What an AMAZING day Sunday was! Drove to Roseneath Ontario and met my new friend Paul.

Paul is a retired electrician who at one point in time had plans to build his own Corvair powered airplane.  His plans got delayed for a number of reasons and he recently decided to sell his Corvair engine collection.  Of course we could have talked for hours....

I don't have a complete list yet of what I obtained to post here, but I feel I got really lucky.  Two complete core engines, several new parts and a custom work stand.  I even picked up a billet aluminum prop hub and a bunch of technical manuals and drawings.  More pictures to come when I get to inventory everything.  It almost didn't fit in the truck (even the back seat was full):

What used to look like this:

Now looks much, MUCH better:​

The biggest change is floor space.  I'm no longer tripping over stuff to work on other stuff.  Most of that is from better organization and better work surfaces.  And a personal commitment to put stuff back where it belongs.... HA!

It's certainly not perfect.  I still have some decisions to make on some of the smaller items and some stuff to get rid of (bonfire anyone?)  I doubt it ever will be perfect, but it's a darn sight better than what it was!

On another note, I picked up a digital calliper on sale at Home Hardware during their no tax sale this weekend:

Like the dial indicator I bought a couple of weeks ago, this will be an invaluable tool to measure the engine components as I pull apart the core engine.

Off tomorrow to look at 2 cores that should be acceptable for conversion!  Now I have space to work.  Very motivating :)

Well...  I made it to 46 years old.  How I did that and didn't end up in jail, dead or otherwise is anyone's guess.

A couple of important updates to report that happened to coincide with my birthday.

First, I think I might have finally found a core engine.  In fact, I might have found TWO!  I responded to an ad on Kijiji posted by a guy in southern Ontario and spoke with him this evening.

Best part?  These cores were destined to go into a couple of Pietenpol Aircamper projects he was involved in so they "should" be the right type!!  

I'm heading down this weekend to have a look.

Also tonight, I ordered the William Wynne Corvair disassembly DVD which guides builders towards taking apart a core and what trouble areas to look out for.

All in all a great way to spend my birthday!

Used some of these t-nuts....

...that I salvaged from the old desk I recycled for the workbench top.  I drilled the mounting hole and used the bolt to draw the t-nut....​

....tight into the underside of the bench-top.  Now I have a way to temporarily secure my vise and drill press.  Mounting bolts go through the top of the desk and hold nice and tight in the t-nuts:

These will come in handy at some point I'm sure.

I'm almost ready to share some pictures from the re-organized shop, but not quite.  Here is a sneak peak of my re-organized tool board.  I bought a new set of pliers today on sale at Canadian Tire.  I never seem to lose screwdrivers, but for some reason I can't hold onto pliers...​

Brenda says she is thankful because now she doesn't need to go digging around to find a tool that she might need.  Power tools are in the bin under the workbench.

The other tool I picked up today was a dial indicator ($15 at the local hardware store).  They actually told me the other day I was the first person to ask in many years for one and when I went in today to buy it they knocked $5 off the price.... sometimes it pays to shop local.

This simple tool will be invaluable in measuring some of the running gear of my engine turns straight and true.  It will also be helpful in determining the suitability of the salvage parts (crankshaft, cam, etc) being sent for rebuild.

Hopefully the shop muck out will be "complete" this week and I can start actively purchasing a core engine to work on.