End Game

The results are amazing. She got it all figured out, and is well into crafting seats. In the work just done over two days she has both bottom wedges covered, and one seat bottom. Now that she is in the groove we'll see the seats finished in fairly short order. This is very exciting progress!

Tomorrow the guys from Hocutt's Automotive (in Garner NC, the guys we have used for literally the last 25 years with great success) will come out with their roll-back tilt-bed towtruck and we'll load her up. A nice sedate drive down US1 to KTTA, and a safe and uneventful unload into the hangar. Sounds simple, ehh? I sure hope it turns out that way. :)
Time : 2.25 hours

On Sunday (the 5th) I spent some time unpacking, but finally had to take a break to do SOMETHING on the plane itself. I decided to bolt on the tailfeathers. As I got started on this task a friend, George, wandered over and I pressed him into work holding wrenches. It was hot sweaty work, but by the time we were done the HS and VS were in place with all their bolts torqued. This makes it look a LOT more like an airplane! (I need to take some pictures, but my camera was at home not having made the move yet.)
Time : 1.25 hours

We then headed to Pick-N-Pig for lunch. I've only gone there on the ground once before ... so this was an adventure. It is funny how many places I know how to get to via air .. and which I have no clue how to get to on the ground. Go figure.
Time : 1.5 hours

I finished reinstalling the tank access plate, completing the SB work. I did the final install of my ELT antenna. I terminated the APRS ground wire on my forrest-of-tabs now that I had my crimp tools at the airport. And I dimpled the skins on the lower fuselage wing overlap so I don't forget to dimple the darn things when I put the wings on.

Today was also the first day I really have experienced how folks love to drop by to talk when you are working at the airport. I must have had a half-dozen folks wander by at one point or another ... which is actually quite nice. My decision is to keep on working and talk as I get stuff done. I'm not perfect at that yet, but will continue to practice! :)
Time : 4.5 hours

I also pulled some wires for lights to go into the baggage compartment. The intention is to include some LED strip lights with a switch in a handy overhead location. I need to install the switch and the LED strips to finish up this bit of work.
Time : 5.0 hours

For a while now I've felt the work in the aft-end of the plane was done. I did install the rear wall of the baggage area ... but with only a few screws per section. I fear if I install ALL the screws that will virtually insure I have to go back there again before all is said and done. This puts it in place, but makes it easy to remove again if the need arises!

I also inventoried all my wing attach hardware to insure that nothing was missing. In fact, there was one AN4-13 bolt that had gone awry. Easily enough fixed with an order. I want to be sure I have everything I need in hand before I drag people out to install wings.
Time : 2.5 hours

Progress was slowed to some degree by having multiple stop in to visit and look at the RV. It is amazing how much time that consumes!
Time : 5.5 hours

I also installed my Gretz heated pitot control board in the wing. I had to dither a bit to decide where I wanted it to go, but have it in a handy enough spot now. It isn't connected to anything, but is in a location easily accessed thorugh an inspection port.

I also spent some time fabricating the tool needed for final assembly of my tailwheel Tail Lynx. These are nice looking units, and I sure hope I like how they work. If nothing else they look better than the traditional chains-and-springs.

I also started looking at wiring and installation for the APRS module. There is a special cord which combines the 12V and GPS inputs into a single plug, and I needed to cut off the cigarette lighter plug so I could install Anderson PowerPole connectors. I got those installed, and put a pair on the cigarette lighter plug so it is still able to be used.

I also spent a little time identifying which wires are going down the conduit in the wings, and which are routing through snap bushings. I believe I have that all organized now so I'm ready to install the wings any time at this point. My thought is next weekend. (I had planned to install them this weekend, but ended up needing to defer it due to a change in plans.)
Time : 6.5 hours

I worked on wiring the baggage compartment lights. I confirmed the circuit is good, and crimped connectors on the LED strips. In fact, I lit them up and boy-oh-boy are they bright. I also cut the hole on the panel where I want to install the switch, and just need to finish wiring in the switch, securing the wires, and sticking the LED strips in place.
Time : 1.5 hours

While Mark was looking at the plane he called out a few situations that he felt needed adjusting. In particular, I didn't have a full three threads sticking out of a few bolts. I also had not quite "clamped" the bearing in the rod-end-bearings on the rudder in place.

So ... off comes the rudder, and I use some light washers to shim things up so I can clamp the bearings in the hinges. He was right, and taking time to fix it the way it should be was worth it. I had another collection of bolts that I swapped out for longer bolts, which took longer to do than it should have ... but, again, it was the right thing to do.

I then moved onto Tail Lynx work, and got the eyes bent to the desired 20-degree angle. I also drilled the tailwheel stearing arm to size, and marked the flats pieces for bending. I then ended up with a visitor who distracted me so effectively work ended for the day.

