Uncovering the Port Wing

It's almost Christmas and I've stripped the fuselage to the point that I can give it an initial inspection and satisfy myself that there are no major problems, or at least nothing that wasn't expected. so I thought it was time to check the wings out. Once I've stripped the fabric from all the major components I can put my orders in for the hardware, fabric, paints and tools that I still require knowing that I should have 90+% of all the items I require for the rebuild.

Starting with the wing leading edge, I cut the fabric so that it could be peeled back over the wing. Within two minutes I remembered that the first job should have been removing the tapes and Martin Wire clips that hold the fabric on.

Note that while removing fabric I use a mask and gloves to protect against the fiber glass and dust.



The tapes were easy to remove by cutting at one end using a craft knife (single edge razor blades are also good for this) then prizing the tape away from the main fabric with a screw driver to the point that I could just pull the tape off. This reveals the wire clips.

The quality of the wire clips varied from rusted or brittle to reasonably good condition although I didn't spend too much time trying to save all the wires as I have 300 feet of new stock that will be used on the wings when they are recovered.








The first look inside the wing reveals that it is in very good condition with just a little surface rust on the compression tubes and drag wires but nothing to worry about.

The spars look fantastic with no apparent splitting along the scarfed and lamination joints. Luckily my Farther was a carpenter and joiner so he had a quick look and declared the spars OK although the final say will go to Carl, my inspector.


With all the clips removed, the fabric was rolled back over the wing. The wing was turned and the process repeated on the underside.

Before starting on the next wing I will photograph each bay in turn and all the fittings. The second wing will then be stripped and photographed before I turn my attention to the ailerons and undercarriage.

Spiders Web - The Seat Support

In all the time that I have owned IH, I've never been entirely happy with the fit of the harnesses but I could never quite put my finger on what the problem was. Each annual, when inspecting the harness for wear, It would be bunched up in one corner of the triangular attachment rather than a nice even fit along one side of the triangle.

Now that I am able to get at and remove the spiders web that is the seat support I have worked out what the problem is and I think I now know how the support should be located. So before I forget all the detail I must commit it to paper or rather html.

This is the center of the cross support tube with additional straps (not standard) which have been added by a previous owner at some point. This was probably done to stop the support from sagging. Note that the two V shaped wires are held by a U clamp and the U shaped wire on the cross tube is virtually horizontal. This prevents full and free movement of the two triangular harness attachments. This as what caused my problems during each annual.


I decided that I would remove the support and assemble it on the workbench as it should be reinstalled.

The general layout of the support consists the cross tube, a supporting wire at each end of the cross tube and two V shaped wires (one being slightly shorter but made of a larger gauge wire, this was fixed to the rear of the support on the aircraft).





Each cross tube end has a supporting wire looped around it ensuring that the supporting wire goes through the U shaped wire welded to the tube. Note that the U shaped wire now hangs below the tube so that the harness attachment is free to move above the tube.





The center of the cross tube will also have the U shaped wire now hanging below the tube. I have looped the V shaped wires through this so that they will lock in place. If anyone knows if the two V shaped wires should interlock with each other, then let me know, although I already suspect that this is the case.

The frame will now be disassembled so that it can be straightened out a little, cleaned up and repainted.

Fuel Tank and Boot Cowl

It is early December and work is progressing as quickly or as slowly as I had anticipated. The fabric is off except for the area immediately surrounding the doors, instruments and panel are out as are the seat, baggage sling and floor. The next thing I want to tackle is the main fuel tank and boot cowl and for some reason I decided to do it in that order, probably because I imagined that removing the boot cowl would be more difficult than is actually was. In hindsight remove the boot cowl first as this gives you much better access to the nuts that hold the tank in place.

Removing the tank is not difficult in itself, just disconnect all the fuel lines, undo four nuts, remove the mounting rods and hey presto, one tank removed. Of course in practice there is muck skinning of knuckles as you try to reach that inaccessible nut or your spanner slips in a confined space.

The tank is held in place by two threaded rods that pass through the tank and then through short tubes welded to the fuselage tubing. These are locked in place by nuts.
To prevent the tank vibrating, felt is trapped between the rod and the tank (this can be seen in the picture where the rod exits the tank body.
All four nuts are fairly easy to remove allowing the rods to be pulled through the tank body. The tank can then be lifted out from between the fuselage tubing (this would have been easier if the boot cowl had been removed already because I wouldn't have had to maneuver the filler neck through the boot cowl which required a little forceful help on the way).
Note that the tank should also have some felt pieces glued to the side of the tank to prevent it from vibrating against the fuselage tubing.
The boot cowl was then tackled and this turned out to be very easy, just a matter of removing a couple of dozen screws from around the boot cowl and firewall. The boot cowl was then prized off the supporting framework revealing the tubing for the first time in decades.

This revealed the first bit of corrosion on the tubing. It looks like the paint had peeled off the tubing some time ago allowing the steel tube around the engine mount to rust. I have since used an automatic center punch to test the tube and found that it left only a small mark on the tube so I don't think the corrosion is serious although I will leave the final decision to someone with more experience in these matters than myself.



