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With the snorkel in place it was time to install the prop. The engine comes with a block off plate in the prop hub. If you install a variable pitched prop like I am, you have to remove this plate. The prop hub is the passage for oil to adjust hydraulically the pitch of the prop. The governor adjusts the amount of oil to control the pitch. If the plate is in place no oil will get to the prop. I was aware that this had to be done, but other than a murky reference that a plate had to be removed I wasn’t 100% sure what they were talking about at first. After several looks through the Lycoming manual and other references I was sure this was the plate but wasn’t sure how to remove it. I didn’t want to pry it out. I did run across several postings in the internet that suggest the method I used. I drilled a hole to drill for a #10 32 tpi tap and tapped the hole. I then used a piece of phenolic that I drilled a hole into for a bolt to pass through and be threaded into the tapped hole in the block off plate. The block off plate came out nice and smooth as I turned the bolt. I had to use two different bolts as the first bottomed out with the plate in the position shown in picture one. Picture three shows the removal contraption and the plate just after it came out. The last picture is a view into the prop hub oil passage. I was worried about debris getting into the oil system, but there was very little and it cleaned out easily. I also cleaned up some of the sealing compound residue that was used when the plate was installed.
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