The cams on 1 and 4 had mild pitting with the odd bit of staining. No 2 is brand new and still inhibited, so no problem with that one.

Those pictured are the really bad ones that we’re worried about on No 3, which I mentioned previously in this thread. They are a bit nasty aren’t they? The more I think about it the more it worries me, to be honest. I think we need to see if we can scrounge some better ones from our store, and I’ll start pestering the engine men.

A few thoughts on WR963 from me –

While you hear me regularly shouting all about 963, she isn’t solely in my care. Sometimes I wish it was so, sometimes I’m glad to see her fading in my rear view mirror. I’m one of a group of fifteen and that regularly makes it difficult to get everybody going the same way, for the same goal, at the same time. Our target is the same (963 fully operational) but our methods of getting there are way way different.

I don’t come from an aviation background, and as some of the guys on the team do, it’s made my learning curve (and those of the other newer members) a very steep one. Think of a Lightning going for altitude and you get the idea just how steep it seems. 😀

It does mean answers to questions posted on here can be a while for me to get. I’m not bothered about going down to Coventry and asking what seems to be a daft question, in order to get an answer. I have not, nor will ever be evasive on here. You will get a straight answer; that I promise.

The bits of advice I get on this forum (“change this” or “do that and it’ll work”) is invaluable, and given the experience found here it is almost always heeded. The sad fact though is we’re still doing all the work to 963 on a very meagre budget. Part of the problem is that 963 ‘earns’ very little while she is idle and can’t have people on board for engine runs. We are trying to boost the available funds by other means, and there is good news coming if we can stick with it.

Low funding means what we want to do and what we can do are so often worlds apart, and its difficult to get help when you can’t afford to go to professional companies to get you out of a bind. The props on No 2 engine are a prime example… we had three offers of help with their assembly last year that turned out to be empty promises. It makes life difficult, and dents morale a lot. It hits harder in winter when everything is shut on the airfield, and its freezing cold.

There are points reached sometimes when you sit on a chock, stare at the aircraft and wonder how the hell you’re going to fix it…. but somehow it gets done. The guys worked miracles. Changing the No 2 engine at the back end of 2009, the design and fit of the pre-oilers (which is an amazing piece of work using redundant systems) and the finishing of sealing and the start of the repaint have already paid off, keeping the interior good and dry even during the really bad weather we’ve had this winter.

But when we walk up to 963 on a Saturday morning, this is always in the back of our mind: in November 2008, she was taxying and on all four. Early 2010, on three. By the end of 2010, into 2011 and still she stands silent…

Not a trend we like, which is why we’re keeping in mind Coastal Command’s motto of “Constant Endeavour”, and trying our hardest to get her back to where she was a couple of years ago.

Please – keep watching us, keep the advice and encouragement coming, and we’ll all keep giving it everything we’ve got.

😉

Regards

Rich

(Soapbox away for now. Don’t take this as doom and gloom… just a realistic view.)

I think Bruce may have meant the chrome plating on the pads of the ‘fingers’ that follow on the lobe of the cam. As I understand it when the chrome goes beyond pitting and starts to come off, they start acting like a cutting tool on the lobe of the cam, accelerating the wear.

Any Griffon experts that can confirm this for me?

Regards,

Rich

From the last report on the situation from our engine men:

“adjustments revealed little of no wear on Nr 1 and Nr 4 and some cams of these did not even require adjustment. But Nr 3 is in poor shape with extensive wear and corrosion. It is intended to dress-out the wear and re-polish where the corrosion has pitted and scored the cam lobes. This is obviously not a permanent fix , but advice from several sources is that with improved oil priming, more careful running regime at correct operating temperature and above all some fresh oil in the tanks, our very limited annual running time may allow us to continue running even Nr 3 for a year or two. Ultimately we could consider either a double camshaft change or even an engine change as a fix.”

I’ll let you all know as soon as I can if this is still the case.

Regards,

Rich

I’ll have to ask the engineers further on this one to be sure. The engines have been getting a lot of attention.

Pre-oiling was always the problem – the new set-up and electric pumps now take care of that now though. The engines have been regularly pulled through by hand several revolutions while they have been dormant to try and avoid anything sticking. The plugs have all been cleaned, and the oil is new.

One of the last jobs is to test the priming pumps. We had a little scare at the back end of last year when we found water in the fuel, but that has been drained all the way up to the manifold at the back of the engine.

Other than that I think it’s a case of plugging in the ground power and seeing if she will wake up.. No 4 was turned on the starter this afternoon and spun over nicely with no nasty noises, and no leaks. No fire cover and a lack of trained crew meant we couldn’t go any further, unfortunately.

Regards,

Rich