When last updated, the crank and girdle were "permanently" installed. Heheheh!
When the rods and pistons were installed, there was a slight interference between the rod bolts and the girdle. Esslinger's (very friendly) comment was thanks for the heads up and "That's the joy of a custom long-stroke crank."
So the girdle was removed and notched .040":
Denny thought there was to little clearance, so it was removed again for an addition .010" of clearance.
The entire assembly requires 127 inch-pounds of torque to rotate:
An interesting thing, that Denny says isn't uncommon with most manufacturers, is that the piston tops are not parallel to the pin (and all four pistons were different):
No. 1 piston, exactly even with the deck at the forward edge, but -.005" at the rear. The worst was +.005 front, -.005" rear. Nothing to worry about he says.
Kiwi Paul spent a couple of hours examining the car (and bs'ing) Saturday the 12th. He suggested moving the fire extinguishing nozzles in the engine compartment much further forward, reinforcing the (sheetmetal) crossmember under the seat where the crouch belt attached:
and a couple of gussets (pictures in the camera are bad, but this one will give you the idea);
He also noted that there were no restraining straps on the rear 4-bar (saved my bacon, he did).
And, he was unhappy with the construction of my Butler-Built, specifically the internal lower back support, too thin and held in with one rivet. We also marked where the sides should be trimmed where the lap belts went into the seat. Then he decided that he'd do it all, the thicker aluminum, trimming, and welding it all together solidly:
Other things, Moon disks:
Anybody know the people at Mooneyes? The disks only come with three holes, and drilling the extra three would not a real problem except that the three supplied holes are not at 120* intervals.
Finally, Denny Aldridge is done and I have my engine:
Time is short and so is money, but onward, upward, ever! (Wait, is that an Air Force theme?)
Mike