One really nice thing today is that Theresa and Marie came out to bring me some lunch ... and brought the dog along too. It was fabulous to have them visit (and the sub they brought was pretty darn welcome too!).
Time : 5.5 hours

This will let me rivet on the reinforcement angle, open up the stack area just a bit for my LED indicators, and then get color shot on the panel. After that we label, then clear-coat, then install for the last time (I hope!).
Time : 2.25 hours

I also have done a trial fitting of the elevators. They went in like a charm, and everything lines up. I now just need to insert washers in strategic locations and get it all bolted up. But .. MAN .. does it look good with the tailfeathers in place!
Time : 2.50 hours

I realized that before I went any further on my elevators I really needed to pull the elevator trim control wires through the HS and into the left elevator. It took a little time and fiddling in that tight (hard to access, now that other "stuff" has been bolted in place) space. But I did it. I hit a spot where I had everything ready to go, but wanted some plastic tubing (acting as anti-chafe) to actually route the wire through the HS and all my tubing was still at home. So I called it good for the day and went out to see what new airplanes had arrived during my hour or so of working. I'll bring my tubing tomorrow and finish this up.
Time : 1.0 hours

I also spent a little time addressing a few wiring issues in the engine compartment. There were a few wires I felt weren't adequately secured, so I did a little fiddling there and made myself happier with the situation. Probably overkill, but being more tidy than less can't be a bad thing. Can it?
Time : 3.0 hours

I also primed and painted the switch panel that will hold the baggage compartment light switch. Once that paint has dried well I'll finish the install of the baggage LED lighting.

Finally, I finished routing the wire for the rudder tail light. Given I'm an idiot and didn't get this done _before_ mounting the tail feathers ... it was a major pain in the butt. I wanted to run the wire through some Nylaflo out of the conduit for anti-chafe purposes, and it took a bit of work (and slicing of my arms on the edges of AL) to get it done. BUT ... I _did_ get it done. Glad to have that behind me.
Time : 3.25 hours

That said, I did get the counterweights installed on the left side and, as expected, the trim servo made this side very different. I will need to tie the two elevators together before I can finish the balancing exercise.
Time : 0.75 hours

It took some time to get it all done, but I'm very pleased with the results. I can hit the stops in both directions now with no undue rubbing.
Time : 4.75 hours

So off it came ... which wasn't so bad. I got the washers installed and tightened up the nut and then the VS and rudder all went back on again. Thankfully a hangar-neighbor (Charles Stites) was around and could give me a hand. I could have done some of those bolts/nuts solo, but having another set of hands was a HUGE help.

I also installed four cotter pins. :) What a day ... one bolt, and four cotter pins. (Of course I removed and reinstalled another whole batch of bolts and cotter pins, but the net change for those at the end of the day was zero.)
Time : 4.25 hours

So I spent a lot of time with a dremel, a file, and the scotchbrite wheel opening them up _Just_ _Enough_. This caused me to take stuff apart and then put it back together again. With that done I continued to work on the rigging and got it _almost_ there. At that point, I was out of time.
Time : 5.0 hours

I hate crawling into the back of the plane ... with the tail slow you are sliding downhill head-first. It sucks. So today I lifted the tail up onto my low construction table (it is -very- robust, and has a large top surface) to more closely level the plane. It was _fabulous_. With the plane in a more level pitch attitude crawling back into the fuselage was a piece of cake (or as close to a piece of cake as that tight spot is ever going to get.
Time : 1.75 hours

I also mounted my APRS transmitter on the wing. This was mounted on the tip, and initially I intended to build a shelf for it. But in the end I realized that the simpler choice was just to put a couple of platenuts in the end rib itself, and mount it there. However, I had to burn time fiddling with a shelf first before deciding on the final solution.

Through the day I also had people drop by to visit, helped one friend who was replacing a vacumn pump, and helped another aquaintance jump-start a plane with a dead battery. It was a busy (but good) day at the airport. :)
Time : 4.75 hours

I also reinstalled the boost pump from when I had to move it to pull those wires mentioned in the Nov18 entry. I also put a few more pop rivets into the spar upright cover plates. I figure that if I do a few every time I go out eventually they'll all get done and I won't have had to endure a tedious back-breaking marathon of pop-riveting. :)
Time : 4.25 hours

I also spent a little time cutting out the piece that I'll use as a filler in the back-side of the VS tip. I did another layup on that filler, and left it to cure.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I started glassing in my marker beacon antenna in the lower cowl. No ... marker beacons aren't that common any longer, but my audio panel has a MB receiver, so I figured what the heck. I'm doing the DIY stripped-coax style of antenna, so it is simple enough.

I also spent a little time getting ready for tomorrow's wing install event. Things *seem* ready to go. Tomorrow will tell that story, though. :)
Time : 2.25 hours

It took longer than expected (like that should be a surprise), but we got it done. I still need to torque the bolts, but can do that solo. In the morning I also spent time getting everything ready to go, and during a spare hour also riveted on the rudder tip.

It was an amazing day. A real milestone, and I totally appreciate all the help people gave me getting it done. The picture is a rather poor one, but all I ended up getting from the day. Chris isn't in the picture because he is driving the camera (and hates having his picture taken anyway).
Time : 5.50 hours

I spent time on a few other odds-and-ends (doing a little more fiddling with the VS tip, cleaning up from the wing-mounting-frenzy, and other small activities not worth mentioning here).
Time : 4.25 hours

I was able to get the rear spar bolts tightened and the cotter pin in without removing the flaps. It took some careful fiddling, but worked out fine. For the forward tank attach bolts I drilled a small #40 hole in the steel bracket to use as a safety-wire ancrhor point and saftey wired the bolt heads. With that done -all- the bolts on the wing have been installed and torqued/safety-wired. And, yes, I got the two-per-side AN bolts that thread into the nutplates on the spar that a number of people have overlooked.
Time : 2.5 hours

That said, today was a collection of small things ... but the results were very gratifying. I installed and wired the OAT probe. That has been sitting on a shelf for, well, years now. It is cool to now have it installed even if it is a small/trivial thing in itself. I also installed the pitot today, another item that has been waiting to see the light of day for a long time. It is a Gretz pitot, and therefore I also had to wire up the Gretz pitot control board ... but I got all that done as well. I finished the wiring of the APRS transmitter (except for the antenna, which must get glassed into the wingtip). Finally, I fabricated and installed the fuel vent lines that run from the tank to the fitting on the side of the fuselage.

