Maintenance items...

With 48.5 hours now on the plane I've been doing little maintenance related items here and there. I have installed the nosewheel pant. I replaced a fitting coming off the #3 cylinder that feeds the MP sensor with a restrictor fitting one to see if that settles my MP readings down. I made up a new set of foam for a set of passenger seats. (Sandi's seat cushions are custom for her..)

A 2nd oil change at 40.3 hours.... tweaking of the intake system.... we are really enjoying the flying...

Wing root seal & nosewheel pant

During my builders inspection, Ray pointed out that I installed the rubber wing root seal incorrectly. I had trouble getting it on the first time and trimmed off the flange of the seal so it would fit. Ray pointed out that the flange was supposed to push up against the fuse and even curve up so that any water that ran down would fall into the seal and drain off. I ordered some replacement, removed the aluminum gap fairings and trimmed them so that there was 1/4" between the fairing and fuse, then installed the new seal. Much better!

I also started working on the nosewheel pant. I ordered a new wheel pant kit and it came with a new style of mounting bracket. I called Van's and asked for a new drawing since the one I had was for the old style. I trimmed the bracket per the plans and then started enlarging the hole for the wheel. I'm stalled because I'm not sure exactly how to get the bracket mounted to the wheel pant in the correct position. The wheel pant won't slide over the brackets that I can tell, which means you have to mount the bracket to the pant first. Going to call Van's on Monday and see what they say. I also need to do some fiberglass layups on the nose cap to thicken it up some to match the cutout in the aft pant.

The weather has been really crappy here in the midwest so no flying at all and this whole week doesn't look good either. Hopefully this weekend will clear up enough that I can finish my 40 hours.

(Time: 4 hrs)

Post First Flight Squawks

First flight brought out a couple of issues. My passenger PTT button was stuck on. I had just wired it the day before and hadn't tested in until I went to fly. Turns out I had a wire soldered on the wrong terminal of the button.

My transponder didn't seem to be working but last night it was working fine. I'm not sure if I just couldn't see the lights on or what. I'll keep an eye on it.

I shortened the scat tube that holds the FAB to the inlet ring as it was too long.

The mixture problem was still lingering, so I pulled the carb off last week and sent it back for inspection. It is due back today. I'll get it back on tonight.

Hope to be back in the air on Saturday!

(Time: 2 hrs)

Cowl hinge and oil filler tube

I was having trouble getting one of my hinge pins to go all the way in on the top, so I replaced the half on the firewall. I also removed the extension from the oil filler tube and trimmed the dipstick accordingly and put on new marks.

I sat in the plane for a few minutes just fiddling with things, getting the feel of the cockpit. I also went through all of the limit settings in the EIS and made appropriate changes.

I have the new inlet nozzle to install on the carb box which I'll do tonight and I'll probably do a little cleaning on the plane to remove some primer over-spray.


(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Inspection squawks

For a point of reference, the following were the 'issues' found during my FAA inspection.

- Perform static system check
- Perform fuel flow check on right fuel tank
- Lable fuel selector valve with left/right.
- Place OFF labels on switches
- Label throttle/mixture cables
- Placard the elevator trim knob.
- Label all dimmer knobs.
- Label low-level fuel system
- Label fuel tanks with quantity.
- Tighten loose jam nuts.
- Install cotter pin on manual elevator trim connection at trim tab.
- Secure autopilot wires in tail cone and in right wing.
- Label brake fluid resevoir with type of fluid used.
- Place rubber boot on starter cablle wire/contactor
- Secure the scat tubing in engine compartment.
- Adjust the throttle travel so it reachs forward limit.
- Label the accessory power outlet on fuel selector cover.
- Relieve the elevator tips of some material to provide more clearance.
- Drill drain holes in rudder bottom and fuselage as necessary. Inspect
wings, flaps, ailerons for drainage places.

I've corrected all of these items.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Reassembly

After inspection and 4 days in San Diego, I started putting all the covers and such back on the plane. I also worked on fixing the 'squawks' found during inspection.

I had not installed the top cowl since putting in the oil door and as expected, the latch his hitting on the top of the oil dipstick, so I'll have to remove the tube extension and trim the dipstick down. I also have a replacement carb heat inlet to install.

I'm not sure when first flight will take place... I'll be traveling on the next two weekends and the winds have been above my limit. There may be an opening this week.

Mike Schipper did first flight on his RV-9A this past weekend. Congrats!


(Time: 8 hrs)

Airworthy!

It is official... it is an airplane! Airworthiness received on Jan. 24th, 2006. I have a small list of items to correct and then I am released to fly off my 40-hour Phase I testing.

I have a heavy travel schedule the next 3 weeks that are going to prevent me from doing any flying unless I take some time off of work. Stay tuned for first flight info. Possible first flight in a week, or in mid-February.

Baffles / oil door

I tied the front and back baffles together with some safety wire/pop rivets. I didn't get any steel rod in my baffle kit.

I also did a fiberglass layup for a new oil door. The one I cut out of the cowl didn't come out great.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Wing spar bolts

I put in the real wing spar bolts. 4 hours, blood and lots of cussing. Nuff said.

(Time: 4 long hrs)

Cowl, low level sensor, inspection date

Good news first.. my inspection date is set! Next week. Bad news.. I have to go out of town for 4 days right after inspection.

More bad news.. after spending an hour or more on the phone with Rich Meske (while laying upside down in the airplane) trying to troubleshoot my low-level fuel sensor, it still isn't working and he's not sure what is wrong. I'm going to pull the box out and send to him. Hopefully it is the box because if the sensors are bad it will be awhile before I go to the trouble of pulling off the access covers to replace them.

I pulled the cowl halves apart after pouring up a mixture to trap the inlet rings. I poured some epoxy/balloon mix around the rings to get a nice surface on the front edge.

The bowl on the carb for the accelerator pump was leaking a bit, so I pulled that off and cleaned up everything and put it back together. Hopefully that will stop the leak, if not I'll have to use Loctite 515 to fix it.

