A day for staying indoors

The south-easterly winds began to pick up yesterday afternoon and by nightfall we were experiencing gusts of over 50 mph, which continued overnight and for much of today. Because of the direction from which they were coming, the winds weren’t cold but were quite damaging and when I went out later this afternoon, quite a few trees, especially old, weak ones, had been brought down. I’d also endured a rather restless night because of the howling and banging that the wind caused.

Fortunately I did the engine oil change on my Savannah that I’d been waiting to do for some time, yesterday afternoon before the winds increased in strength. I was disappointed to find when I came to remove the old oil filter that the new tool that I had acquired to do the job with was too large to get through the gap between the oil filter and the exhaust pipe of the front left-hand cylinder. In the end there was nothing else for it other than to remove the springs securing the pipe at the silencer end and slacken off the bolts attaching the pipe to the exhaust outlet on the cylinder.

This did the job but I still couldn’t use the tool to unscrew the oil filter because there was insufficient friction between the oil filter’s surface and the tool band that’s supposed to grip it. I found that very disappointing – the tool looks good but quite honestly isn’t very effective – and I ended up using the time-honoured process of bashing a sharp screwdriver through the body of the oil filter and using it as a lever to loosen the filter.

No problems getting the new one on and tight though, as it only needs a ¾ turn once the rubber sealing gasket touches the metal surface of the cylinder block and it didn’t take that long to complete the oil change. The exhaust pipe went back on nicely as well.

My only regret was that I hadn’t taken a tool with me with which to unscrew the magnetic plug on the side of the engine below the gearbox. So sadly that’ll have to be left either until next time or until I can remove the plug while having a means with me to stop the inevitable oil flow that will arise from the hole it will leave while it’s out.

The manual says that the engine needs 3 litres of oil and that volume brought the oil level to exactly the top mark on the dipstick. In comparison, the old black oil was half-way down, mid-way between the upper and lower marks.

I also forgot to take my small diameter spark plug tool with me yesterday so couldn’t swap out the old plugs for the new ones that I’d puchased. When I came to do so today, I found that whereas the new ones appear to have solid terminal ends, the old ones have had theirs removed and the plug caps fit straight onto the terminal end threads. I also found when I tried to swap out the first plug that the existing plug caps are of too small a diameter to fit over the terminal ends of the new plugs, which are the Rotax recommended model.

I now face something of a quandary. I do not like using plugs with their terminal ends removed as I believe that it creates a potential source of sparking between plug and cap and therefore radio interference. This is important because as I was told by a helpful chap at Sarlat the other day, my radio transmissions are being broken up by what sounds like engine interference. I’d therefore prefer to retain the terminal ends on my new plugs and either modify my plug caps or replace them, but before making any changes I need to find out what is the Rotax recommended arrangement.

Nothing’s ever straightforward, is it, even something as apparently simple as an oil change 😐

A bit of good news from today is that I have now received or already have, all of the components I need to make myself a refuelling rig. I vowed never to allow the possibilty to arise again in the future for a fuel leak during refuelling that could again damage the Savannah’s windscreen. I’ve therefore got a design in mind, which I’ll provide more details about in my next post, for a system with a 12V electric pump that will raise the fuel from ground level up to the height of the Savannah’s wing tanks and allow controlled filling of the tanks.

However, the wind smashed my post box into smithereens today and before I can go ahead and start work on the refuelling rig, I need to make a new one. I preferred my old, wooden rustic version to a nasty new metal one, which is all that you can buy in the stores around here. In such a way are priorities unwillingly forced upon us 🙁

And today was my birthday – yes, yet another one – so many thanks for all the messages and kind wishes that I’ve received from family and friends. Even if one did describe me as a dinosaur… 😉