Oh, and I almost forgot ... I installed the line of screws on each side of the fuselage that tie the bottom skin into the lower wing skin. I also did a small amount of glass-work on the VS tip. Hopefully it'll be cured by the time I get back out there again on Tuesday.

All in all a very productive day. It doesn't hurt that it was cloudy and rainy today which meant I didn't have a lot of visitors. I really enjoy having people stop by, but it does impact productivity. :)
Time : 5.5 hours

Except .... there wasn't enough room in the wing root for a right-angle BNC connector. Damn. The short version of the story is that I unscrewed the bulkhead BNC connector, fished it out, cut it off, and re-routed the coax. But that short version doesn't fully convey the frustration of doing this in exceedingly tight and confining circumstances. I'll leave it to your imagination, but suffice it to say that lessons learned will (hopefully) make doing the same thing on the right side at least a _smidge_ easier. I'm annoyed with myself for making assumptions that I'd have enough room in the wing roots. I had no conception of how tight that area really is.

I also fished some red plastic pitot tubing out of the fuselage and down the wing. I'm going to join it to the AL tubing coming out of my heated pitot at location of the first wing inspection panel. But that will wait for another day.
Time : 5.5 hours

This is all my fault, of course. (Isn't everything?) I had pull-strings in the conduit, but when I pulled my wires through the wings I didn't go to any effort to insure that the pull-strings stayed in place. It was a hectic time with lots of people helping me install the wings, so the pull-strings just got forgotten. Silly me.

Today after re-routing the coax down the conduit I insured that the pull-strings would stay in place. I terminated the coax in the wing root, and am shy one male BNC connector which means that I'm not *quite* completely done with all the futzing in the wing root. I hope to finish that up tomorrow if I can get a crimp-style male BNC from my local avionics shop.

I did a few other odds-and-ends as well ... tidied up the pitot install in the wing root, etc. But mostly the day was spent fiddling with the nav coax. I'm actually much happer with how things are arranged now, and wish I had done it this way from the get-go. Oh well. Live and learn.
Time : 5.0 hours

I also started to lay out the rivet holes for the HS tips, and went through a few iterations getting that the way I wanted.

Other things I wanted to do just didn't happen ... due to the Citabria consuming too much time in the morning, the Lowes aviation plumbing department not having what I needed, and the need to get home by mid afternoon for some family activities. Still, it was a good (if cold) day at the airport.
Time : 2.25 hours

I did a little glasswork trying to close in my elevator tips. The cold here has really made doing glass tough! We'll see how they cure up.

NOTE: January has not worked out like expected. I've had a number of family-activities intrude, as well as low temps keeping me out of the hangar, and a head cold. Sucks, but thats life. I also got behind on logging work so January is a best approximation based on my memory. I know I missed a few small work-sessions, too. Dang.
Time : 2.0 hours

I also spent time installing my alternate static "switch". At least it looks like a switch, but actually opens up a port when you move the toggle to the up position. This is plumbed into my static line with a quick-on tee connection. I had to fabricate a little bracket for the "switch" and am very happy with how the whole installation came out.

I also moved some glass-work over to the bench, added some micro, and set the parts under some halogen lamps to see if that can beat the cold. We'll see how that works out (Note: I came back the next day and the parts had -cured-. It was beautiful!)
Time : 4.25 hours

UPDATE: I didn't like how they came out ... AT ALL. Yuck. So I'm starting over by sanding them off, getting color shot -again-, and then getting SteinAir to do the labels. I'll be much happier with the end result. Just saying.
Time : 1.0 hours

I started by doing something I could do with my Gore-Tex gloves on. I sanded on some micro I had applied to the inlet ramps on my top cowl. Even with gloves it was slow going because I had to stop periodically to warm my fingers. *brrr*

I also spent some time working on the lower HS fairings. These are small strips of AL which are screwed into place under the HS. This entails drilling out some rivets from my QB fuselage. WHY didn't I do this BEFORE installing the HS? I've got one side about done though. I also spent some time drilling the screw holes to size in the fairings, dimpling the holes, and dressing the edges.

In the middle of all that I spent some time with a builder-friend having him inspect and give comments on my work. I also helped another friend with a small metal-working task that he didn't have the tools/experience to do himself. I had George and his son using the shop and tools to work on a small project. I also gave a friend an airplane ride.

Sometimes the hangar gets busy. Go figure. :)
Time : 4.5 hours

I could move the fitting up a bit, and that would resolve the problem. But as I was investigating options I revisited the "coiled wing root vent line" possibility used by all the Rocket guys (and quite a few RV-ers too). I decided to at least explore the possibility by seeing how easily I could craft and fit coiled wing root vent lines last night.

They worked out -great-. I want/need to get some plastic tubing to serve as a combination anti-chafe material and spacers. The idea is to slide a few short pieces of 1/4"ID plastic tubing onto the the AL tubing such that from coil to coil they line up together. Then use a zip-tie to pull them together. This will keep the vent line from behaving too much like a spring, and will keep the coils from chafing together.

I also spent a little more time working on the lower HS fairing holes in that I started get some of them tapped. I also changed some bolt orientations on the tailwheel spring attach points to better guard against totally losing tailwheel steering if a nut comes off.

