I'll kidnap the digital camera from work and try to snap a few pics of the resto project this weekend when I'm home visiting. For those of you who are familiar with 195's, this one is a "camera plane" which means it has a large hole in the floor where a camera (mounted to fancy frame) would take geological photographs. He has the original camera, frame, and everything. We intend to replace the plexiglass over the hole, but leave the camera out. This will allow passengers to get a bird's eye view directly below them.
Acquiring the dry nitrogen would be a task for him. You'd have to understand where he lives (the boonies). He likes the "bag" idea from that company overseas. Most likely, here's what he's decided to do:
It turns out that he's only interested in protecting the interior of the engine (the outside is fine), so he will rig up a way to store the engine horizontally, with the shaft pointing down. (Have you ever tried to man-handle one of these things? It ain't fun.) There are only 2 or 3 holes in the "front" of the engine to plug (easy). Then he will remove the "top" spark plug from each cylinder and fill the cylinders with
oil. We can easily finesse the engine to remove air pockets. Once a cylinder is filled, we replace the spark plug and move on to the next.
Once all 7 cylinders are filled, we can simply pour
oil into the rear case of the engine (you'd have to see it to understand). This method would protect the interior surfaces and gears perfectly and would require FAR less
oil that submerging the entire engine.
Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas. Some of these ideas may be used to preserve other parts of the project besides the engine. He told me that he really appreciates all your input. I'll be sure to post some pics if I can get them.
Keith
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