I dropped the data plate off to get engraved, my 3" N numbers have arrived along with some stickers for the fuel tanks. I have some 3" tubing on order to hook up the filtered air box and James Aircraft is sending me a new warm air feed tube to fix an issue on the first version.

(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Cowl and landing lights

I needed to reinforce the fuel tank connection to the spar at the outboard end to give a couple friends some piece of mind. The only good way of accessing this area meant I needed to make the cut-outs for the landing lights, which would give me good access.

So I made the cutouts for the landing lights and then installed a z-bracket that attached the outboard rib to the spare in the same manner as the rest of the tank. So Bill and Ray can now sleep better at night. :-)

Sandi spent the afternoon installing the interior pieces, afterwards, we sat it in and made airplane noises together. :-)



I worked on installing the aluminum intake rings on the cowl and installed some nutplates around the prop opening. The last thing I need to do is make up an oil door and install it.

I also spent the last 30 minutes cleaning up..

(Time: 8 hrs)

(Pulled the plane out just before sunset and ran it for 4 or 5 minutes and worked on adjusting the mixture.)

Baffles, flight controls, fuel tank

I riveted together all my baffle pieces and sprayed them with some high-temp black paint. Installed the mag wire grommets and screwed on the plenum. I need to install some threaded rod on the curved portions of the cylinder baffles to hold them against the cylinders and I'll be done with baffles!

After removing all the covers on the interior, I went ahead and adjust the flap push rods so the flaps came all the way up. I had some rubbing on the right elevator, so I removed it to figure out what was rubbing. I have my rod-end bearings out to 7/8", which is max they can be and the nose skin of the elevator was rubbing on the rear HS spar. So I 'massaged' the nose skin some, pushing it back away from the spar. The left elevator had the same problem but I was able to fix it withough removing the elevator.

I wanted to get the rigging right on the ailerons as well, so I fussed with those some and then put on all the nuts to secure everything. I also wired up the pilot PTT button.

When I put gas in the plane a couple weeks ago, I noticed the 8gals wasn't registering on the gauges. At first I just thought there wasn't enough gas to register but after more thought, I knew there had to be a problem. After thinking about it a bit, I realized that I didn't have a fuse for the fuel tank gauges... which lead to the discovery that I didn't run any power to the gauges! Doh! So I crawled in and ran a power wire.

With my gauges now working, I filled up the right wing tank as full as I could get it. 27 gallons! I siphoned off 10 gallons and put it in the left wing along with 3 more gallons. I bought unmarked fuel gauges since I have the extra fuel capacity. At the full mark, it is 18gals and above. I think 3/4 mark was 15 gallons, 1/2 mark was 11 gallons, 1/4 mark was 5 gallons and empty was 1 gallon.

The bad news is that my AE Fuel Guardian Low Level fuel sensor isn't working.. it is showing low tanks even when full. I need to check wiring.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Weight and balance

1061 lbs, 77.34 Empty CG

Our local IA and tech counselor brought over some real aircraft scales... big jobs.. they weigh King Airs on them. Took about 10 minutes to setup. No rocket science to this.. just level the plane and read the scales. Nosewheel = 264, Left main = 401, Right main = 396. Total weight = 1061. I measured the arm of the mains at 91.5" and the nose at 34.25".

The empty CG is actually out of range but as soon as you stick a person in the plane, it is in range as long as they weigh 50lbs or more. :-) No problems there! The airplane is nose heavy for some reason.

With this nose heavy setup, it is REAL hard to get the CG out of limits and takes some pretty scary numbers to do it.

Myself + full fuel (54 gallons) = 78.94 = In Range. That is as far forward as I can get unless I start shedding pounds.

Myself + 250lb pass + 137lbs bags + 10 gallons of gas puts me right at aft limit of 84.84 CG. That won't happen.

My 'most typical' setup of myself, Sandi and 50lbs of bags and 36gals of gas puts it at 81.7.

My 'most extreme heavy load' of myself, sandi, full fuel (54gals) and 125lbs of baggage puts us at 83.05" CG... still well within limits.

My 'most extreme heavy load after running tanks dry' of myself, sandi, light fuel (10 gals) and 125lbs of baggage puts us at 84.11" CG... within limits.


I asked Van's about the out of CG empty and the response was "In the air is what counts."
(Time: 1 hrs)

Preparing for W&B

Trying to get ready to weigh the plane. I'm a little behind where I wanted to be so I worked until 12:30am trying to get caught up some. While I was working in the shop, Sandi was working on the interior pieces in the FBO office.

- I did some work on the baffles. My outlet off the back right baffle for the heat muff was right in front of the oil dipstick, so I had to relocate it. I installed the plug wire grommet. and riveted the back walls to the side walls. I riveted the components of the front inlet baffles together.

- Drained the fuel out of the tanks.

- Fussed with the nosewheel pant. Really ticked at Van's. Even after I fixed the positioning of the wheel pant, the nose cone is still rubbing. I'll have to make some bumps for now and probably order a new wheel pant at some point.

- Installed plenum, airbox and the cowl.

(Time: 5 hrs)

Trim systems, pitot, baffle/plenum work

I hooked up the manual trim cable to the trim tab. I also installed the manual aileron trim springs.

I spent a lot of time making up the lower cowl scoop brackets. This provides support to the lower cowl scoop by attaching to the firewall.

I secured the AOA and pitot lines and installed the pitot tube.

My replacement baffle pieces arrived, so I made up the new sidewall pieces.

(Time: 16 hrs)

Spinner gap plates / Canopy

The cutouts I made for the prop in the spinner wouldn't work for the gap plates, so I needed to fabricate some out of aluminum. I really couldn't figure out a nice way to do this. The spinner is pretty thick and trying to stack aluminum to match the thickness would be hard, especially since the whole piece needed to be as thick as the spinner.

I had some aluminum sheet the same thickness (.063?) that I tried to use first but it was too thick to curve/bend. When I couldn't come up with anything else I went back to it. I made some cardboard templates, traced it out, cut the aluminum and then using a vice and a bolt, I made several small bends to get it curbed. By the 3rd one, I had it figured out.