We also had an intersting visitor last night. An Apache Longbow helocopter had a small incident (slight overspeed, which mandated a grounding and inspection) which left it parked on our ramp for the night. A service tech was detailed to "babysit" it all night and we spent some time extending some club hospitality to him, and he spent some time showing us his aircraft and answering questions. Very cool.
Time : 3.0 hours

Once that was done I headed down to my hangar and started working on finishing up my fuel tank vent line fabrication. Mainly I wanted to secure the loops of tubing so that they would not act so much like a spring. To do that I cut pieces of 1/4" ID vinyl tubing to slide over the AL tubing. I arranged the pieces so that from coil to coil they were coincident with one set of pieces at the top of the coil and another set at the bottom. I pulled them together with zip-ties which caused the AL tubing to be much more rigid, but still spaced so the coils weren't touching. I did -not- trim the outflow end, wanting to wait until I had a hole in the lower side of the wing gap fairing to use as a guide. I hope to get that done this weekend.

I also spent some time finishing the drilling out of rivets for my HS lower fairing. Why .. oh why .. didn't I do this before I put the HS on?? I just wasn't thinking far enough ahead. But I got it finished with very little drama.

I also burned some time with a few visitors from the flying club who wanted to see the RV. There are always many questions to be answered when folks come to visit. And, while it does cost me some time, I like giving folks an opportunity to see what the insanity is all about.
Time : 1.5 hours

I also made more progress on the HS lower fairings. This is going to be one of those deals where I look, mark with sharpie, make a small adjustment with a file, and iterate. But in the end it'll get done. :)
Time : 3.5 hours

It used to be the case I'd walk upstairs from the garage, make a quick entry, and be done with it. Being at the airport that is harder to do. But I have a new plan for how to avoid these logging-lapses, and we'll see how that works. :)

I spent time today working on getting both HS lower gap fairings fitted and installed. They are done, and it is looking good. I am going the route of _not_ installing the rubber (and option given in the plans). If I don't like it I can always change it.
Time : 3.0 hours

In the middle of all this I also spent time getting the final trimming done on the wing root fairings. I did it slowly using the Scotchbrite wheel to essentially abrade away the metal. Rough on the wheel, but it let me fine tune the trimming work.
Time : 2.0 hours

Today I got a lot done. I finished my fuel sender hookup and installed my wing root gap seals. This also included doing the final installation of my coiled-tube vent line in the wing root. It all turned out quite nicely.

In the afternoon I installed the aileron pushrods to the bell cranks in the middle of the wing. Those rod-end bearings had become VERY stiff so I used a little LPS to lube them up and an AN bolt to wiggle them around until they moved smoothly again. I started to fabricate a control stick rigging fixture, but was delayed because I had left my torpedo level at home.

So, instead, I started trimming my wingtip lenses. They sure are smelly to cut with a cut-off wheel. But they are going to fit up nicely.
Time : 4.5 hours

After that I spent a little more time fitting the left wingtip lens. It is coming along nicely, but I finally got tired of sanding and decided to give it a break. Anything other than hand sanding is rather messy, and the final fit has to be with hand-sanding anyway .. so I hope to get that completed over the next work session (or two, if need be). I think the second lens will go faster now that I have the technique to get the fit right figured out.
Time : 1.5 hours

I also did some more fitting of the empenage fairing based on some input from another experienced builder. What started as a slightly messy fit is getting better with some judicious trimming. I have a bit more to go on the trimming, then it will be time to do a few layups to get the fit perfect.
Time : 3.5 hours

I did get a little work done on the HS and elevator tips (still working to get that shape right), and did a bit more trimming on the empenage fairing. It is coming into shape VERY nicely now.

However, I'll not burn another day on non-RV-building activitis again. We are getting into warmer weather, and longer days, so I hope that helps make things easier at the shop. No more rainy, freezing, dark evenings at the airport .. I hope!
Time : 1.5 hours

Tonight I was close to being ready to install the HS and elevator tips, but decided they needed a _little_ more filler. This was after a ton of sanding, and shaping, and testing, and sanding, and sanding, and shaping, and .... you get the idea. I also got my left wingtip lens within a hair of being ready to install. However, I decided to leave that last 1/64th of an inch of trimming to when I was more rested.

All in all, it was a great night to be at the airport working on the plane.
Time : 3.0 hours

That said, the panel is back in the plane, all switches are reinstalled, all mounting screws are in place, and the EFIS, autopilot, and Gemini PFD are installed. At this point only the EFIS is connected to the ship, as I want to bring everything up very slowly to insure I let no magic smoke out. But the EFIS powered up fine, so I'm off to a good start. I'll finish installing everything else tomorrow.
Time : 6.25 hours

I did run into a few problems. The SL-30 will not power up off of the VP-X, but will power up off of my "Backup Pwr" switch (I only have 2 items on that switch, the SL-30 and the Gemini PFD). I'll need to troubleshoot that this week. Also, a quick transmission check on the #1 com (GNS-430) seemed to result in no sidetone, and nobody coming back with a confirmation that I transmitted. I do hear myself via the intercom so my headset connection is good. More troubleshooting and function comfirmation to be done there too.

All in all, things are coming together well though!
Time : 4.25 hours

After a bit of taking stuff apart and checking wire continuity, I discovered that somehow the pin in the VP-X connector shell was not seated well. After re-seating it and reconnecting the world it came up fine. Now all the avionics on the panel power up as expected!
Time : 2.5 hours

I finished work on the avionics cooling fan. Unfortunately the cooling port for the transponder was partially occluded by a part of my subpanel, so I had to lay on my back under the panel with a dremel tool to open it up. It worked out, but man that is about as fun as a root canal.

