Restoring a radial engine for a new purpose.
Discovered a Jacobs L5MB radial power plant that was destined for the scrap yard. This engine was found in a damp basement and was no longer airworthy. After a bit of work it was restored for the living room as a coffee table.
Disassembly and cleaning stage:
Engine was sitting in a basement for decades and needed to be completely disassembled and cleaned.
Media Blasting and Painting stage:
All parts were were media blasted, painted and clear coated.
Machining Process:
In order for the engine to support a glass top aluminum tubes were made to thread onto the spark plug threads. The threads allowed each supporting tube to adjust to specific heights eliminating any potential wobble of the glass top.
Assembly:
Assembled the engine with new hardware and used the valves on the end of the adjustable tubes as supports for the table top.
A little history behind this Jacobs power plant.
The L5MB model made in 1935 and installed in about 6 different aircraft of its time. Below is a photo of a Beechcraft Staggerwing one of the types of aircraft it was made for.
This 7 cylinder, air cooled radial engine produced approximately 285HP @ 2,000 rpm at sea level with a compression ratio of 6.0:1. It used a Stromberg NA-R7A carburetor with a minimum octane level of 73. Its dry weight is about 234 kg (this coffee table obviously less to reduce weight)
Aircraft application:
- Beechcraft Model 18
- Beechcraft Staggerwing
- Fleet 50
- Fleetwings Sea Bird
- Howard DGA-8
- Waco S Series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobs_R-830
Type Certificate Data Sheet