I primed them, riveted them to the bulkhead and mounted the prop for the final time I hope.

I did some final sanding on the canopy fairing along the front edge and brought it out to the airport and put the canpy on. I got Sandi to stay inside the fuse and stick the two pins in the canopy. Gave her an appreciation on how hard it was to buck rivets while laying upside down!



I finished the evening up working on some baffling. I attached the 3" connector to the back left baffle for the oil cooler and the 2" connector on the back right baffle for cabin heat.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Prop spinner / Canopy

Started my day but putting a bunch epoxy/micro on the canopy fairing.

Today was prop spinner day. It took all day to get it made. I made some templates for the cutouts using some cardboard and tape. I made one for each blade. I'd done some blog searching to see how others did it but didn't find a lot of info. I marked 3 lines on the spinner equi-distant from each other and traced out my cutouts. I cut conservativly first and then embarked on the put on, mark, remove, sand/file, put back on, mark, remove, sand/file... ad nauseum.

One of the things I wasn't sure about was how the spinner would fit the two bulkheads. You can't really test this until the cutouts our made. The spinner was to big at the rear bulkhead if you lined up the aft edge of the spinner and aft edge of bulkhead. Sandi saved the day... with the bulkheads removed, I positioned the larger bulkhead as far in as it would go and made sure it was level by measuring from the aft edge. I marked that line. We put the smaller bulkhead in the spinner and also marked the aft edge. Then we put the prop and bulkheads back on the plane and measure the distance between the edges of the bulkheads and compared that with the two lines in the spinner we made. The measurements came out almost right on. The spinner ends up extending past the rear bulkhead by 3/16", which I will cut off.

With the cutouts made, I drilled holes for all the screws in the bulkheads. I didn't look at the plans for the # of screws to use but I remembered something on Mike's site about 18 screws. It looked like 5 per segment would work out, so I used 15... one more than Van's recommends for a 2-blade. For the front bulkhead I did 3 per segment but I think I've decided to juse use 2 for a total of 6 on the front bulkhead. (I'll fill the holes I made for the 3rd screw.)





(Time: 8 hrs)

Aileron and flap mounting

It took me a LONG time to get the ailerons mounted. Not sure why but probably 4-5 hours each. I had to enlarge the holes in the rear spar for the push rods to keep them from rubbing.

TIP: DO NOT rivet the push rod ends to the aileron push rod... have them welded on. The rivets protude too much and rub. I had to do some pretty major filing to prevent the rubbing.

With them mounted I proceeded to 'rig' them so they fell into neutral position when the stick was vertical. This is just time consuming, having to work under the wing and put the bolts in/out every time you make an adjustment.

I also riveted on the little aileron stops to the bracket.

After the ailerons were on, the flaps went on quickly. 3 bolts and a push-rod. Don't forget to install the washers under the rod end bearing that goes into the flap itself.



(Time: 16 hrs)

Rudder / Fwd top skin / Oil cooler

I mounted the rudder.

I deburred and dimpled the fwd top fuse skin. I was able to set some of the rivets along the two side ribs and then Sandi came out to help me set the rest. It was pretty darn uncomfortable crawling up under the panel to buck rivets. I did a good job of keeping the areas near the rivets clear so I could buck them. A few are really hard to see and you have to buck them blind. Sandi did a perfect job of driving the rivet gun.



I'm still working on the baffles/plenum. I had to remake one of the side baffles and I'm probably going to order the left rear side baffle. The James Aircraft baffle templates are WAY off and I trimmed to much.

I started to work on getting the prop mounted but quickly messed up the forward spinner plate by drilling a hole to large, so I moved on.

Oil cooler... I was still debating on whether to baffle mount or firewall mount. I tried to fit the cooler on the back baffle but I just couldn't see how it would fit nicely, so firewall mount it is. I have the firewall oil cooler mount kit from Van's, so I pulled it out and went to work on it. I made up the two angles that attach to the firewall and a two other angles. I played with the oil cooler lines to get the position I wanted and I'll be able to use the stock lines... I was afraid I would have to order custom ones.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Canopy fairing

I installed 3 clips to hold down the front edge of the canopy to the frame. I mixed up a batch of epoxy with some flox and black dye to a semi-thick consistency and put it in a large syringe. I was able to squeeze a nice bead of epoxy under the lip, filling the gap between the canopy and frame. You need the epoxy thick enough so that it doesn't 'flow' out of the gap. I also squeezed just enough to get through on the inside. Using the syringe worked really well.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Wings are mounted!

I pulled the left wing back out and re-routed the pitot/aoa tubing. Since the wing is all closed up and access is pretty limited, I'm just going to route the tubes through the lightening holes where the push-rod runs. I'll use some split tubing on the hole edges and the attach the lines to that, holding them away from the push tube.

I called Sandi out to help me move the right wing on to some tables. I run a few wires for the landing light, strobe, position light and the auto-pilot servo wires through the conduit. Slid the wing into place and put some temporary bolts in place to hold it.





TIP: Another thing to not forget to do before mating wings is to put the small nutplate on the fuel tank attach bracket.





(Time: 4 hrs)

Fixes complete.. left wing On/Off/On...

Safety wired the right brake since I had to replace the tire.

I pulled off the left elevator and removed the snap bushing where the manual trim cable came through and cleaned up the leading edge where I had pretty severly mangled it. I put it back on and got it all hooked back up. (Note: Go with electric trim!)

Sandi helped me bring the right wing from home out to the hangar and I setup the left wing to run wiring in. I pulled the wires and tubing through the conduit and slid the wing in place but the plastic SafeAir tubing I used for pitot/aoa isn't flexible enough and since it doesn't exit the fuse at quite the same location as the conduit in the wing, I'll have to re-route it. The left wing is currently ON the plane but it will have to come OFF.

TIP: Things to do before putting the wing ON for the last time... mostly because there is NO room to work between fuse/wing.

