Wow, he really does not understand mechanical systems very well. He is puzzled that the bolt heads dented the plate, not realizing that the bolt heads are carrying the axial loads once they loosen up.

This is WHY the engine/re-drive should have been put on a test stand and couple of guys did nothing but put hours on it. Instead of just slapping it back together. He may want to investigate what caused that. Crankshaft nose moves, pulley moves, bolts come lose. Having that re-drive mounted independent of the engine has to cause some issues.

Or aerodynamics, or internal combustion engines, or...

Aren’t the bolts carrying the axial loads while they are tight? I think that when loosened, these bolts are not carrying their share of the axial loads so you have sort of a rotating slanted plate effect causing the denting.

Nonetheless, a serious problem. I think some analysis/tests should be done re a safety wire solution.

Best,

Tom

Eliot addressed the old guy in the truck yelling at him during a podcast. Short version is that the guy came out to the taxiway when they were having the engine issue, and didn't really identify himself or offer to help. Eliot pretty much said "who are you and why are you here?" and asked him to give him some space, and the guy got butt hurt.

Tie the plane down, setup some external cooling rig and run full throttle for 10 days. Have a day and night shift team.

Tear down the re-drive and change the oil. Good inspection of the turbos, exhaust, cylinders and everything else.

Then do it again.

Like 4 times.

Peter: No need for that. I write software and watched videos on airplanes. In my expert opinion the engine and redrive are fine.



If you look at some of his responses to the comments about how it's good he caught this on the ground instead of inflight, he says that the worse thing that could have happened was vibration.

Link?

The bolts that walked back. Are they like Home Depot aviation aisle or just ground down? They did not look like the AN spec bolts that I’d expect to be use to hold down that large axial tensile load.

What hardware is he using for the wing spar bolts?

Why the need to show every last ugly bit on YouTube. If I had money in this project and I saw shoddy work like that I’d be on the phone with him chewing him out. This is not how you inspire confidence and market aircraft. Transparency is great - but this is Saran Wrap transparency to showing a lot of shoddy stuff.

So what would have been the consequence of this in flight ? How about at Cherokee airport. The wasabi guys were undoubtedly correct.

I think those are grade 10.1 metric socket head cap screws. Probably same ones Audi factory uses to bolt on the harmonic balancer.

And he kept hinting at the bouncy truck ride 250 miles. Yea.... that shouldn’t do anything. Nothing should come loose on a truck or in the air.

It’s all about that YouTube ad revenue.

Link?

I think the answer is that Peter doesn't see this as shoddy work, rather "lesson learned, fix it and move on".

Watching the last video, I started to wonder about what the instructions would look like for this kit. I don't hear him make comments like "we'll have to change this for the next revision of the design". Do all these tweaks become part of the design, or does he imagine a fresh start for the next prototype after flight testing? Or is he driven just to see this prototype fly, and try to sell the whole thing to someone else?

IIRC; in one of the prior videos, Wasabi was surprised that the wing attach structure lacked precision fit bushings ... and Peter replied that the bolts themselves were not perfectlly straight, so he rotated them 90 deg to snug the fitment.

I believe that was in the Wasabi video, discussing the bolts for the main landing gear. That was part of my thought about the kit instructions (mentioned above). Will it say "If the gear feels loose, rotate the bolts 90*"? And those bolts will never rotate or bend/straighten following a hard landing?