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I haven't done any actual work on the plane yet since I got it home after the accident other than pickle the engine for storage but but new year's day is a good time to take stock and define the plan for the upcoming year(s), and start this progress / advice thread. This was supposed to be a year of just flying and taking care of the little things any new used plane needs, but forced landings in rough fields have a way of interfering with plans...
The fabric shed is done, staked down, and the raised floor is keeping things dry inside. I've indicated the prop flange and found it within specs, run the engine, drained the oil, and put in preservative oil and desiccant plugs, which I should check/change before too long.
Realistically, the actual repairs aren't the largest part of the work; the plane was somewhat rough when I bought it and it would have been due for restoration before too long, anyway... though I had hoped to fly it for a few years first. Oh, well.
The first thing to do is to strip the fabric from the wings and see what the apparently undamaged wings look like inside. This isn't as simple as I hoped as it appears rivets were used instead of rib stitching so I can't just slice it away, I have to drill out all the rivets. Then to decide whether to do rivets again or just stitch it. That has to wait for warmer weather.
Then strip the fuselage, clean up all the oil mess, reprime, and reassemble. As far as specifics, this is the "to do" list so far:
Crash repairs:
Splice or replace RH upper wing spars
Replace one rib
Replace or repair one broken compression strut
Repair RH upper wingtip
Inspect, repair as necessary other wing spars
Repair right front cabane strut (apparently damaged during the extraction)
Repair aft fuselage & fin (straighten or cut/reweld TBD)
Rebuild rudder, probably from scratch, it's pretty crumpled
Straighten elevator, it's only slightly bent
Rebuild LH landing gear
Repair or replace fiberglass nose bowl
Other things, in no particular order:
Redo oil cooler lines (cause of the accident)
Replace plywood floor boards (broken out to facilitate wing removal)
Remove riveted on metal skins on forward fuselage, reinstall with rivnuts
Repair cracked fiberglass wheel pant (not on plane during crash)
Replace tires (they needed replacing even before the crash)
Replumb wing tanks to drain into / refill main tank instead of 3 way valve
Clean up all the wiring
Redo the elevator trim... currently a Cub style jack screw on the stabilizer which fights the extra tail wires which were apparently added later
Replace the metal propeller with a wood one to lessen stress on the thin O-290G flange
OR, replace the engine (keeping eyes open for a good O-290-D or O-235)
Repair or remove the primer (hasn't worked since I bought the plane)
Reverse the carb heat linkage (currently forward is on)
Rebuild the brake master cylinders (the RH side was spongy even after bleeding)
Get the weight & balance right, it flew like it was nose heavy even with full aft trim
And finally, recover, repaint... leaning toward Oratex because I hate painting, but the cost may drive me to something else. I really like the paint scheme currently on the fuselage with the white stripes widening at the front but I'll probably go blue and silver instead of blue and white. Though the classic yellow, black, and white Curtiss Hawk scheme might look cool on a Starduster...
The fabric shed is done, staked down, and the raised floor is keeping things dry inside. I've indicated the prop flange and found it within specs, run the engine, drained the oil, and put in preservative oil and desiccant plugs, which I should check/change before too long.
Realistically, the actual repairs aren't the largest part of the work; the plane was somewhat rough when I bought it and it would have been due for restoration before too long, anyway... though I had hoped to fly it for a few years first. Oh, well.
The first thing to do is to strip the fabric from the wings and see what the apparently undamaged wings look like inside. This isn't as simple as I hoped as it appears rivets were used instead of rib stitching so I can't just slice it away, I have to drill out all the rivets. Then to decide whether to do rivets again or just stitch it. That has to wait for warmer weather.
Then strip the fuselage, clean up all the oil mess, reprime, and reassemble. As far as specifics, this is the "to do" list so far:
Crash repairs:
Splice or replace RH upper wing spars
Replace one rib
Replace or repair one broken compression strut
Repair RH upper wingtip
Inspect, repair as necessary other wing spars
Repair right front cabane strut (apparently damaged during the extraction)
Repair aft fuselage & fin (straighten or cut/reweld TBD)
Rebuild rudder, probably from scratch, it's pretty crumpled
Straighten elevator, it's only slightly bent
Rebuild LH landing gear
Repair or replace fiberglass nose bowl
Other things, in no particular order:
Redo oil cooler lines (cause of the accident)
Replace plywood floor boards (broken out to facilitate wing removal)
Remove riveted on metal skins on forward fuselage, reinstall with rivnuts
Repair cracked fiberglass wheel pant (not on plane during crash)
Replace tires (they needed replacing even before the crash)
Replumb wing tanks to drain into / refill main tank instead of 3 way valve
Clean up all the wiring
Redo the elevator trim... currently a Cub style jack screw on the stabilizer which fights the extra tail wires which were apparently added later
Replace the metal propeller with a wood one to lessen stress on the thin O-290G flange
OR, replace the engine (keeping eyes open for a good O-290-D or O-235)
Repair or remove the primer (hasn't worked since I bought the plane)
Reverse the carb heat linkage (currently forward is on)
Rebuild the brake master cylinders (the RH side was spongy even after bleeding)
Get the weight & balance right, it flew like it was nose heavy even with full aft trim
And finally, recover, repaint... leaning toward Oratex because I hate painting, but the cost may drive me to something else. I really like the paint scheme currently on the fuselage with the white stripes widening at the front but I'll probably go blue and silver instead of blue and white. Though the classic yellow, black, and white Curtiss Hawk scheme might look cool on a Starduster...
