Wrap Up Work 1
8/19/2006 8 Hours
Since I seem to be spending a lot more time darting around different areas of the plane these days, I've decided to make a general category page called Wrap Up Work. This page will be all the nitty gritty things that need doing, but are too small to put on the page appropriate for the task. It will also give me a sense of getting some of the things needed to be done crossed off the list. Striving for the goal of completion now!
I started things off before even getting to the hangar by calling in at the local signmaker and finding out about ordering some N number vinyl letters. I got an email to send my info for a quote.
I stopped by the electronics store and bought some mate-n-lock connectors. I found out later that I only bought one half of the damn things. Doh! Need to go back!
I also took the EFIS1 to the UPS Store to ship it back for it's pre-flight check up. Everything's under way now.
After doing the last of the fibreglass work on the right wing tip, I moved on to wrapping a few things up. I want to start working toward being ready to rivet on this last fuselage skin, so that when the EFIS 1 gets back, I can install it and then start riveting. Gulp! This skin has been off now for so long, I'm a bit nervous to put it on!
First off, I made a battery tray for the secondary battery, but never did get around to riveting the fuselage half of the hinge. So I did that. I also wired the Van's tachometer. Something else that's been sitting forever!
I had Rick the local A & P help me out with tightening up the eyeball fittings for the throttle and prop cables. First I needed to borrow another adjustable spanner (crescent wrench) that was big enough for the nut rings. Then he held outside while I turned inside.
I got all the wiring wrapped up and bundled properly so I could put the front cover on the centre console. It was a shame that the control cables for the cabin heat and parking brake have such a long solid part to them. I had to make these holes in the rear cover for them to pass through. Worst of it was taking the cables off the parking brake and heater valve! Threading them through and then getting in there again and reconnecting the things.
Now the cover is on there, all the wires run up inside the console up behind the panel out of sight. It looks nice and neat under there now.
While flying with Mike, I asked about the position of the rudder pedals, and the position of the seat, because I found it to be about right for me. He told me that it was the standard 'plans' position with a three inch link rod to the rudder cables. Based on this, I undid our rudder pedals and moved them rearward an inch and a half. This will be better as now I am still comfortable with the seat in it's furthest rearward position, and Dave will be able to reach them (hopefully) without having to adjust them. We still have the 3 inch standard link, but with the pedals further rearward by a half inch. That means if necessary we can just make some slightly shorter links for Dave. I thing the way it is now though, it should work out well. Doing this ate up a chunk of time today!
Now that's all done, I could install the centre tunnel cover/heater diffuser. The interior under here is coming together nicely. I also ran a scat tube form the diffuser up through to where the defroster vent will be on the glareshield.
Snakes on a Plane. Groan.
I routed the wire for the remote ELT panel. I can't fit this permanently yet as we'll need to get back here for bucking rivets. Not a task I'm looking forward to.
I fitted the EFIS1 card reader to the panel for the final time. I also lost the ball bearing from the stupid park brake cable coz I pulled the wrong cable out while reconnecting the cabin heat and checking it's operation. Doh! I need to order a BB now from somewhere. See the Hobbs? 1.5 hours of engine time, and everything is sweet!
Tomorrow I'm not going to the hangar. I'm going to do my airworthiness paperwork, and get it sent off. They need a fair bit of time here to process everything, so since I reckon to be about two months out, I should get it all out of the way. In the evening, I'm going round to Mike's too for a cookout and some hot air ballooning! Hmmm... Maybe I won't go ballooning as I'm afraid of heights, but I will cook!
8/23/2006 2 hours
I spent some time last night getting the paperwork together for the airworthiness application. The only thing I need to do now is the weight and balance, but my FAA inspector said I didn't need that to submit my application for airworthiness form. I made a copy of the Van's three view drawing, got my 8130-12 notarised and sent it all off. That's it now, I better get moving!
8/26/2006 8 hours
I went to the hangar this afternoon with the intention of staying until after dark, so I could set the landing and taxi lights. I had set the landing light previously, but I think it was a little low. Anyway, today was spent wandering around all over the plane doing this and that....
First up was to sort out the wiring at the wing tips. Finish up putting connectors on etc. Here, I put some edge protector on the rib for the HID light wiring. I used some RTV to hold it in place. The tape is just to hold it there until the RTV cures.
Here's the right wing. I put a connector on the marker beacon cable, two ring terminals on the VOR antenna, and the Molex connectors on the nav light and strobe light leads. I also tie wrapped the taxi light cable to keep it from flopping around all over the place.
While we we on the subject of antennae, I figured I might as well get the GPS stuff out the way. I got a bulkhead connector as a firewall pass through, and made the cable to go to the GX60.
