...blue Stearman formation section light...



How's that used...?

I wish I would have asked. Practicing night formation in a Stearman had to be interesting.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: THIS IS TOO LONG. IGNORE/DELETE IS YOUR FRIEND. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You take the bad with the good. I took my Stearman down to the Under the Wire fly-in in South Texas the other weekend - a great, informal, gathering of Stearmans and all sorts of other fun vintage and not-so-vintage machines. Conrad Huffstutler was there with his Reno-winning Lancair, a fellow did some impressive P-51 fly-bys along with a Staggerwing, some T-6s, a Beech 18 and a whole bunch of Stearman dawn patrols, sunset formation patrols and quite a bit of clearing the runway of stray dogs and other wildlife.

My buddy and I got up early on Saturday, hit the Daylight Donut stand in El Campo, warmed up the Stearman and lit off. We got fuel in Palacios (pronounced Po-lashes) and motored down to the coast. We flew the entirety of Matagorda Island - nearly to Corpus Christi - enjoying the empty barrier island beauty, interrupted by the occasional fishing shack or the outlines of a few ancient airfields long since scraped clean by hurricanes and gulf squalls over the years.

At Port O’Connor, I climbed up to 1500’ or so and hugged the land up to Port Lavaca, with the plan being to keep feet dry until we were established on our path back to Louise. Between Port O and Port L, still over the salt flats that line the Cut utilized by fishing boats, I began to notice a pronounced vibration in both the stick and the rudders. Then the instrument panel began to vibrate as well on its soft mounts. Without really thinking about it, I set up a nice climb and pointed toward Port L’s little airport. Overhead, now at 2500’, I began to troubleshoot. The vibration was slight, but continuous. Switching between the mags didn’t really make a difference. Leaning mixture didn’t either. Varied RPM, no change. Oil pressure and temps were solid in their normal places. Carb heat didn’t do anything.

The condition wasn’t deteriorating - my on-the-fly-diagnosis was that maybe one prop blade slipped a degree or two, setting off a vibration. I was ten minutes’ flying time away from the Flying V (where the fly-in was being held) and one of the best “Stearman guys” in the country, so we headed that way over rolling pastureland with plenty of places to set it down if it came to that. In the pattern at the Flying V, the vibration was pretty severe below 1500 RPM - flying wires were gyrating quite a bit and the instrument panel was virtually unreadable. I was downwind-to-base at that point, so I closed the throttle and landed without further adieu. Quite a bit of hub grease had exited the prop and splattered all over the engine, but that was indicative of the vibration and not a real indicator of what was causing it.

Later, we ran it up - several of us taking turns, trying to get a sense of what was causing this. After looking it over, the gurus agreed that it wasn’t the prop and was internal to the engine. Observing the run-ups, we noticed a significant up and down ‘wobble’ in the crank at the propeller hub. Ick. We shut it down and pushed back and forth on the prop, finding a fair bit of ‘play’ - more than normal (thankfully there were several healthy Stearmans nearby so novices like me could do a control experiment to see ‘how it should feel’).

The diagnosis (later affirmed by a phone call with Pete Jones of Air Repair) was either a broke crank (yes, it will make thrust - for a brief period - while broke because the front bearing and structure will hold the front portion of the crank in place while the main bearing will hold the rear) or a blown main bearing. This engine has roller bearings, so it would be odd for a main bearing to fail - but I suppose it could happen. We popped the sump plug and found no metal, so the bearing failure diagnosis faded in favor of the broke crank. Either way, there was general agreement we were fortunate to get it on the ground under our own power without the whole guts of the thing going sideways and (as my Dad used to say) setting off an event where the pistons start swapping holes in there. Which ain’t good, whether the engine be flat OR round. So...where do we go from here? As I said, it is in good hands there at the Flying V. We’re going to send the engine to Air Repair for a tear down and diagnosis.

SOME HISTORY: The engine is 22 years on an overhaul, but less than 200 hours (most of those in the last couple of years since I started flying it) on time. The airplane was a museum queen (kept airworthy, but hardly flown) for 20 of those 22. When I bought the airplane, the airframe was pristine (one of the best restorations I’ve ever seen), but the engine was suspect. Shortly after I bought it, I had the engine torn down and IRAN’d to ensure I knew what I had. I had factored that in. At that point, we replaced several lifters and the cam, which showed evidence of spalling from sitting so long. We also installed the roller bearing STC, which eliminated a known main bearing failure point on the Continental W670. And we replaced two cylinders. The shop where I had that done is no longer in business - elderly owner retired. That was 60 hours ago or so. And the McCauley prop had been pencil-whipped by a prop shop in the Pacific Northwest and flunked its’ first 100 hour inspection, so I replaced that with a Ham Standard and the McCauley hangs over my outdoor fireplace.

Needless to say, I’m done with that engine. Despite the science of another tear down and IRAN, I can’t imagine I will ever be entirely comfortable with it, given the suspect wrenching and paperwork that happened prior to my ownership. As Brannigan said once, the ‘ass-ery’ in aviation knows no bounds. Sign it off, ship it halfway across the country, let some other guy figure it out. Thankfully, I bought it knowing I was going to have to spend some $$ getting the firewall forward aspect in shape so I wasn’t entirely caught flat-footed. I did think the engine/prop on this one would last more than 150 hours, though.