- Make sure the gap fairing flap on the fuselge is dimpled. (Realized mine wasn't after wing was on.)
- Probably should hook up the wires for the fuel float sensor.
- Make sure your vent/fuel line tubing is right. :-)
- Install nutplate on tank attach angle.

(Time: 4 hours)

Tail surfaces, rear window, FLAT TIRE!

I mounted the horizonatal stab on Saturday and then mounted the vertical stab and elevators on Sunday. I hooked up the push tube as well, so I can make the eleveators go up and down.

Bad news: After I got everything mounted, I discovered that the snap bushing I installed in the rear spar of the HS where the trim cable comes through is now rubbing on the nose of the elevator. I also mangled the slot on the front of the elevator where the cable comes through. I did this when trying to mount the elevator. So the left one has to come back off so I can remove the snap bushing and fix the slot. Ughh!

I finished installing the rear window only to realize I left the plastic on the inside that I couldn't get off in the area between the support channel and canopy, so all the screws came back out so I could peel the plastic off.

And to make things even worse! I have my first flat tire and I haven't even flown it yet. I was moving the fuse around the hangar and Sandi noted the tire looked low... 5 minues later it was flat. Ugh! I quickly found the stem from a pop rivet embedded in the tire. Must have picked it up when we moved the fuse to the airport.

(Time: 10 hrs)

Parking Brake Valve reinstalled

I reinstalled the parking brake valve and put fluid back in the lines.. hopefully it won't leak this time.

(Time: 1 hrs)

Moved to Airport!

Called the local tow company and moved the airplane to the airport. The move went very well.

Brake line blues

I've had a slow leak at the parking brake valve on the firewall, so Friday night I decided to fix it. I drained the line, took off the fitting and put some goop on it. When I took the fitting out, the little plunger fell out of the valve. I put it back in and put the fitting back on, filled the line back up. I tested the brakes and it wouldn't hold the left brake, the one that was leaking.

Saturday morning... figured I had installed the plunger wrong and the only thing to do was drain the other brake line and take out the valve, which I did. I discovered that I had put the plunge in the right way but I didn't get it into the hole it needed to go into and when I tightened the fitting, it bend the brass part.

So needless to say I had a bad Friday night and Saturday and I reaked of brake fluid. It was not a good day.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Lights and wingtips and stuff

Did lots of miscellaneous things. We had company over so this prompted me to tackle little easy projects.

- Installed nutplates on the firewall for the GPS antenna bracket, primed and then mounted the antenna/bracket.



- Installed the cotter pin in the nosewheel.

- Installed cabin heat cable and attached to selector.

- Ran cable for the carb heat.

- Tightened ELT antenna

- Safety wired the flap motor and ran it a couple of times.

- Installed the position lights in the wing tips and installed one of the lenses. I scratched the other lense when I was working on it so I'm ordering a replacement. I need to borrow a 1/2" drill from my neighbor so I can drill holes for the strobe lights.







(Time: 8 hrs)

Nutplates for emp fairing

Got tied up watching Roush Driving: Racer X on Discovery Channel so I didn't get out to shop until 8 and looked for something easy to do.

I installed then nutplates on the vertical stab and horizontal stab for the empennage fairing. I also drilled a few holes in the firewall for the GPS tray but can't finish until I take the top skin back off.

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Misc. firewall stuff

Trying to finish up stuff on the firewall before I hang the engine... access is good now, it won't be once engine is on.

Put the diodes on the contactors.



Installed a nutplate on one of the vertical firewall supports for an adel clamp, I think this will hold the engine vent tube line.



Installed one of two nutplates in the firewall recess that the tunnel cover attaches too. I broke the nail on my pop rivet dimpler, so only got one done.



(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Wheels and empennage fairing

I injected grease in the nosewheel fork and set the break-out force to 22lbs per the plans. I pulled the main wheels off enough that I could reshape the wheel pant brackets that have been getting abused by my feet as I step over them. They had caught on my pant legs enough to get bent around some.

I fitted and drilled the empennage fairing along with the two gap fairings that go under the HS.







TIP: There are about 5 holes on the aft end of the longeron that get tapped for screws to hold that gap fairings on. Do this ahead of time since you can do this with the HS on.

(Time: 6 hrs)

GPS antenna bracket

I finished making up the GPS antenna bracket to mount to the firewall. This is a common location to put the GPS antenna, right under the cowl. I won't mount it until I have the engine so I can check for any interference.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Seats/Interior and vents

We picked up our seats and side panels from the upholsterer on the way home. They look good! This was the first set of airplane seats they had ever done and the first time they saw temperfoam. The quality on Sandi's seat is better since they learned a lot making mine. :-) Seats plus side panels was $250 plus material. I'll snap a picture someday when I remember to buy batteries for the camera.



Since the panel is in for good, I went ahead and installed the fresh air vents and tubing. Simple enough.



(Time: 1 hr)

Seat foam / rudder sanding

I did some trimming on Sandi's seat foam in the cut-out area for the stick. I'll drop it off tomorrow for covering.

Sanded the filler on rudder top and bottom tips that I put on weeks ago. One more layer and it should be good and then I need to do the other side.

(Time: 1 hr)

Prepping for show and tell...

Dropped off the seat foam... they'll start on Thursday.. maybe I'll have them next week??

With Sandi needing to sit farther forward, I knew we would need to modify her stick some. I bought some PVC pipe to create a mock-up. Basically we need to offset the stick about 3" forward. I'll have a custom stick made that comes up out of the receptacle, then bends forward 3", and then comes straight up from there. My PVC mock up looks good. When we get the seats back I'll be able to test to see if it works or not.

We are having our friends and family gathering this Saturday afternoon and everyone is asking about the plane, so I'm getting it ready for show and tell. The plan is to roll it outside and put it together so people can see that it is a real airplane. So I spent an hour or so last night washing the inside, vacumming it all out. I installed the baggage walls and side covers. I have some interference with the top baggage wall and one of the angles that hold the channel to the 906 bulkhead, I'll have to do a little filing. I installed the rear window. The canopy is still on. I need to mount the instruments and install the radios. I have to pull the tail off to get it out but that will be quick and it will be easy to put it back on.

