Mechanical connections, but easily disconnected with no change in the adjustment when reconnected.

Yes it is, no hydraulics, one canon plug. All the electrical connections to the engine, except the heavy starter/generator lines, come through it.

Mike C.

Think of it like a tractor trailer.

To work on the rear of the truck, you lower the landing gear, disconnect two air brake lines, one electric plug, and possibly a couple hydraulic lines. Pull the coupling release, drive truck out from under trailer.

When truck fixed, just back it under and reconnect lines. It's that simple.

New truck under trailer may require some minor height adjustments on the trailer landing gear, but as long as it's the same truck, it just goes back together.

In the case of quick change turbine engines, open or remove cowl, disconnect the cables and wire harnesses, fuel lines and other connections, attach crane or cradle, pull bolts, engine is out.

That simple.

Vince,

Sorry, I didn't clarify one usually only pulls an outter wing for a leaking 15 gal tank.

It's 9 connections : Wing Cannon Plug, Fire Loop, Oil Cooler/ Torq Trans Line , Bleed air, Fuel, Gen Brush Block ,P/L and Emergency stop; followed by the 3 bolts that hold the engine to the frame.

Btw none of those bolts are torqued, only castleated nut and cotter pinned.

As stated before takes under 20 mins to remove or install one.

Mike beat me to a response with pics on the connections !

Regards,
Nigel

Two pushrods, here shown disconnected with loose ends circled in red. One is condition lever (upper one, I think), other is power lever. Takes ~2 minutes to disconnect, 4 minutes to reconnect (safety wire the nut). Length of pushrod remains fixed so rigging is retained.

The blue circled things are, left to right, canon plug, starter/generator heavy lugs, and bleed air tap. Not shown are two oil lines (to oil cooler) and one fuel line on the top of the engine.

The yellow circled items are the 3 pins that hold the engine to the airframe.

That's it to remove an engine on an MU2. I flew in one afternoon, engine removed, adjustment made, engine back in, ground run check, flew out. Total elapsed time 2 hours.

Mike C.

Joined CAA and got my temporary membership. Was told by friend of mine that $2.35 Jet A around here is not uncommon!! Even at 65 GPH, that's pretty cheap!!

WACO is my favorite out there for CAA

Starting to see some prices under $2.

For example, KACT, $1.79.

Welcome to the world of contract fuel.

Get Everest if you only get one other card. CAA just doesn't do enough airports to be your only card.

Mike C.

The fuel nozzles were in rough shape and in some cases were out specs by as much as 75%. Bore scope of burner can revealed no indication of damage and the SOAP samples came back NORMAL. They think the engines will run better and make more power with the fuel nozzles overhauled.
Hopefully today I will have a date set up for the contract pilot to test fly the plane for all the checks. Slated to start initial with Reece on the 11th.
Still have a Baron that needs to sell!

That's fortunate. Fuel nozzle condition can ruin an engine if it gets really bad. There is some margin in the TPE331 design, so it can tolerate some of this. The larger engine shops will show you first T wheels with nozzle streaking damage. Looks like a mouse ate holes in the blades.


It very likely will. More even and complete fuel burn makes the engine run better.

Mike C.

That's fortunate. Fuel nozzle condition can ruin an engine if it gets really bad. There is some margin in the TPE331 design, so it can tolerate some of this. The larger engine shops will show you first T wheels with nozzle streaking damage. Looks like a mouse ate holes in the blades.


It very likely will. More even and complete fuel burn makes the engine run better.

Mike C.

maybe, but even if the only improvement is starting easier and cooler its worth it.

If I recall correctly the nozzles are a 300 or 400h overhaul/spray pattern test item. Mike will know for sure.

Also, remember that if there's any doubt, you can open up an engine and do an inspection without doing HSI. But be prepared - if they see something that's not kosher, you open yourself up to doing the full HSI.

On dash tens, the fuel nozzle interval is every 400 hours but most shops recommend doing it every 200 hours. It's a (relatively) cheap inspection and cleaning that can avoid significant (costly) damage to the turbine wheels by catching a problem early. Kind of like replacing the oil filter every oil change on a piston even when the manual says you only need to replace the filter every other oil change.

I suspect you will be able to see the difference once the nozzles are cleaned. You'll see it in slightly lower EGT temps allowing you to run a bit more power at altitude and you'll see it in cooler starts. May only be a 5 or 10 degree drop, but that is a significant power/torque adjustment at cruise (I find 10 degrees can equal about 5% more torque and about 5-10 more kts indicated...

The F is supposed to be a solid 260+ knots. Book says 270. A lot of the pictures I have of this plane in cruise show about 255 TAS. It'd been a while since the nozzle were OH'd. My hope is that when I get it it'll push over 260 knots with nozzles right. My only comparison will be the pics.

It's funny as I wrote this I realized I haven't even taken possession of the plane and I already want it to be faster.