I also spent a little time doing the final fitting of the lense on one wingtip, and drilled for the screw holes. I need to open up the face where the landing light will be installed, but ran out of time as I had family plans tonight.

On a fantastic note, a fellow EAA-1114 chapter member, Jim Dukeman, flew his restored PA-12 for the first time today! I was fortunate enough to be at the airport to see his departure, and his return. It was a very successful first flight putting 1.6 hours of break-in time on his new engine. Way to go, Jim!!
Time : 4.5 hours

I went out with a plan to get my landing lights installed. I finished trimming my mounting plates, finished opening up the faces where the plates get mounted, drilled holes in the mounting plate, installed nutplates in the wingtip, and cut holes for the light screws and 2" hole for the opening. Wow, that was a lot of fitting and measuring and cutting and fiddling. I also mounted the nutplates on the MR-16 mounting bracket. The most fiddly part of the whole exercise was getting the screw spacers with their little offset/angle cut onto the back of them.

The light kit came with some nylon spacers which needed to be beveled, but that was going to be tedious as all hell. So I took some AL bushing material, figured out the angle to which I needed to cut the bevel, and set up a fence on my disk sander. I left the bushing material long and fed it into the sander to cut the angle. Then using a fence on the bandsaw I cut the beveled end off. This gave me a 100% consistent angle, a 100% consistent length, and allowed me to mostly work with material that wasn't too short to manage. The last step was to clean up the saw cut and I did that holding the short little piece with a hemostat against the Scotchbrite wheel. I'm VERY pleased with my little AL spacers, too!

All in all it went pretty well. See the pix for the results. I'll have to dismount it all one more time so I can polish the mounting plate, but that can come later.
Time : 5.25 hours

But, I also got reminded that heat might do the trick. It seemed like the mis-fit was too large for a little heat to fix, and that my hobby-grade heat gun might not be hot enough anyway. But with nothing to lose I thought I'd give it a try.

I taped the fairing down in the places where it fit well, and heated the "problem spot". With my leather work gloves on I started to press and smooth it into place after I got the whole area nice and hot.

To my deep surprise and pleasure, I found I _could_ get the glass to move and reshape itself! With a little work I got it to fit up VERY well. It isn't perfect, but the imprefections look very easy to work with. I marked the current edge of the existing glass on my HS, and then put down packing tape for some layups. I got everything ready to go ... then realized that I needed to head home so I wasn't late got the Easter dinner festivities. But I'm feeling really really good about how this is playing out. I'm going to end up with a very nice fit on my empennage fairing, I believe.
Time : 3.0 hours

After a lot of fiddling, sanding, and fitting, I came to two conclusions. One early conclusion was that to get the rudder bottom on I'd have to remove the rudder from the VS. Dang it. After that fitting went well but in the end I needed to remove some of the bottom/forward portion of the glass to clear the tailwheel spring.

Using my belt sander I quickly cut a bevel into the face of the rudder bottom and got the angle I wanted. After that I put some glass strips in place (from the inside) to fill in the hole, and will round it out with some SuperFil later.
Time : 5.0 hours

I spent time yesterday doing some more glass-work on the empennage fairing. This glass stuff sure is a slow iterative process. But I added a number of glass strips to build up areas that needed more material. All the work so far has been on the HS portion of the fairing, as it needed the most attention and would set the reference for doing the VS. I think the VS will go much faster given it is already so close to an ideal fit.

I also spent time showing someone the club. They have been working on their private ticket, and have had some frustrations with where they are training right now. I think the club might be just the environment they need to put those frustrations behind them.
Time : 2.5 hours

I also did some final fitting of the rudder bottom and got it drilled to the rudder. I also moved the exit hole for the tail light because where I originally had it was simply too low, and would not transition into the rudder bottom nicely at all. Annoying, but there you have it.

I also did a little trial fitting of the wingtips, and it is clear that before I can drill I -have- to do some trimming to clear the outboard aileron brackets. I didn't quite get to that today, but maybe tomorrow night will be the time to get that done.
Time : 5.5 hours

I also spent a bit of time sanding on the empennage fairing. I'm closing in on the shape I want for the horizontal portion of the fairing, and now need to work on tweaking the vertical portion a bit. I think it will go a bit faster because it needs quite a bit less work.
Time : 2.0 hours

I also installed the rudder bottom after sanding the micro to my satisfaction. It went on well enough, but a few of the pop-rivets looked less-than-lovely. So I adjusted them (read, sanded them down a bit so they didn't sit so proud) and added some SuperFil to clean them up. Once I sand that down nice and smooth and shoot some more primer I'll be ready to reinstall the rudder (maybe for the last time ... maybe ... well, one can hope).

Finally, I finished trimming the left wing tip and got it drilled to the end of the left wing. Now both tips are clecoed in place and it is looking very very good. Next, I need to install the ClickBond platenuts, final drill the wingtip attach holes, and dimple the wing skins where the tips attach.

Oh, and I started reinstalling my ailerons. I got the right one mostly back on, with only the pushrod left to attach. It'll be good to get all of my control surfaces back on the plane! It looks weird with them off.
Time : 4.0 hours

One other incidental thing checked tonight was the elevator trim. It works, but on the way home I realized I needed to confirm that it was operating in the correct direction. I _think_ it is, but I need to double-check. :)
Time : 2.5 hours

I also spent time getting the center-tunnel cover panel installed. Given how I was running the prop/mixture controls, I decided to separate the cabin heat deflector from the center tunnel cover. This made it MUCH easier to install both of them, and will make opening up the tunnel less of a hassle in the future.

