Some notes on the limbach l2000 E01
the engine seems to be a mixed bag of German parts. In particular when it comes to the cylinders and pistons. The base of the pistons measure 93.75mm and the top measure 98mm. This suggests they may be aftermarket Porsche 356 heads since they are cast aluminum. No work happened this weekend. I blew out my back...
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Space coast imports finished machining my heads to fit the cylinders. They look great! I just put the old and new heads side by side and they match up great. Hopefully the larger valves will help it breath better. I had planned to see if the seats on the old heads could be fixed, but then I noticed a crack in the intake runner. See the pics below. hopefully I can get everything back together on the 21st. The only thing I need is the thermocouples and spark plugs. Dropped the heads off and a cylinder at spacecoast imports today. As soon as he saw it was an aluminum cylinder he knew it was for an airplane. He is hoping to have it done tomorrow. Since I’ll be away this weekend I told him it is okay to finish it the beginning of next week, but since Wednesday is a holiday I’d like to have them by then if he can do it.
because the plane runs pretty cool even in 95 degree weather I’m thinking about having him port and polish the new heads. the shop was cool too so here’s a pic... Really fought with myself about posting this, but the heads I received were not what I ordered. I thought maybe I had made a mistake, but when I double checked I found I hadn’t. The heads were the wrong casting 043 instead of 040, valves were larger, which means that the sparkplug holes were smaller, so my magneto harness will not work. The biggest problem though is the cylinder bore was not cut correctly, it was cut to 97.65mm after I specified that that diameter of the cylinders were 98mm. On top of all of that, I ordered the heads on September 2nd, and didn’t receive them until the third week of October. That wouldn’t of been a problem, except I called after three weeks and it didn’t seem like the owner even remembered my order. Then I called a week later and he said he would take the heads to the machine shop, and it would take about a week. So I called the following week, and was told he would pick the heads up and ship them out the next day. Then another week went by and he called me to ask for my cc number because the system he uses purges it after a month. He finally shipped the next day, but unfortunately I was leaving for vacation for 11 days so didn’t see them until I got back. So now I have heads that are not what I ordered and took forever to get.
So what am I doing? First I’m not even calling Great Plains aviation supply about this epic screw up. Luckily I can salvage the situation:
Honestly, it’s not even worth me calling Great Plains about this. They’ve lost a customer for life. I sent emails, talked to them on the phone even made sure the exact specs for the head were attached to the order. even if they offered to fix it, it would be another three weeks minimum... Hopefully I get lucky at some point with this... My heads have finally shipped. I ordered them September 2nd. They should be here October 20th. I can’t say I’m happy with the service of getting new heads, but at least they’re in the mail. Hopefully they listened to my specifications...
won’t be able to put them on until I get back from vacation. Decided to order replacement heads On Tuesday from greatplains aircraft supply. I called and told him what I needed and placed the order online. Should take about two weeks. I’ll have this set of heads reworked next year..
Got the plane back together and ran it. Ran great compared to before. Then did the differential pressure test three of four exhaust valves were not seating properly. Clearance was correct. So we pulled the heads and all the valves. It’s gonna need a valve job. The were all pretty pitted. However cylinder 1 was 79/80. so now I’m deciding what I want to do. Either get a new set of heads or have these fixed, maybe both... either way firewall forward is much better, and my static rpm is a bit higher. Almost done. Just have to put the magneto back on and make a oil hose since we relocated the transducer. It really hasn’t mattered that the plane has been down so long. Weather has been crap. Pulled the cylinders, had a look in the engine. We were very pleased, no corrosion or pitting on the cam or crank. Pistons and rings look good. So we cleaned everything up and put the cylinders pushrod tubes and head back on. Took about 3.5 hours taking our time prepping.
a few more hours to button everything back up and I’ll be flying again. The head finally arrived! It felt like forever, but did give me an opportunity to take care of quite a few things. A few items are still in Progress though.
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