October 26 Update

It's been a busy couple of weeks doing many things but Lincoln-Page work, but I did get a few, although important, rather insignificant things done.

Aileron control stop

Elevator control stop

The L-P has no real control stops for the ailerons and elevator.  Basically, the ailerons stop moving when the slave struts bind at the end of their travel.  The elevator has an OK up stop when the horn hits the fuselage tail structure, but the only down stop is the rear stick hitting the back of the front seat.  Certainly room for improvement!

The top photo shows what I came up with for the aileron stop.  I welded a couple threaded bushings to the fuselage structure with adjustable stop bolts.  Then added a projection to the bottom of the torque tube that contacts the stops.

For the elevator, I was only concerned about the down stop, since this is where the elevator sits when you let go of the stick.  I just welded in an angled piece of steel between the horizontal stab. mount.  The elevator horn hits this and stops travel at about 30 degrees down.

The rudder works OK as-is.  Doesn't really have any stops, but the cable/rudder horn geometry prohibits excessive travel.

Cylinders ready for assembly

I also had to finish up fitting valves to a couple of cylinders. Original clearances call for .002" on the intake and .004" on the exhaust.  With the bronze guide liners I used, these were tightened up slightly, so on the intake I went with .0015" and .003" on the exhaust.  I would rather start out a little tighter.  With these liners if there is a problem, they can be opened up without removing the cylinders.  These are now ready for assembly.

Prop hub

The parts I took for nickel plating also got finished.  These were all done in the original Watts nickel process (dull finish).  The prop hub is done and the parts for the Miller overhead.

Water outlets/rocker arm supports

Close-up of water outlet

Miller roller rocker arms with fresh nickel plating

So for now, I am going to continue with both airframe and engine work.  Next on the airframe is fitting up the fuel tank.  On the engine, I am getting it ready for assembly.  I'll update engine progress on all posts and I'll also devote one complete post when it is finished, reviewing the overhaul.  So long for now.....

October 9 Update

it's been a mixed bag of progress since my last post - some airframe work, some engine work.

Fitting rear rudder pedals to new floor

Both sections of floor installed

 The rudder cables I had previously made were only temporary to determine lengths.  Before I could make the final ones, I had to install the new rudder pedals to the new floor and install this in the aircraft.

Wrapped and soldered splice on rudder pedal interconnect cable

Balance cable attached to front pedals

With both sections of floor in the airplane, I could make the final cables.  The interconnect cables between the front and rear pedals are 3/32" 7X19 galvanized.  They use the wrapped and soldered splice like the other cables, but more typical to the specs found in CAM 18 (if you recall, my other cables had a very long splice, unlike any specs I was able to find).

With the rudder cables done, all the flight controls are finished.  They'll be removed for now, as eventually everything will need to come out of the fuselage for final painting.

I also placed an order for all the flying, landing, transverse and tail-brace streamlined wires - 22 total. I'm sure everyone knows there is only one major supplier in the world now for streamlined wires - Bruntons in Scotland.  It would be nice if there was some competition - very expensive!  If you are ordering wires, something to keep in mind that will save a lot of money is ordering more than one of the same length.  There is a price break for quantities of 2 to 9 wires of the same length and size.  My left and right side wires were within 1/2" of each other.  This saved about $100 per wire.  Threaded ends are also typically longer than needed, so these can be shortened if necessary to duplicate lengths.  I also ordered the wires without terminals.  2 reasons:  Bruntons only supplies stainless (not original) and you can source them cheaper (in cad-plated steel) from places like B&B Aircraft.

I ordered my wires in brushed stainless since I am going to paint them.  Yikes!  Why?  Well, it's all about originality, and the original wires were made from a rather soft steel that was silver in color.

I did some more work on the Miller overhead too.  Had to finish sorting parts and making repairs to get them to my plater for nickel plating.  I'll have a good set of 8 when all is said and done, but need to make new rollers and roller shafts for the rocker arms.

All the parts cleaned and prepped 

Removing grease tubes

It's about impossible to thoroughly clean the grease tubes on the top of the rocker arms.  The easiest thing to do is just remove them and make new ones from 1/8" soft copper primer line.  The tubes are soldered to the rocker arms

Rocker arms ready for new tubes

New grease tubes installed

Here you can see the rocker arms prepped and tinned with solder with new tubes ready to be installed.

8 rocker arms with new tubes, ready for nickel plating.

I think it is back to some more engine work, but I'm not completely sure.  Check back soon!