anticipation

Let's face it, its been a cold winter.  For an entire month, the temperature crept above zero for less than two days.  Most of the time it hovered around -30.  The bitter cold made an escape to a warm, tropical destination much sweeter.  Mom and I begun planning our trip to Hawaii in October, but when the abnormally long cold snap came, I was even more grateful.

And everyone around me knew it. 

At work, I reported to co-workers how many days before I would be lounging on a warm beach.

At Bible study, the ladies would roll their eyes at my praise: an upcoming tropical getaway.

Even the girls were giving me advice on sunbathing and staying away from surfers. 

When I went into Anchorage, I let the world know where I was headed.  From the people at the doctor's office to the people standing in line with me at the coffee shop, everyone was aware, and probably a little jealous, that I was escaping the cold and darkness for two whole weeks. 

Based on the cold, Hawaii seems like paradise.  But as I thought about how excited I was to share about my temporary escape, I started to wonder, Why am I not more excited to share about my permanent escape?


I realized that Hawaii may seem like paradise, but its not heaven.  Don't get me wrong, I had a blast.  Its beautiful and wonderful there.  But not heaven. 

Heaven is heaven.

I am going there.  And not just for two weeks, but forever.  I get to spend forever in a place that is infinitely more wonderful than Hawaii.

Forever.  

Now that is a little more exciting than getting out of the cold for a couple weeks.  

207 Fuel selector overhaul

Fuel is crucial.  Ask any pilot.  Whether you are in the air and want fuel to flow to your engine, or on fire, wanting the fuel to STOP going to the engine, a properly working selector valve is pretty important.  So when you have a working valve, it makes one nervous to take it apart and replace O-rings.  Especially when one of the most experienced guys in the shop walks up, says, "wow, you are brave!" and walks away.  But I survived, and it passed leak tests.  The real test will be when it goes in the plane, but for now, I can be happy about actually succeeding.  And having pictures.

Fuel selector, lines marked, ready for removal

cleaning with acetone.  Making sure not to erase alignment marks!

Old O-rings. I think they were originally round. The sticker on the unit had a cure date from '69. Replacement is well overdue. 

All the parts and pieces lined up, just like the picture from the manual

I don't have a picture of it all back together, but rest assured that its no longer in 14 million little pieces.  My tips for anyone attempting this act:

1. read the instructions from the manual, copy pictures, take notes, cross off steps already completed, whatever it takes to make sure you do everything in order and don't miss a step.
2. Disassemble on a tray or something to help catch little pieces.  There are 6 springs, 2 little silver balls, and countless other pieces that are easy to lose and expensive to replace.  
3. Lubricate sparingly with fuel-lube.  DC-4 is much more likely to clog stuff up, and is not as compatible with fuel.  Or so they told me. 
4. make sure you have everything lined up exactly right when you put it together. I think I had to remove and install the last roll pin about 5 times, cause something wasn't lined up right, then i forgot the washer, then something else wasn't exact, then I forgot the washer again... rest assured that it is now perfect :)