Here's a list of some of the tools required for the V-1710
Plus more general comment regarding the six major sub-assemblies of the Allison, and an "Engine Dismantling Chart":
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I don't believe you could work on an Allison without some of the special tools Joe Yancey has made. The "dumbed down" socket sets you can buy today certainly won't do it. Some of the special tools are made using a standard socket of appropriate size and a 1/2" or smaller end mill on a rotary table. I'm thinking of the cam tower wrenches that are necessary but oh so scarce, and a few other "specials" such as the towers needed to pull the cylinder banks off and split the cases. There is a bizarre tool needed to change the cylinder bank studs and you also need a torch to heat the Aluminum case while you tighten or loosen the slightly oversize studs.
The set of specials is large for the Allison ... but nothing like the specials needed for the Merlin. My Merlin friends have entire tool cabinets just for the "specials." They might let you LOOK at one, but forget borrowing it. You have to go make your own.
You also KNOW which combination of extensions are needed on a ratchet drive for which bolts/nuts and you may have acquired a few "cheaters". My Father worked for Sikorsky and Chance Vought for several years in WW II and his tool box in the 1950s still had a few wrenches that were cut off short and a few that were little more than the end of wrench with a long rod welded to the side in order to get into certain confined areas. Anybody doing a LOT of overhauls might acquire a few "extra" tools over and above what the manual calls for that save time or skin on the knuckles
I suspect the Daimler Benz engines were in line with the Allisons at around 200 hours or so for an average overhaul, but I have no data to back that up with.
Any mechanic with time under his belt will have a compartment in his tool cabinet full of odd special tools he has made over the years. One day you will be looking at a seized woggle grommet shaft and think "aha I have the very left handed screwdriver I need". I have special tools I probably made 40 years ago when I was an apprentice I cant remember what they were for and they are probably for cars, motorbikes, lifts, cranes, railway locomotives and wagons that barely exist these days but you never know one day maybe one day.
Any mechanic with time under his belt will have a compartment in his tool cabinet full of odd special tools he has made over the years. One day you will be looking at a seized woggle grommet shaft and think "aha I have the very left handed screwdriver I need". I have special tools I probably made 40 years ago when I was an apprentice I cant remember what they were for and they are probably for cars, motorbikes, lifts, cranes, railway locomotives and wagons that barely exist these days but you never know one day maybe one day.
I wonder how long the Merlins used in Malta lasted with coral dust in the air all the time?
Methinks you are correct, Milosh.
I was think of coral atols in the Pacific and also remembering at the same time that the planes flown in Malta had VERY short engine life, even with tropical filters instaled. I never saw a figure for it, but have read in at least 3 - 4 places about short engine life flying from Malta.
Rather off topic but according to David Isby at Source for Luftwaffe Jagdwaffe joke? - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum there was a Luftwaffe joke that "When an FW-190 crashes, they take the wreckage to Kurt Tank and he strengthens the parts that failed. When a Bf-109 crashes, they take the wreckage to Willi Messerschmitt and he lightens the parts that stayed together".Henry Ford, who famously discovered that the kingpins in Model T engine never failed and so had them made to a lower spec, would say that the V-1710 and V-1650 were therefore over-engineered, and that the J47 which wears out when it reaches its designed lifespan is a better design.