Thorp Air Command - T18.net

No need to torque those .. they're in shear. Just make them snug.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Hey, here's one for you. Looking at another web site the builder is using AN3 bolts and wants to know what the pre-load torque of a nylon lock nut so he can substract that from the final torque value.

The correct answer is to "measure it" but not many people have a torque wrench that reads that low. The torque generated by the locking feature would have to be added to the torque value sought to get the "correct" torque.

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

43.13 doesn't have info for anything that small. The torque tables in this file may or may not help: https://www.earnestmachine.com/sites/de ... ed/NNM.pdf

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

Thanks guys, for the input. I torqued them to AN6 specs, 15 ft-lbs, just to get any benefit from friction. One of N12055's sister ships had its right wing fold on her on takeoff at Oshkosh some years back, perhaps due to a construction / bolt issue. I'll rest better (although not permanently I hope!) with them being torqued. At least the NTSB report won't read, "failed to torque wing attach bolts during reconstruction"...

Here's a link to videos taken two years ago when we first started the engine after it sat idle for 22 years, according to the log book and tachometer time. The engine ran great and sounded perfect. These runs were done in my backyard between 9 and 10 pm, haha. The prop disk is 2' from the fence. On the other side of the fence is a 35' cliff down to a neighbor's pool. N12055 was strapped down to our deck post. Because I left the basement door open, I found out just how fast a T-18 can fill your basement floor with leaves!

Video 1--- https://www.facebook.com/john.twigg.14/ ... =3&theater

Video 2--- https://www.facebook.com/john.twigg.14/ ... =3&theater

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

It says the links aren't available right now.

Ryan - try it again. It works for me. I just tried it.

This is another reason why I don't spend too much time on FB.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

still no joy, it says "The link you followed may have expired, or the page may only be visible to an audience you're not in."

Ryan, It was posted to friends only and I've just edited it to be public. Sorry for the inconvenience - try it again and it "should" work...

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

That worked, I can see them now.

I want to give a shout-out to Cubes, who was in Pittsburgh yesterday on a layover. We grabbed some good Pittsburgh food from Primanti's with my wife, Maddie, and then headed out to FWQ to see N12055. He looked her over very well and gave me some pointers on some things like safetying the tail wheel springs, weight and balance calcs, how to check control surface deflections, adjusting the right side aileron stop bolt a little, and what to look for to make sure the fuel vent configuration is correct before the first flight.

I had been messaging with Cubes about my flap springs rubbing on my rear spars. When I tried bending the existing springs to stay below the spar and found it didn't work on the left wing, he brought new springs for me. Mine were 44 years old and they also didn't hold the flaps up as tight as I believe new ones could, so I'm replacing them both.

I'm flying tonight to Las Vegas for some transition training with Cubes tomorrow and Wednesday in the sunny LV air. I've finally reached the point where I can train. All past inspection points are completed and N12055 is supposed to get signed off a week from today.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

N12055 passed her conditional inspection on Monday, 10/29. Getting the log books up to snuff now.
Pittsburgh is a changed town after the Squirrel Hill shooting tragedy and a lot of mourning here.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

Congrats! Took N327SB thru that process. Have fun with your T-18.

Awesome and congrats on getting her up and running. And I think this is the longest thread on the site - a testament to perseverance!! And good move doing the transition training. Have a blast with her.

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Fraser MacPhee
N926WM
Serial #279-1
Angel Fire, NM (KAXX)

Thanks Brent and Fraser. It certain it feels like a long time and I didn't expect to be working on her for three years. I can only spend Saturdays and Monday nights working on her because of my business, but that's OK. I'm almost done. Here is a picture from Saturday.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)