I've been really active in the garage for the past few days.  As
background for those who are new and those who've forgotten, I bought my
engine a while back from a gentleman who was building a 2/3rd scale
Stearman.  He wanted a radial engine, and when he couldn't find one
small enough, he started converting a 13B so that it looked like a
radial.  Later he found a small radial and abandoned the 13B project.

I pretty much bought a 'pig in a poke', only having a chance to look
over the PSRU and bellhousing before handing over money, but at $2500
for a rebuilt engine and reduction unit, combined with Joe Hunt's
stellar reputation, I didn't see to much of a downside.

Fast forward a couple years, and I'm now moving into the process of
completing this project and having to redirect it from a engine for a
plane that needed extra nose weight to a engine for a plane that needs
to keep as much weight off the nose as possible.

My first goal is to remove the manual flywheel and clutch plate.  We
discussed this just a week or two ago, and the pictures below show the
result.  My buddy Mark let me use his lathe, and I cut a jig out of a
piece of scrap iron round bar.  I turned down two ledges;  one such that
the flex plate was a push fit, and another such that the clutch plate
was a push fit.  I didn't remove the jig in the process to guaranteed
that the plates would end up perfect concentric. Then I drilled out the
rivets to remove one side of the friction material from the clutch plate
(the center one was needed as a spacer), and then match drilled  holes
through both plates for  5/16 bolts.  The only modification I think I
will need to do now is add large area washers on both sides to spread
out the bolt's compression forces so that more of the friction material
is engaged.

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