New Cub Engine

I got the call the other day from Don's Dream Machines. Don let me hear my new engine running. It was very exciting. He also told me that it would be in Birmingham on Thursday or Friday of last week and all weekend. Unfortunately, I would be out of town when it arrived, so I had it set up to be held at the trucking company. I would have to wait to install the new powerplant. The weekend went well, and I looked forward to Monday morning and my engine install.

I got back to town late Sunday night, and went to the trucking company in a special area of Birmingham at 11pm. The folks at Roadway Express trucking were very friendly and helpful. They loaded the crated engine onto my truck and off I went. I met my mechanic at the airport at 7:15 the next morning. We uncrated the engine and took inventory. The engine builder had sent fresh engine mounts and even nice new exhaust gaskets. I had anticipated this need and ordered these items already, but I appreciated the gesture. The engine went on pretty easily in about 3 hours. The only thing we were missing were prop bolts. The ones on the old engine were the unremovable type, so they went to the engine builder with the old engine. Sadly this was a no-go item. I ordered new bolts today after failing to acquire any locally. They'll be here tomorrow afternoon. Wednesday will be the first run, and I'll get to take the first flight. It will be tenuous. I'll hover over the airport for about an hour to test out the engine, staying within gliding distance of a runway. Anticipation.....