This nows gives me a lot more room to work and I have since removed the 'H' frame, rudder bars, aileron pulley's and cables. These have all been bagged and tagged and put away. Although it looks as though the fuselage is stripped, there is still a lot of work to do. All the stringers need removing along with the elevator/rudder control runs and I need to clean up the tubing so that it can be visually inspected for damage/corrosion etc.
Then I can start on the wings.

Removing the Panel and instruments

I'm a little out of sequence with this post because removing the panel and instruments was the first thing I did having gotten the fuselage into the workshop. This was not because I felt that it was the right place to begin, but because fellow Taylorcraft owners, Martin and Mick needed to get a new panel made up for their Taylorcraft and they wanted to use mine as a template. Incidentally I intend to replace mine and already have a new blank panel waiting in the wings so to speak.

Start by removing the yokes, this is done by disconnecting them at the 'H' frame and pulling them through the panel holes. The panel is then removed by undoing all the screws that hold the panel to the coaming, the instruments in place and finally four screws that attach the panel to the yoke mounting frames. The panel should then just pull away to be put on one side, or in this case, go off to a sheet metal basher.


This leaves a mass(or mess) of instruments dangling by various wires and pipes which were removed one at a time and put aside for later use.










Looking at the panel, you can see why it needs replacing; more holes than a Swiss cheese and a lot less tasty. The replacement panel will feature a basic triangle of instruments (ASI, tacho, altimeter, oil pressure and temperature and ignition switch) with a panel mount radio and transponder on the L/H side of the pilot's yoke. I personally like the idea of a clean panel with no glove box on the R/H side but this may change as the interior is fitted out just because it gives more storage space.










With the panel out of the way, the top coaming was removed to give me more room to get at the instruments and newly exposed fuel tank and fuel lines. The coaming is a heavy cardboard, and I've been told that this is original. Again this is put to one side so that it can be used as a template for an aluminum replacement.

Interestingly, I found the following inscription penned on the side of the fuel tank

Re-Finished (Painted)
"71"
Install 75 HP 0 time engine
Bert L Watermann
EAGIN I44

Would this be Dahio Trotwood Airport in Dayton?

The next job to tackle is the fuel tank, or should it be the boot cowl, or the remaining fabric or .....

Removing the Panel and instruments

I'm a little out of sequence with this post because removing the panel and instruments was the first thing I did having gotten the fuselage into the workshop. This was not because I felt that it was the right place to begin, but because fellow Taylorcraft owners, Martin and Mick needed to get a new panel made up for their Taylorcraft and they wanted to use mine as a template. Incidentally I intend to replace mine and already have a new blank panel waiting in the wings so to speak. Start by removing the yokes, this is done by disconnecting them at the 'H' frame and pulling them through the panel holes. The panel is then removed by undoing all the screws that hold the panel to the coaming, the instruments in place and finally four screws that attach the panel to the yoke mounting frames. The panel should then just pull away to be put on one side.


This leaves a mess (or mass) of instruments dangling by various wires and pipes which were removed one at a time and put aside for later use.









Looking at the panel, you can see why it needs replacing; more holes than a Swiss cheese and a lot less tasty. The replacement panel will feature a basic triangle of instruments (ASI, tacho, altimeter, oil pressure and temperature and ignition switch) with a panel mount radio and transponder on the L/H side of the pilot's yoke. I personally like the idea of a clean panel with no glove box on the R/H side but this may change as the interior is fitted out just because it gives more storage space.








With the panel out of the way, the top coaming was removed to give me more room to get at the instruments and newly exposed fuel tank and fuel lines. The coaming is a heavy cardboard, and I've been told that this is original. Again this is put to one side so that it can be used as a template for an aluminum replacement.

Spot the difference

December already and I'm still stripping fabric off the fuselage and removing interior components. On Saturday the main fuel tank was removed along with the last of the cockpit instruments and fuel lines (unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me to the workshop so there are no photographs to accompany an article (I'll put something together for the next posting and discuss removing the instruments and floor).

For Sunday I decided I needed to tidy up the workshop a bit. The problem with disassembling the aircraft is that you end up with a pile of bits scattered all over the workshop and if you're not careful it gets out of control. To begin with I've added a bit of extra storage curtesy of two shelf brackets so that I can put some of the timber, additional lighting units and wing bands up out of the way. This has cleared some of the floor.

Next, I've put more tools up onto the tool tidy at the nd of the workshop. Most of these tools had been lying around on the shelving, taking up space where I want to store any components taken off the aeroplane. This has given me plenty of storage space so that I can start to bag and tag the components (instruments, interior parts, fuel line fittings etc) as I take them off. Once they are tagged and bagged they are put onto the shelves where they will be stored until required.

Some of the stored parts will not be reused in the rebuild, but are saved so that I can use them as templates when re-manufacturing later.

So here are the Spot the difference, before and after pictures