I also had to trim the tunnel cover to accomodate how I had wiring exit from the tunnel and head up to the area behind the panel. I've now got pictures of that area so I can finally order my carpet since I can finally let them know what changes might be needed to the stock-standard carpet shape.
Time : 5.0 hours

I also spent time in the cabin, finishing up all the behind-the-panel work. Mainly I got the pitot/static lines connected to the Gemini PFD, but did a little other clean-up as well.
Time : 5.0 hours

I also spent time trimming down my passenger-side stick. I had already done one trim on the sticks, but didn't get them short enough for the CH Products grips to clear the panel. Dang it. So I had to completely disassemble the stick, pulling out the pins from the DB connector, and pulling the wiring. Aside from the uninstall/reinstall dance, the rest of the trimming went remarkably well. I'm pleased. Now I just need to do the pilot side.
Time : 3.0 hours

I also took a little time and cut down the pilot-side stick. I had disassembled it from the plane earlier and it just needed to be trimmed. That went -exceptionally- well.

I'd have done more tonight, but George talked me into going flying a bit. :)
Time : 2.5 hours

Anyway .... I spent time working on the wingtips. I got the NAV/Strobe lights installed, finished the installation of the NAV antenna, installed the APRS J-pole antenna, and glassed up a little "doghouse" for the APRS GPS to live in. That will get glassed into the wingtip tomorrow.

I also installed my ClickBond nutplates. It is an interesting system. I hope the bond is good, and this ends up not being an expensive disaster!
Time : 5.5 hours

Along the way I checked the operation of the NAV lights, strobes, and the landing lights. Everything worked as expected. I also confirmed that the APRS transmitter was getting power too.

The tips are on the plane right now, but with only a few screws. I didn't want to put ALL the screws in until I was sure I was done fiddling inside the wingtips. This is good ... because I realized I had not put the APRS GPS antenna in place before installing the tip. That one will have to come off again to rectify that oversight.

All in all it was a very good, very productive, but very long day.

Oh ... one more thing. I did get my pilot-side stick reassembled. It is ready to get reinstalled now.
Time : 10.0 hours

I'm not reconnecting the pins the way I did .. but am waiting for some DB connectors I ordered. The next time this stick has to come it it won't be -quite- as much a production.
Time : 1.5 hours

I needed to figure a way to get water boiling there at the engine ... so I took a small stainless steel dog bowl, filled it with water, set it on the handle of a steel cart I have, and used quick-clamps to clamp a propane torch under the bowl. It was a seriously Rube Goldberg setup, but worked like a charm (that is to say, I didn't burn the hangar down). The CHT and EGT probes read 208 and 206 degrees, respectively. That is plenty close enough for me.

I also drained the preservative oil from the engine and poured in fresh new oil. I also then removed the oil pressure line from the transducer and added an extension which then terminated in a random Gatoraide bottle. I pulled the bottom plugs, reattached the starter cable, and cranked.

It took a couple of 10-second rounds of cranking ... but on the third attempt I saw oil coming out the line. By the time I stopped I probably pumped a half-pint into the bottle. Then getting the extension line and union fittings removed was a very messy exercise. More oil was spread around as I tightened the oil line back onto the manifold leading to the transducer. BUT, I clearly have oil being pumped through the engine. Woo hoo! A small, but critical, milestone. :)
Time : 3.0 hours

I also bled the brakes, which of course resulted in me discovering all the fittings that were not QUITE tight enough. *sigh* It wasn't a huge mess, but it was a mess. I got them all tightened up (I hope) and both sides now feel firm. I'll be watching for weeping over the next few days, however.

I also did a little sanding on the empennage fairing. I think I'm going to spend the rest of my life messing with that fairing! (Honestlly, I really think it is close now ... no ... really ... I do.)
Time : 6.5 hours

I also started working on installing the flaps. I got to the point where I felt I needed to open up my flap connecting rod hole a bit more, and wasn't up for getting AL shavings in my face tonight. So I left that for later.

I did have a few brake line fittins with minor leaks still, so I went around and put a wrench back on those fittings. It was only a drip or two over the span of a few days, but I wanted them totally tight.
Time : 3.0 hours

I finished installing the flaps, opening up the actuator rod holes a bit on both sides. I also flow-checked the fuel system, and ended up with two leaking fittings. One in the cabin .. and one where I had only hand-tightened the fitting on the right tank. Doh! Thankfully I had not re-installed the wing root fairing so that was easily fixed.

Based on a set of suggestions given me by Don Rivera I walked through a number of checks. Running fuel first into a bucket right off of the firewall so I could confirm the boost pump was working and picking up fuel. I then reinstalled that line, and pressurized the system. I got the expected numbers both at full throttle and idle. I then pulled the distribution lines off of the injectors and confirmed that I could get fuel out the lines. All in all (aside from making yet-another-100LL puddle) it went well.
Time : 4.0 hours

Also, just 'cause it looked so pretty I took a picture of the seat cushion installed with the lap belts in place. :)
Time : 4.75 hours

He found _no_ deal-breaker issues, but of course found a number of small things that he thought should be addressed. The bulk of these were in the category of items that would be fine for the first 100 hours, then would cause me a hassle. Getting an experienced set of eyeballs on the installation was well worth the time and money.
Time : 3.5 hours

I had Don Rivera from API visit in the morning and take a look at the installation. He saw no issues. Then the family came out, as well as a number of friends. Some folks I've not seen in a while came out. I had quite the audience ... which is a pity, because there was absolutely no excitement. The engine would not start.

