Pick a New Engine | What to Look For | Making a Blank | Removing the Old Engine | Disconnecting Systems | Mounts and Coupler | Lifting the Old Engine | Engine Beds | Shimming | Filling Holes | Flat Mounts | Landing the Engine | Exhaust System | Other Systems | Finishing Up
A Trick For Filling Old Holes in the Stringers.
What if your mounts are very near where the old holes are, and the old holes are stripped out? Or if you need to move a mount over only a tiny bit, and the old holes are interfering with your installation. Here's a trick for rotted out holes or wood stripped around the lag bolts.
- Drill the holes out oversized to fit a standard wooden dowel.
- Cut a few grooves in the dowel, fill the holes with epoxy, and pound the dowels into place.
- As you pound in the dowel, the epoxy will flow out by way of the grooves, but will leave enough for a solid bond.
- Cure, cut off the tops of the dowel, and redrill for new lags wherever you want.
I have moved a set of engine mounts over 1/4" doing this – the new holes partially overlapped the old holes, but this solved the quandary. It won't fix a stringer rotted out all the way along, but if only the holes are bad you can in effect turn them into new wood.
Now you need to make sure the mounting surface is perfectly flat.
Next: How do I make sure the mounting surface is perfectly flat?
If you skipped "Shimming", click here to check it out
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