reviving his power plant on a V max, not much was done to the Moni. The engine was removed and placed aside so the engine mount could be finished, and painted. I cut and positioned 4 rings into the mount cups to help center the grommets. Will weld them tomorrow.	1
2/15/2002	First thing today, I finished all the welding in the engine mount system. I then sanded all surface rust off and primed it. Later I painted it while so it could show up well in pictures on the web site. I then finished fitting the firewall, and riveted it into place. Then at lunch, I took a call from Bruce Holtz, that is being an invaluable source of information, in the development of this little engine for an aircraft application. See his sight here. After lunch, I remounted the engine mount with final nuts and bolts, and rehung the engine for the purpose of fitting the cowl. Further trimming of the cowling	2
2/17/2002	Sunday. Just spend about 30 minutes focused on the airplane today. Drilled and clecoed the two cowl halves together using the recommended hinge.	1
2/18/2002	Well, the airplane didn't cooperate for sure. After several hours of fighting with the cowling, I gave up this war, and went off in search of battles I could win. I did get to the point thought that I know I'll have to split the cowling in a couple of places, to make it fit. Just too narrow.	2
2/19/2002	I guess if there is any one item I despise the most about building an airplane it must be the fitting of the cowling. I now have all the mounting hinges are all clecoed in place. When all pins are in place, the cowling fits tight, and there does not seem to be any binding or play. The firewall tabs were then bent to profile, and the upper firewall wrap was fashioned and installed. Tomorrow's tasks will be the riveting of the hinges in the cowl halves. Attention will then turn to the mechanics of the engine, the canopy installation	2
2/20/2002	I pulled all the rivets as advertised today. I left the lower seam open until I get the replacement hinge that will allow the gap to be filled.	1
2/24/2002	Well just for grins, I went out and hung the prop Bruce Hotz sent me on the engine today, strictly for the purpose of taking this picture. . . .Thanks Bruce	0
2/26/2002	I took my prop hub over to a friends machine shop today, and made it nice and round. I also faced the hub so both materials involved would have a flat surface for the prop to mate on. I then placed the prop on the mill to bore out the pilot hole to match the 1 1/2" pilot ridge on the prop hub.	2
2/27/2002	Today I removed and replace the hinge holding the lower cowl seam together with a wider one that would span the gap. I then cut out the area around the crank shaft to allow the installation of the prop hub to the shaft.	1
4/23/2002	I removed the engine today so I can prepare it for it's first run. Decisions are still being made on location of the ignition modules. Search has begun for a replacement plug so a standard automotive type ignition harness could be used. The interior of the engine will be checked for debris and closed up, carburetor reinstalled, and engine remounted to mount.	1
5/19/2002	Today I finished removing the ignition from the cast housings that once were connected to the cylinder heads. The ignition coils, and modules were mounted behind the firewall, as seen in the picture at left. A standard Slick ignition harness was disassembled, and modified to fit to the ignition coils mounted through the firewall. the opposite ends will be modified to fit standard automotive type spark plugs.	2
5/20/2002	Spent the day running around trying to find parts to complete the ignition system. Ignition wire caps were found at a motorcycle shop, oil filter and plugs were found at a local chain auto parts store. After a quick on line conversation with Bruce Hotz I proceeded to wire my ignition system. I've got it about 95% done at this point other than a couple of Plug wires. I replaced the stock plug with champion D21's. All that remains for the first start are, oil, oil pressure, and temp probes, and a prop. I have them all, I just need to spend the time to install them.	2
5/21/2002	It runs! Some final electrical rigging, and plumbing had the engine ready to run by noon today. Seems to run a bit lean until fully warmed up. I think I have some problems with the spark plug cables not making consistent contact. Will be looking at options here. I converted the original cannon cable from one of head mounted ignition boxes to carry the wires from the engine mounted coils to the firewall. Nice neat installation. Looks like it belongs on an airplane now!	3
5/22/2002	A lot of time was spent today on refining the installation. All plug wires were replaced with new, auto type cables, with the same ends that were once attached to the original attempt wires. Oil Pressure, and temperature, were routed through the fire wall, and a kill switch was mounted to the instrument panel. Engine was run a total of about 45 minutes in all. Once fully warmed up, it idles around 1000 rpm with a slight lope. Full throttle was achieved today several times. Good, smooth power. I hope the picture to the left can show just how incredibly simple and clean the installation of this engine is. The only thing to be added through the firewall is the fuel line. Next steps will be the design and fabrication of an exhaust system. Decisions still remain for location of the carburetor.	3
5/24/2002	Well, starting the trial and error phase of converting the engine. It takes more than just a prop hub to make it airworthy. Slight modifications were made to the throttle butterfly valve. The prop tips were given a new plan form, and the aft edge of the blade was trimmed. After each modification, the engine was run up to check for improvements. I even pulled the carburetor off the lawn tractor and mounted it in place. In all I've comfortably added just over 100 rpm. I feel at this point all further improvements in rpm and power will come from increasing the compression ration, and trimming the prop.	2
5/25/2002	First thing today I pulled the carburetor off the airplane and replaced it to the tractor. Placing the original carburetor back on the engine allowed another test run to see if the prop trimming was more significant than the carburetor in achieving the rpm increase so far. I then made cuts in the header pipes to allow them to be bent down under the engine and not stick out the sides where they would be hitting the cowling. Flanges were made from plate steel, and and exhaust system was welded up from material laying around the shop. Though quickly assembled and welded, noise reduction was significant.	4
6/3/2002	In efforts to achieve more rpm from the engine, I've again done some trimming to the prop. To sum up the changes, I placed the prop on the table saw, and reduced the depth, or thickness of the blade near the hub. From there, I ran the belt sander to return the bottom surface of the blades to a flat surface. The changes are only visible from a short distance. After balancing it as close as possible in time, and available setup. I returned the prop to the engine for a run. With all the attempts made above, I was able to achieve right at 2380 consistently. I now see right at 2550 steady.	1
6/12/2002	Checked clearances between the pistons, and heads today after the mill work last week to achieve a higher compression ratio. I had time to install cylinders 1 and 3 including all valve operating hardware. One rocker arm had to be shaped a bit to allow proper adjustment of the valve screw. Considerably more compression feel than before. Can't wait to run it and see what we've done.	2
6/13/2002	Today, I finished the assembly of the engine after the cylinder head work. Set the valves cold, so I'd have something to start from, and started the engine. I see real quickly it is running stronger than before. Full throttle runs were now giving at least 2750 rpm. It is becoming quite a effort to hold onto the airplane now in the garage. The hand held tach was not doing very well, in the low light situation present during a level 5 thunderstorm! Maybe tomorrow, I'll have enough light to get in a good run and be able to record the rpm. After the third run, engine hot, I went ahead and set the valves to .014 as prescribed on the cylinder head covers.	3
9/25/2002	After receiving a new walbro carburetor I welded up a new manifold adapter, and mounted the carb to the engine. Again, a temporary fuel system was hooked up, and the engine started. Once warm, the engine idled nicely at 950 rpm, and at full throttle, ran strong at 2800 rpm. Just feeling it, I can't imagine this not being enough power to fly this bird! Next task? I don't know either. . . . .	2