I mounted the engine today. Hauled the pallet jack and engine hoist out and went to work. Got the whole pallet/engine crate out of the garage out on to the pad in front of the shop for some working room. After some rearranging I was able to get the engine/crate bottom off of the pallet. This allowed me to get the engine hoist over the engine so I could lift it. From there, it was a straight lift off the crate.
It was a little bit of a puzzle to get the engine mount onto the engine. I had to disconnect some lines and move them out of the way. Then a little twisting and cajoling the mount into place. The bolts went right in and I got them all torqued down.
Then, Chris helped me guide it as we rolled the whole hoist with the engine dangling up into place. After a little manipulation and we got the bolts inserted into the fuselage without any problem. Of course the added weight made the shocks and tires squat a bit. We were careful to check that the added weight of the engine wouldn't tip the plane forward. For security, I added a 35lb weight to the rear and tied the tail wheel to the bench.
After adding some air to the tires and nitrogen to the shocks, it's sitting closer to normal now.
