Nice work Ed! We have a company over our way (Able Engineering) who develop repairs for shafts and the like where metal needs to be built up. They get all their repairs FAA approved, even if the OEM doesn’t approve 🙂
Interested to see how the Cheetah experiment goes. A good choice of engine. Representative of the British mindset at the time, not too rare (still some sitting about in Canada near old sawmills I believe) and pretty strong so can take a bit of punishment.
Repairs are easier to carry out and easier to certify when compared to new manufacture. Much much easier. You can make a new crankshaft, but one won’t be enough to satisfy the authorities that you’ve got it right. You’ll probably have to test the first one to destruction just to prove it is made out of the right material!
For high volume engines still in widespread use (Merlin/R2800) new parts manufacture is financially viable. For the rest, repair may be the more sensible option.
As far as oils go, the ability to maintain viscosity at higher temperatures and better cleaning are two qualities where oil today is improved over old oils. Be careful with what oil you choose. I wonder if anyone has looked at automotive oils? For my old Ducati aircooled V-Twin, I actually use Shell Rotella, which is made for Diesel engines, but is great in rattley old Ducati’s! Fits and clearances are probably about the same as a Cheetah too! LOL.
To alter compression ratios, would they not just slip a spacer under the cylinder to lift it off the crankcase a bit and change the pushrods for ones slightly longer?
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