Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gary Reed on March 4, 2019 at 1:24pm

I can't advise you on unbending the plate, however, my question would be WHY is the plate bent in the first place?  Was this engine involved in some sort of incident/accident and subjected to high G-Loads or Impact?  If so, was there a propeller strike that may have crankshaft ramifications?  And so on . . .  My inclination would be to reach out to Jabiru if any of the above conditions occurred.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Chekal on March 4, 2019 at 1:27pm

The new support fro Jabiru North America is:

http://www.flylightning.net/contact-us.html

I would recommnend contacting them.

Seems like the most likely reason that would happen is a nose-over while in motion. I assume you are checking the crank during your rebuild.

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Permalink Reply by John Montgomery on March 4, 2019 at 1:54pm

The engine was in a plane where the engine quit due to fuel starvation just off the runway.  It was a very hot day and we think he forgot to flip on his electric fuel pump. 

The plane mushed into the top of scrub cedars.  After the forward motion stopped it slipped nosed down between the trees to the ground. The impact broke one prop blade and bent the engine mount. The pilot walked away with a couple scratches and a bruised knee.  (We did not notice the back plate until later.)

We cross our fingers and dialed the run-out on crank and it actually was even better than we hoped.  The  prop flange is just out of spec so we might end up replacing that.

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on March 4, 2019 at 2:10pm

Ditto Gary and Mike's comments, questions and suggestions!

Nick Otterback would likely the be the most knowledgeable person at Arion Aircraft, the US distributor/repair center for Jabiru.  Mike gave you the contact link, but I've heard some comments that emails may not get a quick response and it might be best to just call during business hours and ask for Nick specifically.  They can get you a new plate, but there might be a good chance they have a run-out engine they're parting-out and the plate off that would be much less expensive ... if (hopefully!!!) that's all you need. Nick/Arion would be an excellent shop to go-through your entire engine if indicated!

I've also had luck obtaining used parts from Skycraft in the UK.  I don't see the plate listed online, but a query might be in order if you have no luck elsewhere.

Let us know how the rebuild goes ... I'd be very interested to learn if there was any further internal engine damage.

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by Don Burkholder on March 4, 2019 at 10:37pm

Hi John, I agree with what has been said by others but, it would be interesting to see if you can get the plate flat again. It would cost nothing to try and if you succeed and verify that it is flat in all aspects, check for cracks. The plate looks pretty bad though. My experience is that once something is bent, it is very difficult to undo all the compound bends that at first seemed easily fixable. If you don't have much invested in this engine I would shop for another engine and keep what you have that is good for spare parts or sell them.. Lastly, take the crank to a good engine shop and have it checked for cracks and run out. This is cheap insurance plus if you sell the parts you have paperwork from the shop.

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on March 5, 2019 at 10:01am

I'll bet that even if it was successfully "flattened," it'll take some machining to get the resultant "waviness" out.

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Permalink Reply by Don Burkholder on March 5, 2019 at 11:02am

Agreed. Wonder how much it would cost to have a new T-6 plate made at a good machine shop, vs purchasing one from Jabiru?

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