NavyS3BNFO
Well Known Member
This one kinda hurts. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking. I read and thought I understood what I was doing when I drilled the engine mount to the firewall but I obviously miscalculated. I know what I did wrong and would obviously do it very differently next time.
That being said, here I am. As you can see from the picture, the lower two engine mount bolts didn’t completely take out the pre-drilled hole in the firewall WD-803-L&R weldments. I emailed Vans and their response was that due to the location and nature of the 4130 steel that it is fine to leave it as is. The 4130 steel isn’t as susceptible to developing cracks. They recommended to put a larger washer on the backside of the firewall I assume to spread out the clamping force of the bolt.
I’d really like to weld up the small hole circled in red and ream the engine bolt mounting hole. It’s a difficult location and the steel weldment sandwiches the aluminum spacer and aluminum side angle. Then there is the stainless steel firewall that completes the sandwich. I’m not a welder so all you welders please chime in but I’d imagine it’s very difficult to weld in close proximity to other metals especially aluminum with a much lower melting point.
So my question is do I leave it as is as Vans suggested? I trust their assessment. My concern is someday if I want sell the plane and I would imagine this would be a hard thing for a potential buyer to get comfortable with.
Is it even possible to weld it up? I’ve spoken to a local guy who said he couldn’t do it but I’m not sure if there is someone skilled enough to tackle such a repair.
Anyone else get themselves in this situation?
That being said, here I am. As you can see from the picture, the lower two engine mount bolts didn’t completely take out the pre-drilled hole in the firewall WD-803-L&R weldments. I emailed Vans and their response was that due to the location and nature of the 4130 steel that it is fine to leave it as is. The 4130 steel isn’t as susceptible to developing cracks. They recommended to put a larger washer on the backside of the firewall I assume to spread out the clamping force of the bolt.
I’d really like to weld up the small hole circled in red and ream the engine bolt mounting hole. It’s a difficult location and the steel weldment sandwiches the aluminum spacer and aluminum side angle. Then there is the stainless steel firewall that completes the sandwich. I’m not a welder so all you welders please chime in but I’d imagine it’s very difficult to weld in close proximity to other metals especially aluminum with a much lower melting point.
So my question is do I leave it as is as Vans suggested? I trust their assessment. My concern is someday if I want sell the plane and I would imagine this would be a hard thing for a potential buyer to get comfortable with.
Is it even possible to weld it up? I’ve spoken to a local guy who said he couldn’t do it but I’m not sure if there is someone skilled enough to tackle such a repair.
Anyone else get themselves in this situation?
