Sudden Engine Vibration

[hilltop170]

I like to sprinkle a little MMO on a nice bed of salad greens with a dash of pepper. It has that hint of wintergreen and keeps you regular, too!

[blueldr]

The big boys also used to say that it was an aphrodisiac too! Hell, when I was a young fella just flying used to get me all worked up.

[AR Dave]

I just did a search on MMO and was suprised to see how many times ya'll have debated it and how many times Bruce has said this -

Oh no you've opened up the MMO can of worms again.

I won't put it in with the oil, but I'm going to start adding 4oz for every 10gals of 100LL. Or maybe every other load. Flew about 2.5 hrs since the one valve stuck, still need to ream the other five.

[GAHorn]

Delta Air Lines purportedly used it to keep their big radials departing on-time, much to American's chagrin. Amercan supposedly sent a "mole" over to snoop around and found Delta pumping it into their gas tanks from 55 gallon barrels, and turned them in to the authorities who fined Delta.

Moral: If one were to use MMO illegally, then do not publicly encourage others to do it also, or Bruce will have to repeat himself again.

[blueldr]

George,
what in heck was Delta supposed to be using MMO for? I have a lot of hours behind all kinds and sizes of radial engines and never remember any kind of stuck valve problems. I just can't immagine any possible use that might enhance dispatch.

[GAHorn]

Louis Porter, former owner of College Station Aircraft Repair and a good friend of mine, was one of the original mechanics in Monroe, LA for Huff Daland Dusters, the forerunner and original name of the outfit that became known as Delta Air Lines. (They had their own duster-airplane type, the "Huff Daland Duster" and had won a Dept of Agriculture contract in the late 20's/early 30's to dust the Mississippi Delta for boll weavils. They therefore had two operations: The Monroe operation, and the Delta operation. The Delta operation later won a mail contract and started carrying passenges who sat on mail sacks in the front baggage area (which was actually the removed hopper-area of their dusters.)

When the Delta operation decided to go full time into passenger/mail operations and relocate to Atlanta (using Travel Airs tri-motored Fokkers), Louis was offered the chance to become VP of maintenance. He turned them down because "Any fool* kows that those airplane operators that soley carries passengers will go broke....the only people who make money in aviation are crop dusters." So he stayed on as the chief of maintenance for the Monroe operation....which years later, went broke. Louis still has/had his leather flight jacket with a hand-painted company logo on the back...a Viking within a triangle (Greek delta), blowing dust out over a cotton-field.

While both operations were still going strong, he also was shuttled back and forth between the two, whenever either one needed extra maintenance help. It was during the hey-days of big radials and turbo-compound engines that he said the high lead content of 130/145 ocatane avgas caused stuck valves and fouled plugs to the point that Delta was ready to try anything. MMO was used (very successfully according to Louis) until they were caught and heavily fined.

After they were stopped by the CAA/FAA, they went back to the everyday-common, and legal, valve and spark plug failures.

* Louis, who was elderly and still working with wrenches for a living during the late 70's/early 80's when he kept my company's airplanes running,... also told me "That isn't the only wrong fork-in-the-road I took in my aviation career." His underling, who took the job Louis had turned down in Atlanta, had retired years earlier, a wealthy, former vice-president of Delta Air Lines.
The Huff Daland "Puffer" owned by Smithsonian (and on loan to Delta) was restored by Louis and several of his former co-workers.

[dacker]

George, Louis was still working here in College Station until just two or three years ago. I believe he retired and then died from cancer a few months later. He was well respected.
We also had Bob Collett, another ag mechanic, he wrote maintenance articles for Ag Pilot magazine for several years, and also had a lot of round engine experience. Except, for Ron Stegmueller (sp?) we have had a vacuum of good experienced mechanics in these parts.
David

[GAHorn]

Yep. Ron Stegemoller in Brenham is a good, experienced, reasonably priced guy. I asked him to perform an annual inspection only three years ago on a Stinson 108 a friend wanted and he said he'd do the basic annual, no repairs, for $300.
When we picked up the plane, he'd done the complete and thorough annual, repaired a rudder cable, fixed a tailwheel steering problem, changed the oil, cleaned the plugs, given it a clean bill of health, and washed the airplane and told us he thought he'd overpriced his quoted annual and refunded $25.

My friend flew that plane for two years and it was a good plane. He sold it and now has a Cessna 172 straight tail and joined our association.

[n2582d]

I like to sprinkle a little MMO on a nice bed of salad greens with a dash of pepper. It has that hint of wintergreen and keeps you regular, too!

For a little variety you might try this stuff. Looks like the Five Hour Energy drink for aircraft (and salads?).

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Just think of what it might do if you mixed it with MMO and put it in your tank!

[albertjibian]

Sounds like your doohicky failed. Pull the cover and look, which you can easily do on the road by laying the bike over 45 degrees or on it's side. I wouldn't ride it anymore. If there is loose metal in your motor it could go somewhere bad if you keep riding. Rend a U-haul trailer or box van to get the bike home... or thumb with a 20 spot for a friendly dude with a pick up to drive you both home. If you're lucky the chain simply jumped but hasn't broken yet. Good luck!

[GAHorn]

Uh,,,, I think you snarked into the wrong forums,,, this is the interstellar forums of intergalatic travel vehicles... Here we measure chains in light years. (no one can survive a dropped chain)

[blueldr]

The discovery that "Spruce" is selling this "Aerofusion" snake oil gives me pause to wonder if they're really our friends. Just reading the alleged benefits of the stuff is enough to see that it is desigined to fleece the unknowing. Under these circumstances, I'm surprised that "Spruce" isn't offering a carburetor that will reduce the fuel consumption of your 300 cu. in. engine to about gallon and a half per hour.

[SteveF]

Wow - talk about snake oil !!!!!!!!!!

"If it is to good to be true - it is"

[GAHorn]

The discovery that "Spruce" is selling this "Aerofusion" snake oil gives me pause to wonder if they're really our friends. Just reading the alleged benefits of the stuff is enough to see that it is desigined to fleece the unknowing. Under these circumstances, I'm surprised that "Spruce" isn't offering a carburetor that will reduce the fuel consumption of your 300 cu. in. engine to about gallon and a half per hour.

The local NAPA store sells a pair of semi-circular magnets held together using O-rings for rubber bands, which they sell to magnetize/de-magnetize a screwdriver. It costs $1.99.
The EXACT identical device is sold by JC Whitney as a "fuel molecular alignment" device which will, after clamping it upon your fuel-system-delivery-plumbing on your car will increase fuel mileage by 10% while increasing power and reducing emissions. It sells for $16.95.

magn.jpg (8.8 KiB) Viewed 7783 times

I am going into the extended warranty business and will be offering a two-year extended warranty on this device for only $10. For those yet to make their purchase, I offer an advance-warranty for half-price. Send your $5 to the address in the directory.

[jrenwick]

I would expect that the "fuel molecular alignment" device actually works as advertised. 10 percent is not a lot of improvement in mileage for a lot of cars, and anybody who spent the money on this thing is probably going to be especially sensitive to gas mileage after that. Consciously or not, he'll probably lighten up enough on the pedal to produce close to the desired result.