REFLECTOR:173 Exhaust pipes ....

[Chuck Jensen]

Jim,

Did you ask if they would try the heating/quinching method of drawing the
pipe into the alignment you needed.  It's kind of surprising how much
strategic heating and quinching can move even Sched 10 and 40 pipe around.
If it doesn't screw up the metallurgy, it would maintain the integrity of
the pipe by eliminating cuts/welds/creases.

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-admin@tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-admin@tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Jim Sower
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 5:18 PM
To: reflector@tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR:173 Exhaust pipes ....


All,
I've got a situation here that I don't know if it is about me or
the factory.  I have a 173 FG (with the 3" nipples in the cowl
for the exhaust to exit).  The plane came at me with exhaust
pipes (mild steel)  :-( that fit the cowl well.  About 18 months
ago the one on the starboard side cracked so I replaced it with
a SS unit.  The pipe didn't fit.  It pointed outboard about 1/2"
so it rested against the glass cowl.  I looked all over for a
place to bend it a little and finally got an exhaust shop that
would try (machine shops begged off saying they couldn't bend SS
pipes at all).  Well, they bent it so it would fit, but it
crinkled the pipe some where the bend was.  Recently I broke off
the last 6" of the other pipe (earlier post on Catto props) and
ordered another SS unit for the port side.  Took two months, but
it finally got here.  It was just a little tough to get the
flanges over the studs (but not near as bad as the previous one)
but OK.  When I went to put the cowl on, damned if it wasn't
splayed 1/2" INboard.  Once again, nobody can bend it, so I got
a machine shop welder (who I had used for some other stuff) to
make a cut (or two) to take a tiny wedge out of the pipe, bend
it back closed and stitch it up again.  HATE to do that, since
that's most likely where it will fail, but I had no alternative.

My question to the list is:
Has anyone else had this problem (on replacement pipes)?  If it
is a common problem, one could surmise that the guy's jigs are a
little off.  If I'm the only one who has the problem, it would
seem that someone (the builder?) fastened the exhaust nipples
onto the cowl [in the wrong place / pointing the wrong
direction] and this is going to be an ongoing problem unless and
until I fix my cowl.

Don't know what to think ....
Jim Sower .... Destiny's Plaything ...
Crossville, TN; Chapter 5
Long-EZ N83RT, Velocity N4095T


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