Seat foam

I ordered my seat foam from Hi-Tech Foams (www.seatfoam.com) I thought it was all pre-cut and sized, though I knew it wasn't glued together. Turns out that it wasn't precut to size, they just provide you plenty of raw material and you get to do the rest.

So two weekends ago I put Sandi to work cutting the foam. She didn't get quite finished so last night I finished cutting the foam and making the booster cushions that go underneath.

For my seat I used a piece of 2" firm foam on the bottom, shaped to the seat pan. On top of that are 3 - 1" layers of temper foam... firm, medium and then soft. The seat back is 2"... medium and soft.

Sandi's seat foam was a bit more of a challenge as I needed to get her sitting a little higher and more forward. After numerous test sittings in and out of plane, we finally got what she needed and what felt good.

So tomorrow on the way home we will drop off the foam to get covered!

(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Strobe light repair.. rudder fairings

I re-epoxied the nut for the strobe light in the rudder bottom, this time making sure it was well covered in epoxy and I also trimmed out some of the plastic in the stop nut so it wasn't so tight. (I used a screw covered in wax to hold the nut in place while it cured.)

Did some sanding on the VS tip.

The fairing for the top of the ruder is about 1/8" to short. I either needed to build up the front or build up the back. I thought the back being very thin would be more likely to break/crack in the future, so I chose to build up the front. I started by laying up about 6 layers of cloth on it. After curing, it only added about 1/16" thickiness and since I had just mixed up a batch of micro/epoxy, I added some fiberglass cloth fibers to the mix for strenght and globbed it on the end. After that cured, I sanded it down to where it would fit.





When the nut was cured in the rudder bottom for the strobe, I installed the strobe just to make sure it all fit and wouldn't pull out again... came out great this time!



I finished of the evening but making a template for the seat cushions. I made it out of plywood to give to our upholstery shop so they could see the contour and understand how it all goes together.

Sidebar: I've been slack on taking pictures lately.. mostly because there just isn't anything worth taking pictures of. That and I tend to forget. Also, my mom-in-law (Hi Mike!) has gotten the impression from my logs that I'm almost done and I'm just sitting around waiting for my engine. While I do feel like my list of tasks is getting shorter and I'm down to maybe the last 15-20%, 20% of 1600 hours is still 320 hours to go! So mom.. I'm not bored yet!

(Time: 6 hrs)

Still working on fiberglass tips.... and strobe..

With the nuts epoxied in place on the rudder bottom I decided to attach the strobe light. The nuts I used were stop nuts (plastic on one end) and just as I was getting close to getting the top screw all the way in the nut broke free from it's epoxy base! Oh shoot! (Not the exact words I used.) So now I have a screw snuggly embedded in stop nut and no way to grab the nut to back out the screw. I tried drilling a hole into the side of the nut (from the outside) thinking I could stick a pin in the hole to hold it in place... but I broke off the 1/16" drill bit I was using! So now I have a broken drill bit embedded in there... and unfortunatly it wasn't in the nut far enough yet to hold it. In my attempt to get it out, I cracked the tip at the seam along the top... which allowed me to pull out the light. The nice thing about fiberglass is that it is easy to repair! I just mixed up some epoxy and glued it back together.

I did some more sanding and filling on the VS tip.

I mounted the rudder so I could work on the rudder stops. Like everyone else, the stops I made according to the plans don't work. So I made up new ones. I managed to screw up the right one again, so I'll have to make yet another one.

Oh yea.. I also painted the panel! Of course my paint gun decided to act funny while doing it.. but it came out OK.

(Time: 5 hrs)

More sanding and filling of tips

Did some sanding on the elevator tips... they are essentially done... I'll use some flowable filler I have to fill a few pinholes.

I bolted on the horizontal stabilizer and then attached the elevators. I riveted on the HS tips once I knew there was no rubbing going on. I applied some filler on the top sides.

Riveted on the VS tip and applied some filler. The rudder bottom is ready for the strobe light to be installed.. I have the two nuts epoxied in place.

(Time: 4 hrs)

More elevator tip work and tail strobe install

I sanded down the right elevator tip... I'm real happy with how the epoxy/balloon mixture is working. It sands real easy is gives a nice finish. The one concern is cracking over a period of time.... I'm not sure if this will happen with the epoxy mix or not... I know that 'bondo' type fillers crack. The solution is to lay up a lightweight fiberglass cloth over the top.

Next I riveted on the left elevator tip and slathered on a bunch of micro mix.



Finished the evening by drilling the hole in the rudder bottom for the strobe light. I'm epoxying in a couple of nuts on the inside. There isn't a lot of room in there, so I had to sand inside to make room for the nuts. I positioned one in place and gooped a bunch of epoxy around it. I held the nut in place with a screw which I liberally coated in mold release (aka wax). I hope the screw comes out! :-)

(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Fiberglass work...

I spent some time doing some sanding on the tips for the horizontal stab. I mixed up another small batch of micro to fill in some areas. Maybe one more sand/fill session and they'll be ready.

I pulled out the right elevator and riveted on the tip which I had already prepped. With the tip on, I mixed up another batch of micro/epoxy and smeared it on one side to fill the gap between the aluminum and fiberglass.

Earlier, I gave Sandi the project of cutting our seat foam, so I went in to help her out a bit. I thought the foam was going to be cut to size but it wasn't... so I'm cutting it to give to the upholstery shop. I called them with dimensions, so they are ordering material.

(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Recent posts in electrical blog

I'm working on electrical things over here. (There is an XML feed for the electrical blog if you use that stuff.)

Corrected subpanel rib attachment

I removed the panel support ribs and reattached them using angles that face outboard which clears the way for any 'deep' radio's I may have.

The right brake line was still leaking at the fitting where it exits the fuselage. I did some more tweaking on the line and tightened up the fitting a little more. It hadn't leaked any more at the end of the night, so I think my brake system is now leak free!

Starting to work a bit on the electrical, so you may have to jump back and forth between this log and the electrical log.

