The other day, I had a customer tell me his air box loosened up and actually fell off his RV-7 engine. He was asking advice as to how to proceed with inspecting the engine after such an incident. After that discussion, I asked if he forget to safety the four bolts that hold the air box on. He said no, he safetied them per the builders instructions and bent the lock tabs to keep the bolts from turning. I asked him how they could possibly have loosened up come out if the lock tabs were bent. After looking at it, he realized that although he bent the tab up to lock the bolt there was nothing preventing the tab from turning, so in reality the bolts were not safetied and they eventually loosened up and fell out. After checking around, this seems to happen a fair amount of time. So I post this as a heads up about a possible problem. I think it might be a good idea to check this and replace those bolts and lock tabs with 4 drilled head bolts and actually safety wire them. Not being a builder, I haven't actually ever assembled this setup but I think I would go with the drilled bolts after having it all described to me.
My customer was extremely lucky and escaped this calamity with out any engine damage but ingesting even one of those bolts has the potential to cause some real problems.
Good Luck,
Mahlon
"The opinions and information provided in this and all of my posts
are hopefully helpful to you. Please use the information provided responsibly and at you own risk."
My customer was extremely lucky and escaped this calamity with out any engine damage but ingesting even one of those bolts has the potential to cause some real problems.
Good Luck,
Mahlon
"The opinions and information provided in this and all of my posts
are hopefully helpful to you. Please use the information provided responsibly and at you own risk."
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