8:00, doors open to a continental breakfast. Coffee, donuts, NY Bagels and cream cheese. On the table are folders with your name tags on them. Everyone wanders around chit chatting looking at the engines on display. A lone crankshat sits vertically on a stand in front of a table, where all the remaining parts are.
8:30 we take our seats, and John ( the assemmbler ) starts with some history of the Experimental engines, Lycoming, ECI, and Superior. He shares some stories about their role in helping with some developments along the way. Then he talks a bit about desired clearances as he bolts the rods to the crankshaft. Explains why he keeps the assembly oriented with the #1 piston at TDC.
10:00 we take a break and mill around, talking with new folks. Just about everyone I met is working on a RV.
10:20 or so we're back in our seats, and John continues with his presentation. Next up is the case installation. He tells us what he sees most in engines that come into their shop that built by guys like us. Forgotten parts, improper saftey installations. One thing I remember is him telling us that the end play clearance is .009-.016 new, with .025 being at the end of acceptable tolerance. (I'm quite sure my Mooney was out of spec on this, it made a big clunk when you tugged on the prop) Don't forget, he only sees the engines folks messed up, not all the ones that are fine
They prep the case with 2 strands of silk thread, and pre lube all the bearings. He gets a volunteer to help him with the assembly of the 2 case halves. He then assembles the rear case as well.
12:00 we break for lunch. About 1/2 the crowd goes for the food, the other 1/2 for a close look at the engine. I doubt anyone went hungry. Way more than enough to eat. More wandering and talking.
12:30 or so we're back in the seats again. John talks about the pistons, rings and cylinders. He's got a real nice tool for compressing the rings, and puts the 4 cylinders on with no fuss at all. Talks about the proper torque values for the different nuts and thru bolts.
2:00 Another break, John has said he will continue working while we take 5. Given permission to get up, instead of walking around we all crowd around for a closer look.. Lol, no one ever went back to their seats after that. We all stayed around while he did the pushrod tubes, pushrods, rocker arms and such. About then he asked some of us to help by installing the rocker covers, while he got started on the mags. lotsa neat tips on timimg. How to determine TDC on the compression stroke, neat little tool to measure 25' without the flywheel being on.
While this is going on, folks come and go as they discover the cookies laid out on the food table
About 3:30 the engine is completely assembled down to the oil filter. we pose for a picture of us behind the completed engine. (They also took one prior to starting as well)
They gave certificates with our names on them, and free TMX T-shirts.
We then toured their facility, starting with the engine test cell, where Mahlon fired up an engine for us. Very thorough explanation about their procedures. Lots of completed engines on the rack waiting to be tested I presume.
Then we were treated to a quick tour of what was left of the Mattituck Auto museum. A private collection of some very rare stuff, restorations in progress. Really neat. That was followed by a walk through the shop. The we had to scoot to catch the ferry across Long Island Sound.
Is that detailed enough Bob? I'm not much of a typist, or a writer but here's to hoping that gives you a little more insight to the day
