Firewall and Engine Prep

 Great progress these past few months. It seems as one gets closer to being done, many more decision need to be made by oneself. The plans become "a guide" and not instructions carved in stone.

For the engine, it seems there are two oil configuration choices for fixed pitch prop. The difference for a fixed pitch is the oil that normal goes to the prop needs to go somewhere and not build up pressure in the forward part of the crank. There seems to be two ways to do this when using fixed pitch. First is to use the normal oil return to the governor  by letting the oil return through the governor cover that has a milled slot. This is shown in the picture of my cover plate. The second way is to open up the front crank plug, punch a hole in the rear crank plug, and then reinstall the front crank plug. Then one could remove the governor line from the front to the back and plug the fitting holes in the case. Since I had the governor line in place and the front crankshaft plug already factory installed, I just verified the rear governor cover had the milled slot and than put everything back together as shipped from factory. This way a future conversion to a constant speed prop will be easy. I also installed the alternator on the vac pump pad and checked the torque on the fittings that were factory installed. I still need to put the oil and fuel fittings onto the accessory case.

For the firewall, most of the electrical stuff that attaches to the firewall is installed. I still have to assembly the wires with lugs and stuff. Here is how I did the current shunt and the ANL fuses. I have everything with 12V power on fusible links or ANL fuses before passing thru the firewall. I am using a single shunt set up to read battery charge and discharge current. This will tell me if the alternator is putting out sufficient current to have extra to charge the battery or if my load is too great and discharging the battery. Please note the copper bus bars are not straight. This was done to allow some expansion and contraction so as not to pull or push on the contactor  terminals.  Moving forward (Pun Intended)

Wiring, or making rats' nests

 So I started finishing the wiring. My goal is to get all the wires in the fuselage before starting the engine and instruments. This will keep me from having to bend over and under the panel to install the wires and fuel lines on the fuselage floor. The wiring from the spar back was all done a month ago, but the wiring on the floor, in front of the spar, took some doing. This involved planning out all the wiring runs and finding enough holes in the spar to bring the wires through. It also meant I had to install the transponder and comm antennas to get those cables routed. I had to use a cat5e computer cable to get all the stick grip signals to the instrument panel; running individual wires for all the functions on the grips would have never fit through the existing spar holes. The cat5e cable used 4 pairs of 28 AWG wires in a very tight bundle, giving me 8 functions spread between the two stick grips.

I also put in the parking brake and made a bracket for the parking brake cable and the micro switch to tell me the parking brake is on.

Next up is the fuel system final install on the fuse floor. This has already been installed, but now it is time for final install.

In my spare time, I have been creating the panel wiring schematic. It seems I need 6 each RS232 outputs but only have 5 available. The G3X experts from Garmin helped me out and said if I run an independent GPS antenna for the G5, then I don't need a 6th RS232 output. I think that is what I will do; this will make the G5 a true system backup, able to get me to VFR weather if everything else goes COVID on me.

Canopy Success

I finished up gluing the canopy to the frame and it came out well, I am very happy with the Sikaflex method and thinks it is the only way to go.

The canopy and canopy rails have been installed, along with the rear anchor blocks, and Supertracks.

I used the anchor block drill guide from RVPlasticParts.com and the angles were spot on. I had to shim one side in the tool to get the hole in the correct left and right location; this was mainly due to the fact that I had to move the anchor blocks outboard slightly to make sure there was the proper edge distance for the screw hole in the longeron.

I did a preliminary trim of the windscreen and marked the forward edge of the windscreen on the top forward fuselage skin. This will allow be to mask off and paint the portion of the skin inside the windscreen dark grey before final riveting.

I plan to finish the windscreen final trimming and canopy's fiberglass work once I am done with the instruments, electrical and engine forward installation. I want to build up my fiberglass skills on the tail feathers and cowling before tackling the canopy. (pun intended)

I am now starting on the final forward fuselage stuff working from the floor up, and firewall forward. I hope to be done Tuesday.

Canopy Part 3 Gluing

 Got the canopy glued to the frame today. Used the Sikaflex method as outlined by VAF’s Wirejock in an earlier post.

Like everything else the fear was worse than the event. Yes it was a mess, I think I got some of the black stuff in my hair because I have a grey spot that disappeared after I was done gluing.