So the plan (after the autopsy) is to turn the core in for whatever it is worth and have Pete send us his Jacobs R755 conversion kit. That is pretty close to a plug and play replacement for the 220, preserves much of the look of the ‘stock’ Stearman, but you get 275hp vs the underpowered 220hp Continental I had, and a constant speed 2B20 prop which will significantly enhance the airplane’s performance. Everybody I’ve talked to who has flown behind the Jake on a Stearman has been impressed with the performance over stock. And Pete’s Jakes are about as close to ‘brand new’ as you’ll get in domestic radials - he’s reworked the thing from top to bottom with more stout parts in known failure places and better seals and gaskets for leak control. There’s good support and parts for it. I loved the Jake I had on my Waco and look forward to the upgrade.

The downsides are: (1) This is an expensive pill to swallow. But, hey, I’ll have one of the absolute best Stearmans in the world once we’re done. And (2) it’ll be 90 days or so until I get the privilege of flying it back home behind my new engine in the dead of winter.

Perhaps you’ll read this and think I’m a dumbass who should just fix the old engine and keep flying. Or that I never should have gotten in this mess in the first place. That would all certainly be fair and is consistent with my own assessment as I’ve studied for my PhD in Stearman-ology over the last couple of weeks. But I’m also putting this confessional up here as an indicator that when you aviate long enough, the day will come when you get to write the Big Check. Twenty years into my flying career, my number has come up so hand me the pen!

Truth is, I get a lot of enjoyment out of flying this old airplane. I like the impact it has on other people - pilots and non-pilots alike. And also (truth be told), I’ve been wanting to put the Jake on it since I bought it. So now I get to do that - on its timetable, not mine. As I said to somebody the other day - it is kind of like going to heaven...I’ve always wanted to go, just not today. Likewise, the Jake got upgraded from a long term goal to a short term one.

Here’s some pics of the serial offender, looking none the worse for wear at the fly-in. And a nice one of our run up the beach on the last flight of that engine. And, finally, the engine as we found it when it came to rest - with hub grease splattered all over it.

The best of times/the worst of times.

The Stearman in the previous "formation light" post had the Jacobs on it. As much a piece of art as an engine, and will be worth every penny.

Dang! That’s pretty.

I can’t wait.

CK
I agree with your decision 100%. You will feel confident with the engine from one of the best builders and you enjoy flying it. It will perform better, much better in climb, not much in cruise. Hey, your flying a Stearman, life’s good and life’s short, enjoy.

Nothing like coming back at sunset and shutting down. All the noise stops and the world is tranquil. I like to sit for a minute or two, just because.
Happy flying,
Rick

CK-

More power is a good thing. I look forward to seeing and maybe flying your airplane now;) Maybe I should do it too.... hummm.

gunny

Gee, CK -

Sorry to hear about the engine issue! The only minor consolation is that it broke at the 2nd best place that it ever could have. The best place being at Cleveland, MS.

I’ve been happy with my W670 and wood prop. The lack of performance is perfectly in character for my elderly trainer. I also have 2,500 hours of experience with the Jacobs (three variants) and am a great fan of the engine. I can imagine how an extra 55 hp and a constant speed prop would pep up a Stearman.

Pete has done a lot to improve the Jakes, making them as modern as a 1934 machine can be. I’d be happy to talk with you about the engine and some of the options if you wish. Feel free to call or email.

All this Stearman talk has me fired up. I sold my beloved Pitts S2A pictured on page 3 of this thread in a sacrilegious fit of profit-taking.
I have been looking for an S2S, which is like an S2A on steroids, but they are unobtainium.
Thus the Stearman comes to mind. Not aerobatic like the Pitts, but they ooze class, and may be the ultimate expression of bi-winged eccentricity with large helpings of macho character.
My dearest cousin, (and bro) Ralph flew West over a year ago. He left this beauty, restored with the most incredible finesse and dedicated craftsmanship; over 27 years' worth of consecrated time in his "laboratory". More notable is that he was struck by Polio at age 6, and did not have the use of his legs. His mind, however, was brilliant, and his heart was golden... I miss him.
A picture does not do justice to what is arguably the most beautiful Stearman in existence:

Tom, that is gorgeous! I'm sure I've seen photos of that plane online before. I love the turtle deck mod. That, wheel pants, and a cowl transform the Stearman into a buxom 1930s pinup girl.

CK,

Sorry to hear about your troubles but you are absolutely doing the right thing. I really like the Continental on my Waco because it’s so light but on the Classics and the Stearman I think you’ll do better with more power and you’re going to the right place to get ‘er done! Now you get to reprise your epic cold cross country in the ZPF!

Yep! I hear David’s got the Bluebird up for sale...that was a fun trip. But, alas, no Max this time to meet me in Knoxville with a cheeseburger. I’ll have to settle for a milkshake (or hot cup of coffee) at the now re-opened cafe in Brenham, TX.

What a great engine/prop combo for your Stearman. Best of luck with it.

I'm curious about what caused your W670 to fail so soon after it was IRAN'd. I remember when you had the bearing mod done. How common is a crank shaft failure on the W670's?

Curious, did you consider a 450 P&W install? A friend had one on his Stearman and it was a screamer.

Not really. Never flown one with a 450, but I’ve heard the performance is off the chain. Also quite a bit heavier and consume a lot more gas. An engine for a working airplane - ag work, air show aerobatics etc. With the Jake, you get more HP for about the same weight and fuel burn. That was the Goldilocks solution I was looking for.