Muffler repair

Hi

I thought this may be of interest.

I Had a disaster 2 weeks ago. Lost power inverted and forced to land inverted with the engine ticking over. When I got to the plane, I discovered one of the muffler bolts had come loose and a mounting flange had broken off the muffler. This is the only motor I have at the moment, about 30 years old so parts are hard to come by and to make matters worse, the engine will not fly without a pressure feed.

So I got busy and had a go at braising the flange back in place with techni 2000 rods. These do not require flux but do require a good wire brushing. This is my 1st go at aluminium braising so a few test runs where in order. After some practice, I got a strong enough butt join that the test peice bent before the braise let go so I was ready.

I bolted the muffler to a stainless steel plate and filed grooves into the muffler to take the braise as it will not run like solder etc.

See results below.
Left a fillet on the damaged side and still need to form a flat to take the bolt head. You can just make out the colour difference of the braise.

Hey Ken,
Great looking repair!
That engine looks like a 2.5 Taipan BB. (??)
What plane are you flying it in?
Thanks
Bill <><

Hi Bill

Ta for the complement.

Yes it's a Taipan 2.5cc BB motor.
I bought it at the Goulburn Nats, around 1978 or so I think.
I only put it in a plane a few years ago when I got back into C/L so it has not seen a lot of run time. The plane is only a stunt trainer, nothing special and not apropriate for the engine but it is my only engine. There is a drawing of the trainer and my next plane under "My sports design". Looks like I'll be to busy to build untill late in the year.

I'd like another engine like this one and a spare muffler.
If it breaks again, I don't think I'll be able to repair it again
and a second engine would be handy to keep flying.

Think I'll use locktite or similar on the bolts next time.
Any product suggestions welcome.