We checked everything (well, obviously not really), but were stumped. I sent everyone home and we move into a troubleshooting phase of the whole game. I'll leave you in suspense on this entry (a cliffhanger, as it were) and give you the answer to the puzzle in the entry for the day I found the problem. (Yes, I did find the problem.)
Time : 5.0 hours

I ended up with other people more frustrated than me, it seems. I had theories being slung around and then debunked. By the time it was all said and done I had a grand total of five A&Ps trying to help puzzle out the problem. I had one of those A&Ps hear about the issue from a friend of mine and he called me up out of the blue to offer assistance.

The upside of all this? Man, do I have support and friends. Someone was going to get this engine running for me if they had to rebuild it from scratch to do so.

I kept being told all it needs is fuel, air, and fire ... and it'll run. If something is wrong it won't run well, but it'll run. All it seemed to do well was flood, though. I checked the ignition (fire), and it was totally fine. I had others check it too. No problem. I had fuel. In fact, I had fuel puddling in the plugs and running out the exhaust. I _had_ fuel, more than I could use it seems. I _knew_ .. just _knew_ I had air, because we are at the bottom of an ocean of air. So how could it not have air?

Notice, I didn't check air. I just assumed it ... and this is someting I _know_ should have been a red flag. Assumptions should never be made. Are you getting a hint as to what the problem was?

To drag this story out a little more ... let me give a bit of background. I built this engine down at Superior. I installed the fuel controller there and they ran it in their test cell. Then they boxed it up for shipping, and in doing so removed the fuel controller. They installed shipping plugs and sent it on its way.

The API fuel controller attaches with an adapter plate which is about 1/4 inch thick. When Superior installed the sump shipping plug it didn't fit on the opening of the adapter plate, but installed on the sump itself. This had the plug recessed about a 1/4 into the assembly, and when I bolted the fuel controller on the engine I didn't have the interference you'd normally get if you had left a plug in.

Yes ... we were trying to crank with the plug in place. It did NOT have air. The fact that a few cylinders still fired under that condition is an indication of how much these engines WANT to run.

And run it did. The idle needs work, but giving it a little throttle had it singing beautifully. I shut it down as the CHTs started to creep up, as I didn't want to glaze the cylinders. But it has had two short ground runs now and that'll be enough for the time being. *whew* What an ordeal. But it is behind me now.
Time : 3.0 hours

What I did get done was pulling the top forward skin (which had just been clecoed on for the engine runs) so I could start the work I wanted to do on it. I want to install inspection panels, and needed it off for that. I've match drilled it to a sheet of plywood to use as a jig. I'll continue the work on this tomorrow.

I also spent a little time doing a little more work on the empennage fairing. Of course. :) There were just a few spots that needed more filling and so I mixed up some wet micro and slathered it on those locations. I hope tomorrow's sanding reveals nothing but beautifully smooth surfaces. But if not, I'll just keep at this until I'm happy.
Time : 3.0 hours

I also spent time working off a few more squwaks that Tom came up with during the pre-first-engine-start inspection. Mainly tidying up the plug wires. This took a bit of fiddling, and working my hands into tight spots, but it looks MUCH better. I'd long known I needed to get that done and just had to muster up the energy to do it. One key modification was to drill out a hole on the back baffle (left side, bottom rear corner) so I could attach a piece of angle which would let me hang an Adel. This now has both the plug and EGT/CHT sensor wires nicely supported off the back of the baffles.

I also re-worked the safety wire on the prop. I had used .032, and really needed .041 instead. What a nasty job. But I got it done. *whew* That has been on my punchlist for .. well .. a long time.

Tomorrow I fly out to Oregon for transition training with Mike Seager. I'm psyched. I'm also visiting Advanced Flight Systems to address a problem I have had with my EFIS, and will stop in at Van's to pay a $1.90 invoice. Yes, I bought $1.90 worth of stuff, including postage. Don't ask. :)
Time : 4.5 hours

The big thing was cutting the inspection holes in the top skin. So, yes, I decided to go for it. The driving force behind the decision was looking at how big a pain it would be to rivet the skin WITHOUT that access. So I carefully laid out the holes, and cut. And trimmed. And filed. It took forever (and then some). But they came out very very nice.
Time : 7.5 hours

After a LOT of fiddling, we got a new route figured out. This entailed taking off about a half-dozen adel clamps, re-routing the starter wire (and I like the new route a lot better, actually), and reinstalling everything. We looked at about a dozen different routes/orientations for the breather (you would not think there would be that many options), and finally settled on one that was fairly direct, and ended up with the breather exit almost right over the left exhaust. But, man, it took a long time to get the work done.
Time : 4.25 hours

I also reinstalled the rudder for what I hope is the last time. We'll see if that holds true. :) Theresa came out to visit, too, and one of the things we did was stick the N-number on the plane. These are just temporary to keep me legal until I get her painted, but for now the do the job nicely.
Time : 5.75 hours

I also spent a little time trying to figure out how I wanted to secure the upper cowl pins. In the end, I didn't like any of the ideas I had coming into the work sesion. However, right at the end of the evening I had another thought which I will need to explore.
Time : 3.5 hours

Riveting went great, if slowly. This is a tedious bit of skin to get riveted since a good bit of it has to be done while laying on my back under the panel. We actually were able to do a lot more _before_ being forced to lay under the panel than I had thought we might be able to do. So that was good. But it was still a lot of slow pain-staking work.

