----- Original Message -----

From: John Hafen

To: lml@lancaironline.net

Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:41 AM

Subject: [LML] I wish I had used a torque wrench

So there I am on my crawler, finishing up an oil change on N413AJ that has a total of 110 hours on her.  I’m putting the plug in the oil pan and its nice and tight.  I think (here is where I started to get into trouble) “I want this nice and tight so it doesn’t break the safety wire and fall out in flight, jettisoning all the oil which freezes the engine and I have to crash land somewhere....”

So one more little twist on the plug, and OOOOOOOps!  It went just a little bit too far.

I don’t need to tell you the level of disappointment that flooded over me as I contemplated that I had just stripped the threads in the oil sump pan.

So I atoned for my sin.

I bought a new sump, hired some help, disconnected lots of stuff, jacked the engine up just high enough to remove the old pan and slip it out the front and scrape off the old gasket and install a new pan with gasket.  Then lower the engine back into place, call Lancair to see how to torque the engine mounting bolts (450 – 500 inch pounds), then hook everything back up.

So I’m ready to fly once again.

MEANWHILE, I have an Oil Sump pan from Continental, part number 632876 with only a hundred hours on it, in perfect working condition, except for the stripped threads in the oil plug hole.

The mechanic who helped me out yesterday told me that the right guy with the right aluminum welding skills could actually weld in a new aluminum disk that could be threaded and the pan would be good as new.

Since I do not possess aluminum welding skills, my options are:

     * Offer the oil sump pan for sale to the highest bidder, or
     * Make a wall clock out of it.

I haven’t gotten the bill for it yet, but the mechanic told me the new sump pan would cost about $2,300.00.  That is for a new one with threads that are not yet stripped.  I don’t know what mine, with the stripped threads, would be worth.

So if anyone has a need for an Oil Sump Pan with stripped threads, let me know.  Or if you have any particularly clever and creative ideas on how to make a clock out of it, I would be interested in hearing from you as well.

Cheers,

John Hafen
N413AJ — 110 hours

PS — the kindly mechanic said, “John — just use a 1/4th inch drive on everything you do and you’ll be fine. “  Then he handed me the Continental specs that list torque settings for everything under the sun, just in case I decide to go that route.

jh