Wheel Maintenance

Disassembled and inspected left main wheel, replaced tube, re-packed bearings. Also replaced front canopy microswitch.

Throttle body & controls / Intake Filter

While the throttle body was off to install the stainless box for the firewall, I took the opportunity to modify the throttle cable bracket to reduce the amount of angle placed on the mixture control cable.  It previously had enough angle to cause some stiffness in the controls.  Hooked everything back up, tried it out, and it works perfectly now.









Also finished cleaning up the intake filter assembly, which is all ready minus a few bolts I need to order.

Firewall

Finished fabricating the stainless box for the firewall and mounted it up.  Had to take off the throttle body to get it in there, and it still wasn't easy at that. 

EIS Sensors

Finished installing MAP sensor for the engine monitor, and MAP advance sensor for the electronic ignition.

Wheel maintenance

Regreased right main wheel bearings, installed new tube, reinstalled tire, torqued everything to spec, and finished reinstalling on plane.

Wheel Maintenance

Took apart right main wheel to replace tube, and found corrosion.  Cleaned up the corrosion and repainted I/A/W Cleveland manual.

Misc

Installed oil dipstick tube, cut dipstick to fit and filed off old oil level lines. Fabricated, primed, and painted rear control stick.

Control System

Spent the whole night fitting and installing the control system. Still not quite done.

Engine and Controls

Finished modifying oil filler tube to fit under cowl. Finished glasswork on intake scoop. Started re-fabricating missing pieces to control system.

Oil dipstick

Trimmed down the oil dipstick so that it will fit under the cowl. Also got the intake scoop ready for glassing a wall in the back of it. (It was going to be attached to the oil cooler, the cooler didn't fit)

SD-8 Wiring

Finished wiring up all the components for the SD-8 backup alternator.

Wiring

Finished wiring up the lr3c voltage regulator.  Mounted all the components for the sd8 backup alternator.

Wiring

Got half of the wiring for the voltage regulator finished.

Wiring

Finished wiring for starter and alternator feeds.

Ignition timing

Installed and timed magneto and electronic ignition pickup.  Also installed prop (makes it much easier to turn over the engine for timing).

Throttle cable hookup

Finished hooking up and adjusting the throttle cables.

Throttle Cable Bracket

Fabricated bracket for mounting throttle cable to on the engine side.

Brakes

Bled the brakes and hooked up the brake pedals.

Front wheel maintenance

Installed new tire and tube on front wheel and cleaned and re-greased bearings.

Fuel Vent Manifold

Finished installing and plumbing the fuel vent manifold.

Throttle Quadrant

Re-made a mount for the new throttle quadrant with aluminum plate and installed throttle quadrant.

Wiring

Finished wiring the GRT EIS and wired power to fuel probes.

Wiring

Did only a little wiring to day, hooking up more probes to the EIS.

Engine Conversion to Fixed Pitch

Finished converting the engine to use a fixed pitch prop.  Had a "Never Again" experience using some Harbor Freight hex sockets.  The tip of it sheared off instantly when I started to back out the pipe plug that's buried over a foot inside the crankshaft.  Luckily I was able to get the broken tip out of the plug and try again with a Sears Craftsman set of hex sockets that I ran out and bought, which worked like a charm.  I'll never use a cheap tool again on something I care about.

Wiring, Misc

My buddy Canno from A&P school came over to help out today.  I made another hose and continued on wiring up the EIS.  Canno started to try to remove the crankshaft pipe plug with the tools on hand, destroying a few allen wrenches before I decided to just get the right tool tomorrow.  Also torqued up the exhaust and re-mounted the voltage regulator.

Hoses

Made some hoses today, getting the following ones done: fuel line from the firewall to engine pump, remote oil filter inlet and outlet, and the oil pressure gauge.  Also mounted the oil pressure gauge and oil filter.  If you're asking where's the firesleeve, I'll be putting it on after running the engine a while so that I can see any leaks clearly.

Wiring

Finished wiring up the electronic ignition, and started running the rest of the EIS cables.

Finished wiring up ignition switches and cleaning up wire bundle.

Wiring

Reviewed ignition wiring plans, found location for ignition relay, mounted and wired up relay.

Wiring

Picked up some 2AWG welding cable from AirGas, and a hydraulic crimper from Harbor Freight.  Replaced the 4AWG ground wire running from the nose to engine area with the 2AWG wire.  Disappointed with the crimp made by the HF crimper.  Seems mechanically sound, but is quite ugly.  The die set looked really undersized, so I researched it online and confirmed that they're way undersized.  Bummer.  Would have been a great find if the dies were correct.  The 00awg dies seem to be the right ones for a 6awg lug.  Also replaced the main bus feed cable with 10awg aircraft cable, and did some more re-routing of cables to get a straighter and more sound wiring bundle running from nose to firewall.