PS - I forgot to mention.. I received my AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION! Received it this past Saturday. Paperwork only rejected once for not printin our names underneath our signatures.

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Brake system, wingtip ribs, vor antenna

Up at 6:00 am and was in the shop around 6:30ish.

I ordered some of the wing walk material from Ray Allen Co. and ordered an extra piece to cover my brake pedals with. None of the 'spray-on' products looked very good. So I cut out and stuck some on the pedals, then let them bake in the sun all morning.

Brake pedals in place with non-skid on them.

I pulled out the wingtips again and finished installing the two ribs that go in them. I also positioned and drilled the Archer VOR antenna inside the left wingtip. Pretty easy. I'll glue it down later.

VOR antenna in place.

After a short break to fix the lawnmower that required a trip to the hardware store, where I picked up an oil can, I started in on the brake system. I went around and tightened up all the fittings first. I just knew that I wouldn't have any leakes or air bubbles and this would be easy. (Hehehe)

I connected a short piece of tubing to the oil can and the oil line fitting and started pumping away. Hey.. this isn't bad! I pumped until the line was all pink. When I disconnected the tubing from the fitting, some of the fluid drained back out which left an air bubble at the top near the reservoir. Ugh! Ok... lets do the other side first. Repeated procedure on other side, this time pumping enough fluid to get the level in the brake reservoir higher so that when a bit drained out, it wouldn't suck air. Cool.. done. Back to other side to push a little more fluid in to push out the air at the top. I had Sandi help me pump more in until the resevoir was full.

Oil can hooked up.

Ok.. that was easy enought. Let's start working on the brake pedals. I had previously had them mounted and all the hardware was there, so it was just a matter of climbing in the fuse and bolting them up. As soon as I started fussing with the first pedal and actuated the brake cylinder a couple of times.. POOF air bubbles!! Arggh! The cylinders had trapped some air in them and as soon as I played with them, they appeared. Dman. Oh well. I finished installing the brake pedals and getting all the cotter pins in. It was a pain doing all this in the fuse, laying on my stomach, sweating my butt of. (Was 96 deg. in the shop).

Brake lines.

Both brake lines now had bubbles in them from working on the brake pedals. I also discovered a leak at the parking brake valve in the 90 degree fitting. So I drained all the fluid out of the left brake line, put one more turn on the fitting and filled the line back up, making sure I tapped on the cylinder to get the air out. I pumped more fluid through the right line to push all the air out of it as well but didn't need to drain it. I discovered another leak on the right brake line at the fitting where it exits the bottom of the fuselage. The line as bent a bit at the collar, so apparently it was seating well. I flexed the line a bit to get it straight. I need to check on this tomorrow to see if it is still leaking or not.

So the brake system is done! Hopefully I won't have any more leaks but I think I'll have to tweak that fitting at the right light again.

Here are my tips for putting the fluid in:

Make sure all of your fittings are tight before starting.

Pump enough fluid to get past the first brake cylinder, then tap on it several times, wiggle it around, pump a little more. This will help get the air out of it.

Repeat above when you get past the 2nd cylinder.

Pump enough fluid to fill the reservoir about the fitting level, so that if any drains out, it won't suck air.

Have lots of towels/rags ready, it is a messy job.

Mike S. noted an adel clamp that holds the engine breather tube that needs to be installed on the firewall, so I drilled the hole for that while I had easy access.

Later on I was playing around trying to find a good location for my fuse blocks and realized I caused myself some problems by the way I riveted on the sub-panel ribs. I put the angles on the inboard side when I should have put them on the ouboard side. They way I have them now will interfere with any deep radio I might have. So I'll have to drill these out and move the angles.

Getting closer to actually doing some electrical work.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Kansas City Center (ARTCC) Tour

On Saturday, our EAA chpater got a tour of the Kansas City Center (ARTCC) facility. Our tour guide turned out to be Nathan Larson, RV-9A owner/flyer. He is a supervisor for one of the sectors. It was a very cool tour! Not quite what one would expect. First we got a presentation about the facility in general, then visited the weather guy. Each facility has a 24 hour meteorolgist on duty. Then we talked to the guys at TMU (Traffice Management Unit), they are responsible for the efficient flow of traffic through their area. (It is freaking amazing how many airplanes are flying at once! Saturday morning at 10:30 there were 7,000+ airplanes in the air.. and that was just IFR traffic.)

Next we actually got to sit down next to a controller and jack in! This I didn't not expect. The controller was very nice and spent a lot of time telling me what he was seeing on the screen and how he was going to route traffic. My guy had the space just ouside of the Class B at MCI. There was a radar outage near Topeka that made things a bit interesting. Their screens were maybe 3 feet tall by 2 feet wide.. no joke, they were huge!

Each ARTCC is split into smaller areas, and each has a name. They are also split into high altitude and low altitude. All the controllers serving a certain area are located in a large 'cube'.

It was a very cool tour and I highly encourage anyone to take one if they get the opportunity.

Nose gear fairing

I riveted/epoxied on the forward U-813 brackets on the nosewheel pant. I pulled out the nose gear leg fairing which I had previously done some trimming on but hadn't installed the hinge, so I did that. I guess that means that all the gear leg fairings are done except fit/finish. My order of 3M Flowable Finishing Putty arrived yesterday. This was recommended on the Sam James Fiberglass Video. It is specifically designed for filling fiberglass pin holes. I may play with it some this weekend.

I've slowly been thinking about my electrical system and will probably start a new log for that soon.

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Lot more fairing work...

Got a slow start today and didn't move fast all day long but I did get a lot accomplished. First 30 minutes spent cleaning up and putting tools away. I think I had nearly every tool out laying around somewhere.

I did some final fitting and cutting on the pilot side wheel pant/gear leg fairing/intersection fairing. I confirmed that I can get the hinge pin out by taking off the wheel pant. Here are a few photo's of the pilot side wheel area.

Inside of intersection fairing. You can see the gear leg fairing sticking through a bit.

Looking inside. This is with the front of the wheel pant off. You can see the brake line routing.

Looking at the back side. You can see the hinge pin sticking down. Plenty of area to get it in/out.