I used the 3m fine line painters tape. This worked out well. I tried to add a layer of electrical tape on top like Wirejock recommended, but this wouldn’t stick. After prime I pulled off the 3m tape and then Re-taped with electrical tape to make it easier to make a fillet. This didn't work. It would have been better to just pull the 3m tape after prime and leave the primer’s edge untapped.

I set the frame upright, added a bead of Sikaflex to the frame’s Spine, front and rear bows with the spacers, then dropped the canopy on top. After it was position and clamped, I added the side plywood to shape the sides and then added a bead between the side bows and canopy. I did not use the side canopy supports.

The canopy is clamped to the table so it wouldn't fall off the bench if bumped. Now I get to wait 48 hours in bliss thinking I did an excellent job. I am sure reality will set in after a few days when I unclamp and get a good look at the bonds.

 

Canopy Part 2 - The Big Cut

Today was a warm day, perfect for canopy work.

This weekend was all about cutting the canopy down to size. The on-line experts suggested to use the Dremel Max Saw. This worked out very well. However, they recommended the SM500 plastic blade, I found this to be a really coarse cut. I chose to use the SM510 metal blade. This blade is just like the cut off wheel Van's supplies in the kit, but for the Max Saw. With this blade, if the cuts are made carefully, there is very little clean up sanding. I took everything down to 240 grit after the cut, before moving the canopy.

The cutting wasn't as bad as others have made it out to be.It is only a (very expensive) piece of plastic. It isn't like it is a Ferrari or anything. Like everything else on this build, I was stressing over it and it turned out to be not worthy. With all the others writing of their experience, that background helped a lot. (Thank you)

I taped the canopy to the frame for a fit check using wire as a Sika spacer. Seems I have a few more trim cuts to make, so I figure another whole day in the sun and then it will be ready to bond.

I am thinking of not using the trim piece that sits on the outside, down the middle spine. It seems with the Sika bonding method, there is no need for this strip. But
I think I will need to bond on a thrust washer for the handle thou.

Canopy Part 1b

So, today was a good day. I managed to wrestle the canopy frame into submission and I think it fits well. In total, I think a good 8 hours with a 1/2" and 3/4" conduit bender should be a reasonable time to allocate for this task.

I started with the front hoop, and then did the rear hoop today. The rear hoop requires much less force; I over bent and had to unbend several times. My only advice is to realize the levelness of the top horizontal portion is caused by the side bends. The front hoop and the side rails form a rigid structure that the rear hoop bends around. The original fit of the rear hoop was really close, I just had to do a minor tweak. I did the tweak and the shape of the rear hoop became a disaster. I freaked out for about a  minute and did the opposite of what I thought it needed and it all came back in line. I used reverse psychology and the metal tubes fell for it. Gosh I am good.

In summary, I started with the side rails (no adjustment needed), did the front hoop, and then the rear hoop. I think this order worked out well.

I used wedges under the side tubes and that was good. This allowed me to put on, and take off, the canopy frame all day as I adjusted the bends.

I am saying it is done. I will check the dimensions and fit tomorrow just to be sure it hasn't decided to spite me and regress to its prior mental state.

Here is a picture showing the wedges I used. I could not imagine doing this with the tracks in place.

I will install the tracks next and then onto the big cut.

This summer,
the hardest part of the build seems to be.... summer. Too many beaches to visit and too many hikes to take with friends, but we'll get through it.

Finishing Kit, Canopy Part 1a

So I have been working on the fitting the canopy frame, the first step on the canopy tasks. I had taken a month off to do yard work and whatever else I could find to avoid the canopy stuff. Finally I decided it needed to get done while the weather was warm.

The canopy frame was fairly close to perfect from the factory. I had to tweak 6 spots in the front hoop. I have a little more to go in the back hoop. But the back hoop requires less force and is already  really close.

 I took the advice of others and will cut the canopy front tubes, and will put the canopy track on, after the frame is bent. I found it was much easier to do this without the tracks being on; I just used a wood space under the front tubes to raise the canopy frame up to about the right spot.

Here is how I bent the front hoop use a 3/4" conduit bender from the precision tool isle at Lowe's:

I then measured the height of the gap to make sure each side was even. I found I had to take out a slight bend on one side to make it even.

Here is the overall fit of the frame. The top height is not correct because the frame has not been sized for the track rollers.

Like everything else on this build, I stressed over this, but once I got into it, it wasn't so bad. Just keep swimming- Dora