I finally decided I better do something with the extra Franklin 4AC-176 65hp engines I have laying around my hangar. My dad collected every Franklin engine, partial engine, and miscellaneous part he ran across over the years. He was always proud of the fact that our cub has been Franklin powered since day one from the factory, and he worked hard to keep it that way. Now that I am responsible for this inventory, I finally decided to do something with it all.
In total, I have about 12-13 partial engine cores. Of these, I figure I have enough parts inventory to make at least 8 airworthy engines after rebuild. There are a couple of key parts I am still trying to find which may allow a few more airworthy engines. This journey has to start somewhere, so the plan is to take some of the worst parts and put together a non-airworthy engine, ground run it a couple of times, and then it will be donated to a museum for display only purposes.
I am in the process of stripping down two rough engines an cleaning up the parts. This post is one of the many project on the list of things to do. I pulled off the engine data plates from the back of the oil pans and cleaned them up. The first picture is prior to removal. You can just barely make out some of the lettering and only partially read it. I know the powerplant section doesn't get much traffic, so thank you to those of you who are reading this. I appreciate anyone's words of wisdom as I work my way through these rebuilds. Thanks, Scott
In total, I have about 12-13 partial engine cores. Of these, I figure I have enough parts inventory to make at least 8 airworthy engines after rebuild. There are a couple of key parts I am still trying to find which may allow a few more airworthy engines. This journey has to start somewhere, so the plan is to take some of the worst parts and put together a non-airworthy engine, ground run it a couple of times, and then it will be donated to a museum for display only purposes.
I am in the process of stripping down two rough engines an cleaning up the parts. This post is one of the many project on the list of things to do. I pulled off the engine data plates from the back of the oil pans and cleaned them up. The first picture is prior to removal. You can just barely make out some of the lettering and only partially read it. I know the powerplant section doesn't get much traffic, so thank you to those of you who are reading this. I appreciate anyone's words of wisdom as I work my way through these rebuilds. Thanks, Scott
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