The leak down test gives you a way to tell where the air is going. Checking compression by spinning the engine will tell you whether or not you have compression and if the cylinders are relatively even but the differential test allows you to "know" if the air is going past the rings (acceptable to a...

between 2700-2800 the nore pitch you take out the less push you have.you can turn it as fast as you want but you won't go anywhere because your'e blades are flat no pitch Do airboats work different in this regard than other prop driven vehicles? Flattening the pitch on an aircraft will get you movi...

The cheapest way I know of to check the tach is to find someone who is semi serious about having their RC airplanes and/or helicopters set up correctly and borrow their tach or just go to your local hobby store and buy one similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/KASOTEK-Profession-Tachometer-Helicopt...

I don't know about this particular engine but the Lycoming manual in front of me says 0.67 quarts per hour is the max consumption allowed. Over a 6 hour period that would be more than 4 quarts allowed so I don't think you have a problem there. While technically not bad, 210 is pretty warm for the oi...

I am stuck in the house so here are some thoughts on some of what I have read in this thread and hopefully there will be a few pearls of wisdom in these ramblings that can be sorted out and put to good use... Any time someone claims a particular battery make is crap without offering any specifics I ...

My primary concern is about performance of a small boat when adding weight it wasn't powered to carry and whether or not the slickness of the polly would make up for it. No rocks where it would run. Just water and sand with occasional pea gravel. Conditions like these in the link and shallower: http...

I agree with Gary. Soak it with a 50/50 mix of acetone and tranny fluid for a couple of days then try a screw extractor. Helicoils are easy to replace if the head doesn't get messed up. The biggest concern for me would be keeping (or flushing) the trash out of the cylinder.

Having it set up like the book is best but swapped top to bottom isn't critical as long as the spark is going to the correct cylinder at the correct time because both mags should fire at the same time. Swapping the all the leads now would tell you if you have a mag/harness problem or just bad plug(s...

What are you calling a "Lycoming 180"? Is it a pumped up 320 or a stock 360? Firing order will be the same and the plug wires should match the diagram if the mags are installed properly. When it does not shut off with the key, does it sound like the mag check on the bad side or is it running smooth?...

That looks like a page from the current overhaul manual unfortunately I am a long way away from my copy at the moment. I have a Lycoming manual for a different engine that shows the same firing order. The firing order should be marked on the case somewhere. If not on the case itself, then the data p...

Not yet. What am I looking for and how to fix it Here is a guide. It shows automotive plugs but it applies to all types and does a much better job of explaining things than I can. http://www.verrill.com/moto/sellingguide/sparkplugs/plugcolorchart.htm To many possible fixes to list them without know...

It means you have exhaust gases blowing through them. Steel starts to glow at about 750 degrees F. If my memory serves me correctly, exhaust gases at idle are hotter than that and I have seen close to double that under a load at full power. It is possible you are running too lean but there are bette...

I searched for rivet and screw spacing for polly and came up with this thread: http://www.southernairboat.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=17423&hilit=screw+spacing About the 3rd or 4th post gave general spacing info. The number of holes could be computed from once a person knows how much area the po...

I have a set of those washers on order. Should I leave the little washers that come on the plugs or remove them an install just the copper washers? Thanks Sorry, I made the assumption you were using aircraft engine plugs. They would have come with the copper washers. Someone with automotive plug ex...

Whats the deal with folks giving there opinions to questions like " what's exceptionable oil pressure for an o-470-11"!! The answer to the question is what the manufacturer "TCM" Says it is! Not your uneducated professional opinion about how much oil pressure a motor would need for you to buy it or...

I haven't built any boats but my first thought was about the weight gain. The screws should work okay and being stainless should help with the possible corrosion issues that can crop up when dissimilar metals are in contact with each other but the screws and nuts will weigh a lot more than the rivet...

Why not just use quickslick? The stuff is great and I would think on a small boat it would save a lot of weight compared to poly? That was my thought but I don't how much polly weighs, how thick it is on the boat or whether or not the pros outweigh the cons on a small boat like that. I saw the boat...

Sandy river running similar to what a person would expect at Thunder on the Loup.

Purpose: Fish and chase down ducks and/or deer that fall in the river. Occasionally carry a passenger and just cruise the river. Economical to run and maintain is a higher priority than running dry.

I came across a Dragonfly with stock power. From posts I have read and videos I have watched they seem to run fairly good in the stock configuration but this one has polly on the bottom and the sides so I am wondering what that would do to a small boat that many would consider under-powered. Would t...

New gaskets are a good idea. Assuming you are using these: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... ckkey=4531
The old ones can be softened and reused by heating them until they glow and quenching them in water (copper works just the opposite of steel).

I don't have any experience with the 470 but based on this document I would guess it is recommended at 1500 hours.

http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/SIL98-9E.pdf

Personally, I don't care for the 912. It is to hard to take care of compared to a Continental of the same power. The down side of the Continental is it is a little heavier.

I thought the 10 psi sounded low too but it is what the manual says. The odd thing for me is the document used to certify the O-470-11 for aircraft shows 30-60 psi with no note for a lower hot idle while the 470's that have a letter behind them do have the 10 psi note. http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_...

I got to thinking about the leaky boats after I made my last post. I think it is likely they didn't seal anything (cheap jon boats and canoes). I was thinking I would seal every rivet but I hadn't thought about gluing anything else. The other thing giving me pause with a riveted boat is finding help...

True enough, I am no stranger to bucking rivets and have drawers of them for aircraft use but I don't know how suited they would be for boat building. I will have to research that side of it. Unfortunately my past experience with running other style boats isn't good with riveted hulls (commercial bu...