Plane Complete!

 6/13/2023

Well plane is complete.

First taxi tests went well.

Awaiting weather to clear for first flight.

Factory Demo flight and Purchase of the tail kit was on 6/26/2016, 7 years ago.

Engine Start

 5/19/23

First engine start today.

It was a non event.

I did the fuel flow test yesterday with 3 gals in each tank. It took a bit to get the fuel pump primed. I had to blow in the fuel filler to push some fuel to the pump, then the fuel pump worked great. ( Unlikely to self prime in flight with low fuel, guess I am never gonna run it dry)

After that I disconnected the fuel line at the distribution block and pushed all the preservation oil out of the fuel servo into a bucket.

After filling the oil cooler as recommended by Lycoming, I turned the engine over by hand, with the lower plugs removed, to push all the oil out of the cylinders. Once tied down outside, i engage the started with the fuel valve close and fuel pump off, to build oil pressure.

Then performed a normal prime and engine start. Engine started on second blade. I was shocked it fired right up.

Ran it until cylinder head temps got to 300C.

Mag check was good; idle speed and idle mixture were good too. No adjustments needed!

No leaks or other issues.

My A&P friend and I dont see a need to run it again before first flight.

To answer a question from the other thread, battery charging was, like, 9 amps at about 1100 rpm. I think I am really gonna like this B&C alternator mounted on the vac pad.

EDIT: After 40 hours of phase 1, I took off the pad mounted alternator and went with a belt drive. The vac pad alternator just doesnt do a good enough job of charging battery during taxi in and after start to be used as a primary charging method..

Ready for inspection picture:

Weight and Balance

 5/16/23

I am sooooo close to being done, I weighed the plane today. With the whole G3X suite and the new nose gear, it came in as expected.

But the important part is that everything was ON for the weight and balance.

There are still some things to clean up, like re-bonding tie bases, checking trim throws, fuel testing, etc.

Doing the CG math, if the pilot and passenger combined weights are between 100 lbs or total plane is below gross weight, and I adhere to the 100 lb baggage limit, I cant exceed CG limits. I am glad I have a lightweight Catto prop.

It seems the RV9A CG is perfectly designed; Vans did this one right.

bleeding brakes

 5/13/23

Today we bleed the brakes.

I first tried to suck all the entrapped air from the fluid using the air compressor as a poor mans vacuum pump. There wasnt much air but some bubbles appeared in the fluid and quickly moved to the top as foam and then disappeared.

I used a hand pump and slowly pumped from the bottom of each caliper. It worked out well. Brakes appear solid. I tried the parking brake and it seemed to offer some drag, But without the brakes bedded in I dont expect much holding power yet.

The clear brake reservoir made it real easy to see the level. Maybe I will put a piece of white paper behind the brake reservoir to make the level easier to see.

Wingtips

 5/07/23

Finished wing tips. I chose to use screws and put the Archer VOR antenna on a mid rib support instead on the bottom; mainly because I didnt want to be unwiring the antenna everytime the tip comes off. (Which I hope is never) I used the soft foam to keep the antenna from vibrating against the fiberglass wingtip.

With platenuts, the factory said there is no need for the aluminum strip.

Wing Tip Install

 5/3/2023

I have been putting on the wing tips. I have the VOR antenna and the FlyLED lights in the tips so I am going to put them on with 6-32 screws per the drawing in the plans.

*I lined up the tips with the ailerons, drill thru the pre punched holes in the wing into the tips with a 3/32 drill.

*After making sure everything was good, I enlarged the 3/32" holes to #26 (I think) This make the holes a little tight for the 6-32 screws, but still able to thread into the fiberglass.

*I removed the tips, installed the two ribs per plans,

Then I put a screw and 6-32 nut plate together to make a drill guide for the Nut plate rivets. Being a smaller hole, this screw and nut plate combo was screwed in to fiberglass tip holes and the nut plate mounting holes were drilled for rivets

* The rivet holes were then countersunk

* Then the 6-32 screws were threaded thru the undersized fiberglass holes and the nut plates were riveted to the fiberglass tip.

*Once all the nut plates were installed to the tip, I took a 9/ 64 bit and opened up the undersized holes in the wing skins and the fiberglass to easily accept the 6-32 screws

* for all these steps , I used hardware store common allen 6-32 screws.

This is where I am at today

* After a trial fit on the wings to make sure the holes are all in the right spot, I will go back and counter sink the 6-32 holes and dimple the wing skins.

In general, when installing nut plates, once they are riveted in, I will go back and open up the screw holes with a larger bit so that the nut plate sets the position of the screw, and not the hole in the material. (This only works for non-floating nut plates)

VOR Antenna Install

 4/29/23

The VOR/ Localizer antenna is installed. It works remarkably well. In my hangar, with the door open and facing away from the runway, I still get good localizer signal strength. Go figure.

I will probably glue some soft shipping foam padding on the ends to keep it from rattling in the wing tip.

Note: I did this VOR antenna install to check out the nav radio prior to finishing the tip. I may incorporate the antenna into the lower section of the tip using the nut plates as the ground.

Update: I did not incorporate the VOR antenna into the bottom of the tip. Ask me at Oshkosh why not.

Tidying Things Up

 4/18/23

I am putting the wingtips on. i used a piece of foam stuck in the end to temporarily give it some shape to line everything up.

I also installed the clear brake fluid reservoir from Matco. i used a street elbow in the bottom and a custom sheet metal mount to put it in the stock location. Should work out well and now there is never any guess during pre-flight.

I still need to add some extra wires for future taxi light in the cowl. And then I will seal up the firewall.