Jonathan Baron
New member
Folks:
I've directed this fellow, Daryl, to this list, but I wonder if the collected wisdom here could answer his major questions.
Jonathan
Thanks for the reply. So what SN is yours? I have N512A (SN2065) and I have known this airplane since 1963 when my Dad bought it. I still remember that day. He had it for about 26 years before I took it over. I have now owned it going on 18 yrs!
I have been trying to gradually "fix" things up on this old girl and this one has had me perplexed. I agree - it is not the best design (to put it politely). When I first opened it all up some time ago there was some sort of "cushion" in the bowl/engine interface that did not look original, was kind of oil soaked and coming apart with age. I replaced it with a piece of foam pipe insulation sliced on one side, wrapped and glued around the circumference of the engine plate. It worked good for holding the bowl in place but it made me realize how tight that kept the bowl to the engine and thereby transferring all manner of shakes and vibration to the cowl/firewall. In fact, my Dad had replaced 2 of the firewall brackets with steel ones (I presume the original ones kept breaking) and I have had to rivet in a shaped piece of aluminum angle in the corners behind the firewall at the lower brackets due to some damage there. Maybe it's not a good idea to make everything structurally absolutely solid. Something has to absorb that motion. I was guessing that the other cowl parts were not attached to the front of the fuselage to allow for some of that motion.
But there has to be something between the bowl and engine plate. The cowl rails do not hold the bowl up by themselves as it wants to rest on the engine plate and that would not be good. Do you think the pipe insulation idea is ok or does that make it too tight? I'm trying to find something that has just the right amount of cushioning to hold up the bowl AND absorb some shaking. I think it should go around the complete circumference to provide an air dam and keep, as you mentioned, the pressure side sealed.
Thanks again. I would really like to get ol' Bellanca Belle flying again. The next thing I need to look into though is the gear. I think there is getting to be too much play in lower portion as I could sometimes feel it "wobble" just after touchdown and coming down from high speed on the runway.
Daryl
I've directed this fellow, Daryl, to this list, but I wonder if the collected wisdom here could answer his major questions.
Jonathan
Thanks for the reply. So what SN is yours? I have N512A (SN2065) and I have known this airplane since 1963 when my Dad bought it. I still remember that day. He had it for about 26 years before I took it over. I have now owned it going on 18 yrs!
I have been trying to gradually "fix" things up on this old girl and this one has had me perplexed. I agree - it is not the best design (to put it politely). When I first opened it all up some time ago there was some sort of "cushion" in the bowl/engine interface that did not look original, was kind of oil soaked and coming apart with age. I replaced it with a piece of foam pipe insulation sliced on one side, wrapped and glued around the circumference of the engine plate. It worked good for holding the bowl in place but it made me realize how tight that kept the bowl to the engine and thereby transferring all manner of shakes and vibration to the cowl/firewall. In fact, my Dad had replaced 2 of the firewall brackets with steel ones (I presume the original ones kept breaking) and I have had to rivet in a shaped piece of aluminum angle in the corners behind the firewall at the lower brackets due to some damage there. Maybe it's not a good idea to make everything structurally absolutely solid. Something has to absorb that motion. I was guessing that the other cowl parts were not attached to the front of the fuselage to allow for some of that motion.
But there has to be something between the bowl and engine plate. The cowl rails do not hold the bowl up by themselves as it wants to rest on the engine plate and that would not be good. Do you think the pipe insulation idea is ok or does that make it too tight? I'm trying to find something that has just the right amount of cushioning to hold up the bowl AND absorb some shaking. I think it should go around the complete circumference to provide an air dam and keep, as you mentioned, the pressure side sealed.
Thanks again. I would really like to get ol' Bellanca Belle flying again. The next thing I need to look into though is the gear. I think there is getting to be too much play in lower portion as I could sometimes feel it "wobble" just after touchdown and coming down from high speed on the runway.
Daryl