Looking down from top.

Pilot side is down minus filling/finishing of the fairings. I'm saving the upper intersection fairings until I get the wings back on.

I slid the fuselage over and repeated the process on the passenger side. I noticed that the passenger side intersection fairing fit much better on this side. My guess is that the pilot side wheel pant isn't lined up exactly as it should be or that Van's mold is off for the pilot side. My guess... my wheel pant isn't perfectly in trail. I may measure some day to see but probably won't do anything about it unless it it way off.

Int. fairing in position. I used the bottom hole on the aft bracket as a mounting point. Right now I have a screw stuck in there just to hold things in place.

More fitting. Here I've drilled some holes into the gear leg fairing and cleco'd them. Once I take it off, I can position the int. fairing on the gear leg fairing using this holes while I bond the two together. Also note the white circle which is the 2nd screw hole I'll use to hold the fairing on. There is already a nutplate there for holding the two pant halves together.

Fairings bonded. Here I've bonded the int. fairing with gear leg faring using my homemade flox/epoxy mixture. I used cleco's to hold it together until the epoxy was set. I'll need to do some serious sanding/finishing in this area.

I didn't get pictures of it but on the bottom edge of the int. fairing, I drilled a hole on the aft end right below the screw on the top side. I also put another screw along the seam of the two pant pieces and put a nutplate on it. It serves double duty of holding the int. fairing on and the two pant pieces together. I may put one more scew on the front area to hold it down for a total of 5. I have to say that I'm real happy with how well the int. fairings fit on the wheel pant and also with my idea of bonding them to the gear leg fairing. Once I get it all sanded and smooth, it should look real good.

I finished the evening off by positioning and drilling the forward U-813 brackets to the nosewheel pant. I'll rivet/epoxy them on the next time I'm out in the workshop.



(Time: 6 hrs)

Nosewheel fairing and intersection fairings

It's 2:57 and I'm in for a quick break.

Sent an email to Jerry about the nosewheel fairing. He said he had the same problem and that you should use the dimensions on the plans and not the dimples on the pant as the instructions suggest. Hmm... so this morning I looked and sure enough there is a 16" dimension from the aft end to the center of the hole. The 'dimples' were about 1/4" to far forward, which is just enough to cause all sorts of interference. So be warned. I'm attempting to patch all the holes I put in the fairing so I can salvage what I have. A new wheel pant is $100.

Working on pilot side intersection fairing now. I have the gear leg fairing aligned in trail and have fitted the intersection fairing. I've decided to bond the int. fairing to the gear leg fairing. Most builders bond the int. fairing to the wheel pant and split the fairing along the same line. I like this idea better. It does mean that the wheel pant has to come off in order to get the gear leg fairing off... but why would I ever take off the gear leg fairing anyway?? Only thing behind it is the brake line.

Aligning the gear leg fairing.

Back to work...

Put a call into Steve W. who built a Long-Eze and knows a thing or two about fiberglass work. I asked him the best way to bond two fiberglass parts (intersection fairing to gear leg fairing). He said mix some flox in with your epoxy and make sure you rough up the surface.

Since I didn't have any flox, I created some by cutting up strands of fibeglass cloth. With the fairings in position on the plane, I drilled and cleco'd the two together and then pulled it off, roughed things up, mixed up my epoxy/flox and bonded them together. I think this will work out good.

Intersection fairing bonded to gear leg fairing. (Needs lots of cleanup.)

I patched the holes in the nosehweel fairing this morning and it setup enough to work with, so I drilled new holes and mounted the U-813 brackets on, this time in the right place. I temporary tested the fit on the nosewheel and all seems well. It needs to setup over night since I used some epxoy again to hold the brackets on.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the pilot side gear leg fairing and get started on the passenger side. Will also try and get the nosewheel fairing done if possible.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Nosewheel pant woes

Was all set to get the nosewheel pant done tonight. I mounted the aft half to the nosewheel and started trimming the front cap. It seemed like I had to cut a pretty deep slot to get it to fit. Once I got it trimmed to fit, it was rubbing on the WD-631 piece. I fiddled around trying to get it not to rub but then it would hit on the bolt that holds the WD-631 to the axle. Ugh!

It appears that the dimples marking the axle centerline weren't very exact. The wheel pant is positioned too far aft and it is also lilted to the passenger side a little. I can only conclude the dimples are wrong, which I doubt Van's will admit to. A new nosewheel pant is $100.

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Wheel pants

I alodined the other two nose wheelpant brackets and then riveted on the two brackets I drilled last night. I also mixed up some epoxy/filler to put under the flanges of the bracket to help hold the bracket on. The wheel pants take a beating and I've heard of rivets pulling through the fiberglass over time, so this is insurance to prevent or prolong the life of the pant.

The fwd portion of the main wheel pants were cured where I put some layups, so I drilled those holes and countersunk them for the CS washers. I went ahead and mounted the main wheel pants. I also put on the gear leg fairings and just slipped the Van's intersection fairings on for kicks. I need to align the gear leg fairings, then I can work on the intersection fairings.

Wheel pants mounted.

With gear leg and instersection fairings...

The upper intersection fairing.

(After looking at the Van's fairings... the quality isn't that good. I need to look at a Fairings, Etc. versions to see how they compare... Ray has a set he didn't get to use on his RV-9A)

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Van's response to bolt close to tire

".032 definitely is not enough clearance. You could grind the bolt down, you could also put a nother couple of washers under the head so it doesn't poke through the weldment so far."

Nose wheel pant

Picked up some 3/8" rod and washers/nuts on the way home. Before you start playing with the mounting of the nosewheel pant, read instructions first.

You start off by drilling a 3/8" hole on each side of the wheel pant (back half). There are small dimples in the pant to indicate where to drill. Be carefull when drilling, the bit wants to catch on the fiberglass just as it goes through.

3/8" hole drilled.

Next you need to insert the threaded rod into one of the holes and then attach the U-813C bracket to it using the washers/nuts. Instructions say to do one at a time but I did both.

