Newbie Guide to removing a cooling unit (VMC-44)

[jholmgren]

Hi folks,
I've never removed a cooling unit before, but I've seem plenty of folks on here saying how simple (most) they are to remove.   I decided to tackle my VMC-44 today and took a lot of pics along the way.  Since I do a lot of documentation for work, I thought I would knock together a quick newbie guide to removing a cooling deck.  It really is quite easy and took me less than an hour - that is with taking pics and being very careful.

Anyway - if anyone is interested in a copy of the doc I created, it is available here in PDF format:

http://littlebluespitfire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9919&g2_GALLERYSID=851af751aba7a98f5ed994caa8cb1363

Questions, comments or corrections are always welcome!

Jim

[MoonDawg]

       That was a wonderful thing to do for those just comming into this hobby! Thanks Jim......... 

[ld26]

Wow Jim you don't mess around! nice guide thanks for putting it together

[jholmgren]

Wow Jim you don't mess around! nice guide thanks for putting it together

Hah... yeah Lonny, I started cleaning it up this morning and when I got to the bottom I was poking around in the crevices of the cooling system with my shop vac and I started thinking... "this is probably the smallest cooling unit ever... it can't be THAT hard to take out so I can really clean it up".
My goodness is that satisfying to do - now I can clean and paint the cooling unit AND really get into the bottom of the cabinet for a good cleaning.  Since I'll probably be working from home tomorrow with the snow coming, I may even have some time to work on it some more.

I am REALLY digging this 44.  It is so compact and easy to work on ... it may just become my favorite machine before I'm done.

Jim

[Fire708]

Great guide, thank you for posting it.
I'm a big fan of PB blaster, seems to give me better results than WD40.

[jholmgren]

Great guide, thank you for posting it.
I'm a big fan of PB blaster, seems to give me better results than WD40.

PB Blaster and I got well acquainted when I was doing the nastier bits of restoration on my Spitfire. 

It definitely works better than WD40, but most folks have a can of WD in the garage already, even if they aren't shade-tree mechanics.  I think I should have mentioned the "tighten it to loosen it" trick as well.  Between that and the old smoke wrench (propane/map gas torch) not too many bolts have eluded me.

[tkaz]

Nice work Jim, easy to take these things out, not easy to stop and take the time to photograph each step.  I always look for guides like this when I'm taking on a project I haven't done before, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

[Jared]

Thanks jim great post

[GreenMo]

Thanks! I can use all the help I can get.

[ZiaDan]

Great Guide. Thanks for posting it.