Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Oil access in cowl 2 hrs

Tonight I cut the oil access door in the cowling. I got it all riveted and filled the countersunk rivets with a filler to conceal them. My son started working on filling the rivets on the horizontal stabilizer 

Monday, February 24, 2014

light wiring/ paint prep/ volt meter 3 hours

Tonight I installed the volt meter I received today.  Then I tested it with a digital voltmeter to check the accuracy.  It was right on.  Then I applied the red, yellow, and green arcs to the respective gauges.  After that I started working on the left side of the fuselage with a scotch brite pad in preparation for painting.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Strobes 3 hours

Today I mounted the 3 in 1 Aveo Powerburst strobe lights.  I got both of the mounted and one wing completely done.  Tomorrow I will temporarily mount the pitot and static port, and finish the wiring of the lights.

Install new tach/misc 6 hrs

Today I installed my new tachometer. I had to modify my panel slightly to accommodate the 2 1/4 inch gauge. That took a fair amount of time. I also installed my cylinder head temperature gage and install the probe on the right rear cylinder. I rerouted my fuel line to give more clearance from the exhaust.  I also replaced the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pumps with a Gates fuel injector line which is much stronger than the hose I had prior. I put a slight offset in my choke lever at the carburetor to have appropriate clearance from the throttle cable. 

Friday, February 21, 2014

634 hrs total

Spinner 3 hrs

Tonight I mounted the spinner. I removed the prop. I made a template out of a Manila folder for the cutout of the spinner where it goes over the prop.  I cut it out with snips then I trimmed and fit, trimmed and fit, trimmed and fit, trimmed and fit.  Did I mention I trimmed and fit?  I got the fit I was looking for so I drilled 1/8" holes at the base, then enlarged to 3/16" and deburred. I remounted the prop/spinner with the shorter bolts I got today. Looks good. 

Thursday, February 20, 2014

fixed brake fluid leak 2 hrs

Tonight I worked on the brake master cylinders.  After running I noticed a small amount of brake fluid on the floor.  I did some investigating and found that the master cylinders were leaking where the brass fitting screwed into it.  I tightened the fitting and retested with no leaks.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Working out bugs. 3 hrs

Tonight I ran the engine again to check the tach operation after moving some of the dip switches. It didn't work. I concede an will order a different tach tomorrow. I also tried my radio and it wasn't transmitting properly. After troubleshooting I discovered that my antenna was grounded out.  When I attached the terminal I slid the connector on too far and made contact with the foil like sleeve that's under the shielding which made contact with the shield. I removed the antenna cable and redid the end and it is no longer grounded out.  I rerouted my cabin heat scat tubing to avoid contact with the exhaust. I also removed my ammeter and will install a volt meter in its place.  I am going to order a tach, voltmeter, and cht sending unit tomorrow. 

Wrong link for engine video

I had the wrong link in the engine run video. It's fixed

First engine run. 2 hrs

Today I rany engine for the first time. It went well. It fired right up and the only issues I had were with the tach. The tach isn't working right so I have to do some research to see of I can get it to work, or buy a new tach. Below is a link to a
YouTube video. Enjoy!



Monday, February 17, 2014

Seat/ prop 2 hrs

I got my seat today from my buddy who made it. He did an awesome job.  I also installed my prop for the first engine run tomorrow. 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Engine prep 14 hrs

The past two days I worked on prepping the engine for running. I hooked up my cabin heat box to the control knob. I adjusted and set the travel of the throttle cable. I installed the tank cover and gas tank plumbing.   I intalled the permanent gas line and covered it in fire sleeve. I attached it to the motor mount to keep it away from the exhaust.  I permanately installed the exhaust with the gaskets and torqued the nuts. I torqued all of the motor mount and engine bolts. I ran the crankcase vent and secured it. I installed misc cable ties to secure everything.  I went over to a buddies who is helping with my seat and helped him. 

Friday, February 14, 2014

Reworked exhaust/carb heat 2 hrs

This morning I cut the welded exhaust and rotated one of the elbows to make that exhaust come out straight. When I got home I worked on riveting the carb heat muff. I ran the scant tube to the carb. I also installed the air filter and retained it with safety wire. I ran my carb heat cable and secured it. 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Cabin heat. Ammeter 3 hrs

Tonight I hooked my ram air up to the carb heat muff. I also wired my new ammeter I ran my regulator to my amp guage with a 25 amp in line fuse. Then left the gauge and went to the battery. I also drilled my spinner bulkhead to match the backplate. Prop should be here monday

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Exhaust/label/cabin heat 3 hrs

Tonight I mounted the exhaust that I had welded earlier today at work. I riveted the cabin heat muff and ran the scat tube to the cabin heat box. I received my strobes today and checked them out. 
I went with the aveo powerburst 3 in 1 strobes.   I also installed the new laser cut labels. 

Wiring/misc 3 hrs

Last night I worked on modifying my exhaust to get out the bottom of the cowling. I will weld them at work today. I also cleaned up the wiring on the right side of the engine and tied everything up.   I ran my fuel line from my gascolator to the carb. I will add fire sleeve to this and use a different hose for final assembly.  I installed my canopy with the final nuts welded on the backside of the canopy slide instead of riveting. This will allow the canopy to be removed easier than it would've been with rivets. I received my spinner and drilled the backplate. I installed two wire stops on each side of the throttle line for secondary protection if the bug nut failed. 

Monday, February 10, 2014

597 total hrs

Wiring 3 hrs

Tonight I worked in wiring the battery ignition. I also mounted and wired the regulator. I mounted my battery and installed a small angle to keep the battery from sliding left to right. I secured wired on the left side of the engine bay. I also mounted my battery and made my large cables going from the battery to the solenoid and from the solenoid to the starter. I ran a bigger wire from the engine to the negative terminal of the battery. 

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Engine 4 hours

Today my engine finally arrive. Much anticipated!  I hung the engine on the motor mount after making some bushings for the rubber mounts. I also riveted my bottom floor skin in preparation for my cowling fit up. I plan on start to fit it up tomorrow. I wired my master relay to the starter. 

Baffling/cable 6 hrs


Today I worked on my right side baffling. I got all of my right side baffling done and all of the seals except for the from baffle seals. I am contemplating an idea with those. I wired my magneto, tach, oil pressure sender, starter, and oil temp sender. I hooked up my throttle cable and my choke cable. I fabricated a clamp that comes off the carburetor to hold the cable housing of the throttle cable 

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Cowling and baffling 9 hrs

Today I got up at 430 to get a good start of work today. I had
My cowling marked and ready to cut last night and I went in to go to bed to give
Me some more time to think about it before I cut it. I came out this morning and checked everything, made some final adjustments and started cutting. I was intimidated by the cowling but it actually went fairly Easy. I installed the tinnerman anchor nuts on the cowling and the u clip tinnerman nuts on the firewall. I mounted the cowling then marked the locations of the oil cooler inlet and the ram air inlet. I cut those with my cutoff wheel.   Once I was done with that, I started installing my bafflings. I finished all of the baffling and baffle seals on the left side of the engine and will install the right side next work session.  I also received my registration today. Things are starting to come together!