View showing how the rod threads, holding the brackets.

Different perspective.

With the brackets held in place, you rotate them until the fit as well as possible against the inside and then drill the 4 holes for rivets. I also countersunk the holes while I had the brackets on.

(Bonus picture I knew that Dremel was good for something!)

After removing the brackets, I alumi-prepped them and got two of them alodined before bedtime. While they were soaking, I enlarged the 3/8" hole to 7/8" so you can get a socket inside to tighten the axle bolt. 7/8" is probably a bit larger than it needs to be (my socket was 25/32") but I thought finding a hole plug of 7/8" would be easier. (Found a "snap in steel hole plug" on McMaster website but don't know what "Trade Size" means. Part #8087K12. Going to call them.)

7/8" hole for socket

In position on wheel.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Stand, Fiberglass, Wheel Pants

Kinda bounced around the shop tonight.. took awhile to get motivated.

I pulled the fuselage stand back in to the shop and got the fuse back on it so I could finish the pants/fairings. I pulled out the main wheel pants to see where I left off and then did a 3-layer layup on the forward pieces where some screws go and the material needed to be thicker for countersinking. I pulled out a piece of 220 sandpaper and started sanding some of the high spots from being messy on the aft half of the wheel pants... and boy did it show all the pinholes!



(All those white dots you see are actually small holes in the surface of the fiberglass. You have to get them filled in, otherwise they stand out when you paint.)

I grabbed the nosewheel pant brackets (U-813's) and filed/sanded the edges. I bolted them on to the nosewheel and then I noticed this: Almost touching. I emailed Van's but Ray said to stick a couple more washers on it. There is already a lock washer. (Mel?)

I was trying to slide the aft part of the wheel pant but it wouldn't go over the brackets, it was too narrow. So I started actually reading the instructions to see how all this goes together. Looks like I need to rivet the brackets to the wheel pant first and then I can slide it on. You need some 3/8" rod to do this, so I'll pick some up tonight.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Prosealing....

Put the wings up on the table and prosealed on the tank access covers. Since I had the proseal out and made up, I also had Sandi help me rivet on the firewall recess.

Firewall recess

Gooped some proseal on the brake reservoir where it penetrated the firewall.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Project visit and wingtip nutplates done!!

I highly recommend having a project visitor, it forces you to do cleanup (much like your wife does to the house when visitors come) and it gets the building juices flowing again.

Today's visitor was Dave and Hillary with there new baby Phoebe. Dave is an aspiring pilot and wants to build an RV-9A in the future. He's never seen an RV under construction, so this was his chance. He also needed Hillary to hear from my wife Sandi that he wasn't that crazy. :-) It was a good visit and it turns out that Dave and I have similar pasts and probably crossed paths at one point in the past. Keep the dream alive Dave!

Prior to Dave coming out, I spent some time cleaning up, putting tools away and generally getting things to look better. I worked on removing the coax cable from the back of the KX-155 tray I bought and did some general cleanup on it.

Started back to riveting the nutplates on the wingtips and got those all finished and screwed the tips on to the wings to check the fit. One wing had the aileron on, so I trimmed the tip to remove any interference.

Wingtip on!

We've had monsoon like weather here is KS lately. 6" of rain last week and we've had 3" so far in the last 2 days. (Just checked the gauge.. 2.5" last NIGHT).

(Time: 4 hrs)

Project status...

I feel that if I don't post something often, I'm letting my readers down... I know how I feel when the people I follow don't post anything regularly. :-) (If it goes more than a week, I'm usually checking in to see what's going on.)

Soooo... the last couple of weeks have been pretty tumultuous and there certainly hasn't been much progress on the project itself. I think we have recovered from the shock of having a bad crank and I'm still working on my accessory case woe's and feeling disenchanted by some of the aviation vendors out there. Allen located a used crankshaft for me for $2800. I need to send my mags out to get the 500hr inspection done. The plan is to do the engine seminar in late September.

I recently picked up an Grand Rapids EIS-6000 that I sent to GRT to have reprogrammed into an EIS-4000. Sandy called this week to let me know it was done and ready to ship back. I ordered some sensors and a manual to go with it. It should arrive this week. This wasn't my first choice in engine monitors but the deal was too good to pass up and it does everything I need it to.

On the avionics front, I have a good start on that. I have a KX155 and KLN-89B. I need a transponder, audio panel (if I elect not to use the intercom I have) and a 209A Indicator, which could wait. However, after looking through the wiring manual for the radio/gps I have, I've concluded that I'm way out of my league. I want to find someone who's maybe wired up these units before that I can sit down with and at least do the wire mapping. I can make the harnesses myself, just need someone to help me say wire A connects to wire B.

On the instruments side, I need an altimeter and some sort of TC. For the TC, I'm planning on the TruTrak Pictorial Pilot. I have the rest of the instruments. I did buy a replacement panel from Bill Repucci, who used the Affordable Panel setup. I decided I need to move the instrument holes up higher on the pilot side so I can get switches installed underneath of them.

From an airframe standpoint...

I'm currently in progress on the wingtips and have the nutplates I need to finish those.

I think I'm going to try and position the fuselage in the shop so I can get one wing on at a time and rig the flaps/ailerons.

I need to get back to the fiberglass on the gear legs.. the nose wheel pant needs finished, I need to get the gear leg fairings finished and work on the intersection fairings.

I'll need to mount the tail pieces so I can work on the empennage fairing and maybe rig up the elevators/rudder.

I need to install the fiberglass tips on the empennage.. most are made already, just need some filler, then get riveted on.

Need to finish the canopy... the fiberglass fairing along the front edge.

Install the tank access cover plates for the final time.

Bad news....

Read more here...

More wingtip drilling and nutplates

Spent just a little time in the shop drilling holes for nutplates and doing a little countersinking. Installed half a dozen nutplates, waiting for my order from Van's to show up with more.

TIP: Use #4 screws instead of #6... 6's are a bit too big. Cleveland Tools sells a wingtip attach kit with the screws and nutplates in it for $44.

(Time: 1 hrs)