Wiring

Installed mountpoints and made some brackets to support the wire bundle running from the nose to the firewall.

Magneto checkup

Went back to the school with my magneto and bench tested it.  It didn't work well the first go around, so I took it back apart and cleaned some corrosion off the distributor points, re-timed it and re-assembled it a few times before it ran well on the bench.  The coming in speed is still a little high at 180rpm, but since this is the backup mag to my electronic ignition, and the fact that I won't be starting off of it, it'll be just fine.  You can check a video of the bench test here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwQLNw1zT28  Youtube made the sparks look choppy, but it was a clear and consistent 1-3-2-4 firing pattern in person and on the original vid.

Control System

Spent the night with Scott reviewing all remaining electrical hookups needed along with getting the control system back in place.  Decided to go back to the plans control system to save time for now.  This also helped route the wiring bundle so I create the mountpoints for the adel clamps.

New Starter

Installed the new Sky-Tec flyweight starter, and spent the rest of the time organizing all the stuff I just got.  Also reviewed the wiring diagrams for the alternator and voltage regulator.  Will install all the adel clamps for the main wiring bundle before running the rest of those wires.

You can see the difference between the old Bendix boat anchor and the Sky-Tec starter.  This shaves many a pound.

Got some goods

Picked up a bunch of goodies at Aircraft Spruce in Corona since we were up near the area anyway. Also returned the throttle quadrant that was the wrong size. Definitely one of the greatest store ever. Right up there with Home Depot.

Parts gathering

5.5hr  Took out throttle quadrant to return it and spent the night trying to gather a list of all the needed hardware and parts I need to finish getting the engine up and running.

Magneto checkup

6hr  Verified gearing ratio for electronic ignition, checking that the magneto gear spins at a 1 to 1 ration to the crankshaft.  Started to install the single slick magneto on the engine, and decided to give it a checkup before I went through all the trouble after noticing the gear retaining bolt was halfway un-done with no cotter pin.  Opened it up and everything looked pretty good, except for quite a bit of wear on the distributor gear wheel.  Decided to take it over to the school to get it test run on the bench.  Turned out they didn't have a harness for it, so I'll have to go back next Wednesday to get it run.  Most the time was spent looking for a manual for the thing.  The school didn't have one, and the internet provided me with only moderate success.  Oh well.  The test run will verify everything is in good working order.

EGT/CHT wiring

4.5hrs  Finished routing and connecting all the EGT and CHT probe connections. 

Hanging engine

3hrs.  Hung the engine back on, and somehow had the easiest time doing it.  Normally it's quite the pain to get all the bolts through the dynafocal mount and engine, but the all went through with some light tapping this time with little hesitation.  Torqued them up to spec, and engine is on for what hopefully be the last time.

Test fitted the throttle cables after the engine was hung, and found out I didn't have enough throw in the levers to get full range of travel on the throttle body levers.  Bummer.  Going to have to return the throttle quadrant that I just bought and install a new one now, after I figure out which one I really need.

Hooked up the contactor for the starter before calling it quits for the day.

Engine mount, engine prep

5.5hrs.  Cleaned up some over-spray that was on the firewall while it was easily accessible, and re-hung the engine mount torquing all bolts to spec.
























Installed a cover plate for the hole left by the prop governor after removing it.  I found it ready made from Vans aircraft, so that saved some fabrication time.  Installed it with a fresh gasket and some hylomar blue.

Installed and torqued some AN fittings on the fuel pump, using some ez-turn fuel lube for the pipe threads.  Then spent the rest of the time checking the torque and installing safety wire on all items of the engine that would be facing the firewall while I had easy access.

Throttle, Engine Mount, Hell Hole

5.5hrs. Finished up a few things that I've been working on the past few days. Trimmed up a fiberglass bracket that I installed to bolt down the throttle cable brackets, and finished the installation of the new throttle quadrant I had to purchase due to the configuration of the engine. The one that came with the plane was a reversing type, and I needed a non-reversing type.







Finished glassing in some nutplates in the hellhole area where I'm mounting a stainless steel box to extend the firewall inward to fit the throttle body. To drill the holes for these, I needed to take the engine off, as well as the engine mount, so I gave the engine mount a fresh coat of paint while I was at it. Duct tape had been used on it while making the molds for the cowling, and the adhesive was so aggressive I needed to use MEK to get it off, which took some paint off as well, so a new coat was needed.















Finished buttoning up some wiring I installed for the boost pump, and installed the right bellhorn for the rudder cable as well. You can tell there's a bit of dust in the pictures, but it'll all get blown out as soon as I get my compressor over to the new location. Spent the rest of my time trying to organize all the hardware since I've re-purchased so much of it only to find I already had it laying elsewhere.