Sunday, October 3, 2021

Instruments done, Engine in

 The instrument panel is installed and seems to be working well. I still have a few things to calibrate, but the radios work and I can talk to the tower. The plane can find the GPS, and receives the local glide slope fine.  I did have to re configure my radios thou. I had to make my remote radio Comm 1, and my panel mounted radio Com 2 and Nav 2 (VOR, ILS). This would allow the co pilot to work the panel radio and the pilot to work the remote radio if the pilot and co pilot wanted to split duties. The audio panel allows split comm so that pilot can talk on Com 1 and co pilot can talk on com2 to different control facilities. 

I also changed the RPM sense to use the P-lead as per the latest revision of the Garmin software. This avoids one more wire thru the firewall and avoids having to put a RPM sensor on the mag case.



After the instruments were in, we installed the engine. The plane is still on the wood stand to make things easier to get to. I read all the previous suggestions and it went in with little trouble.
I put the bottom bolts in first and then the top.
I also had to change the support brace prior to releasing all the load onto the fuselage; the old position of the brace was cause a slight warpage of the bottom skin so i moved it forward to just next to the firewall. Much better now.
I think it only took us 1 hour, at the most.

The Snap-on open end box fit three nuts perfectly; like it was designed for this. I had to grind a craftsman sacrificial box end to fit the upper left nut. That one has very little clearance from the push rod to the bolt to slide the wrench on.

Now it is time to finish up the instrumentation wiring with all the engine sensors; install the baffles, controls and cowling, and continue marching on towards first flight in 2022.