But its DONE! Thanks, Theresa!
Time : 6.0 hours

But I put the cowl on, and put the wing tips on, and put the empennage fairing on, and got the canopy re-installed ... and by golly, it looks like an airplane. In fact, this is the "most put together" the plane has ever been, to date.
Time : 2.0 hours

How did we fare? Great! Yes, there are squawks but I'm guessing about 75% of them could be worked off in a single evening work session. Only one item was a real airworthiness issue (the aileron rigging was slightly off).

We also spent time working on the engine idle. I had asked Tom to help me get the idle and mixture set right, so we pulled the plane out and fired it up. Once the oil was at least a bit warmed up Tom started making adjustments.

When we started, it wouldn't idle worth crap. It was missing, and surging, and just misbehaving badly. In short order Tom got it to start behaving better, and by the time we were done we had been able to get it to idle smoothly down as low as 550 RPM. It didn't exhibit that classic I/O-360 rough idle behavior, and Tom commented that it was a particularly smooth idling engine. You might remember that I built the engine, and the fuel injection system, so I am singularly pleased at this turn of events. :) We finally set the idle for 650 RPM, and left the mixture a -tad- rich for the break-in period.

The engine ran idling for about 15 minutes, so I had time while Tom worked to fiddle with the avionics more. This was the first opportunity to check things out with the engine running when I wasn't focused completely on just making the engine run. I made a point to see that the MP was behaving in a manner that seemed reasonable, that the ammeter seemed to be registering something useful (i.e. I flipped the landing lights on, then off, and watched the current draw change appropriately), and other items like that. So far .. so good.

I came to realize that tonight is the first time that this beast has felt like a "plane" to me rather than a "project". It is a subtle change, but meaningful to me. In the picture above the plane is more put together than it has ever been before. Wow, it sure looks real.
Time : 2.0 hours

Preparation took the morning, and around 3:30 Wally came out to help with the actual weighing. The ramps I cut down for Tom's scales worked fabulously. We horsed the plane up onto the scales, lifted the tail onto the cinder blocks I had placed on my robust rolling table (they were darn near exactly the height needed for the tail .. requiring only a small plywood shim to get us within 0.1 degree of level), and then we put a LITTLE air in the right tire to get it within 0.1 degree of level side-to-side. It all sounds so simple writing it down, but it sure seemed like a big job at the time.

The first round of weighing was tossed out because we realized I had left the canopy open, and a level laying on the plane. Doh! Fortunately we realized our error before taking the plane off the scales. After fixing our mistakes, the results were :

• Right Main : 518 lbs
• Left Main : 509 lbs
• Tailwheel : 71 lbs

This resulted in an overall weight of 1098, and a cg of 80.14. This is well within results seen by others, and I'm utterly pleased with the results. :) Time to call the DAR. Sadly, I was so exhausted by the time we were done with this (it was a hot, humid, day) that I neglected to take a picture. Dang.
Time : 6.5 hours

Now I just have to reassemble the plane, take care of a few items I had left on my "todo" list (things deferred because they weren't really necessary for AW cert issuance), and then get the first flight in. I am close to the end of the "Completion" section ... and think that the first flight will do it. I have a bit of work to do to get to that milestone, but hope to be there very soon.

Speaking of first flight, here is a quick view of my flight test area.

I also started re-installing panels. I don't see how A&Ps survived before the age of the electric screwdriver.

As a note, I'm no longer logging hours. I figure that the hour counting ends as of the AW certificate. I'm "done" with the build. Everything else from here on is just maintainence and modification.

The local MX shop once again gave me a dollop of proseal (thanks Ken!) and I went to work with the black death. I gooped the panel, gooped the tank, gooped the end of the screws, and put it all back together. Now I wait to see if it actually holds fuel.

I also poured fuel into the re-sealed left tank. So far so good.

But, good grief, it took a lot of work. Mainly because I had to route wires. And, luck would have it, the wire-routing was almost a worst case scenario. I had to route one wire from my VP-X Pro box to the other side of the cockpit. I had to route another wire from the hot side of the master contactor to inside the cabin. Because it is an always-hot wire I had to fuse it near the origination of the wire. This meant I had to go get an inline fuse holder and wire it in. I had to rewire my old backup power setup into the new backup battery connector. I had to do the mechanical mounting of the battery to the location where I wanted it in the cabin. And, along the way, I found an error in the wiring I got from SteinAir (a -rare- find .. I wonder if I win a prize) and had to swap a pair of stubborn pins on a DB connector.

To top it off, it was a warm day ... not TOO hot ... but humid as all hell. I was sweating buckets. At one point I was glad I had to run to Lowes and AutoZone because I _needed_ some time in air conditioning. I was feeling like I was ready to barf. But that break got me back going again.

The net result? I powered everything back up and the EFIS came up as expected. Then .... I turned off the master, and the EFIS _stayed_ up. Not a hitch. Not a blink. After a few seconds it informed me that it was shutting down in 27 seconds unless I pushed a button. This was a clear indication that it was running off of backup power. I let it auto-shutdown and then went over to flip my "backup" switch. My SL-30 and backup PFD came up as I had hoped they would. After 12 hours of work, with a good 9 of those hours being the backup battery install, it worked as desired/expected.

I also got the left wing root fairing re-installed, and brought both tanks up to 10 gallons a side. After a little more "disting and cleaning" I may well be ready to fly. We'll see what tomorrow brings.