It't the bottom right antenna cable on the radio tray. I still need to tie all this stuff up.
Last weekend I took my data plate in to a place in the local mall called 'Things Remembered'. They sell all kinds of junk that you can have personalised by having it engraved there. Well, I must confess I was a bit worried about how good a job they'd do. I made a photocopy of the plate and wrote on exactly what I needed. I picked it up this morning, and it looked fantastic. I was very impressed! All the writing is perfectly centred both up and down and left to right. Lovely.
Here it is on the plane. Sweet.
I finally put a ring terminal on the ground wire for the cylinder heaters, and connected it to something!
I put the little cover on the heater diffuser. Normally under here there's a Facet fuel pump, but not for me! I was tempted to rivet this thing on a while back, but figured I'd just screw it on.
Seeing the cabin heat knob reminded me that I replaced the 1.8" ball bearing in the park brake cable too. I had to buy a bag of 100 bb's, so I've got lots of replacements for when I lose another one! It's a good job they were cheaper than dirt!
This is the start of our marker beacon antenna. Basically, I stripped off 40" of the shielding, put some heatshrink over it and I'll add a female BNC connector when it arrives from SteinAir. Once the BNC connector os on, I'll glass it into the wing tip.
I got a big order of stuff from McMaster-Carr, including some screws long enough for the last screw hole in the canopy tracks. I finally put them in.
After going to get some food, it had gotten dark enough to sort out the lighting. I pushed the plane outside and pointed it down the hangar row. Heck, these lights are BRIGHT!
Do you think they'll see us coming?!! Holy smokes! 100W each side, and it shows!
Now the lights are set, I'll make the lens for the taxi light, and the lenses for the nav lights. I also want to get everything wrapped up in the front fuselage.
I also stopped by an upholstery shop to have them put stud pasteners in my seat backs instead of the velcro that comes with them. The velcro method has you stick a piece under the lip of the seat, and eventually it comes off. Crap. I'm going to follow Cameron's idea of using the stud fasteners. I'll rivet the male halves to the seat backs, and the female halves will be put on the seat cushions. I'll take some pics when they come back. While I was there, I discussed with the owner about getting a glareshield cover made. He's going to come and take a look at the plane to figure outhow best to do it. It needs to be made before the skin is riveted on, so we need to get cracking.
8/27/2006 6 hours
After working on the wings for most of today, I started to get to grips with tieing up all the wiring behind the panel. There's a lot to do there. I need to have it all ready for when the EFIS One arrives. Then I'll be ready to button it all up.
I was hoping to get to the hangar both Friday and Monday this weekend, as I was off work both days. On Friday, I had an appointment at the BMW dealership to check out an M3. I've been looking for one for a while now. Anyway, I liked what I saw, and ended up spending the day buying it. Sweet!
We were in Chicago on Saturday and Sunday, so no work onthe plane then either. That left me with Monday. I recieved stuff from SteinAir, which included log books for the engine, prop, airframe and avionics. I also got the female BNC connector I needed to finish up the wing tip stuff.
Here, the Marker Beacon antenna is done and glassed in. Clayton was here today, and between chatting about the car and messing around with stuff on it I managed to get him to do the fibreglassing, since he loves getting his hands dirty! Wingtips are ready to go on the plane.
Here I am putting in some screws. It was bout now I had this notion to test the nav/strobe lights. I don't know why, I just did. Well, we'd tested them previously, and since these are simple, I expected them to work, and they did. However when we flicked the switch this time, there was nothing. Great. The tail light was on, so it wasn't a fuse. Must be something else. Time to take off the wing tip. Doh! All those screws!
We isolated the problem to the ground lead that's soldered to the whelen lamp receptacle. The wire had broken in the classic place, right at the insulation. I soldered the wire back on, and put on some new heat shrink. This was fun squeezing in here let me tell ya. Once that was done, the wingtips went on the plane. Done!
I wanted to insulate the firewall too somehow. I'd ordered some foam form www.soundproofing.org but it hadn't arrived yet. I got hold of some Butyl stuff with aluminium on it, and was going to use some on the firewall on the larger panels, just to help damp it some. We did a heat test on it first though to see how it would hold up.
The answer was - not very well. The stuff just melted and fell off. No good for us! I guess it'll just be the foam then when it gets here.
The N Numbers arrived from Aircraft Spruce too, so we stuck them on. We are now official! I wasn't sure where to stick the numbers really for the best looks. I figure these are only temporary anyway, so it didn't matter too much where they were.
Other small tasks we did included starting the routing of the ignition leads. Clayton took all the number tags off the original leads and put them on the new leads, then we started routing. I need to order some more Adel clamps though in order to complete this task.
We also put the last screw in the end of the rear canopy track. It's one you can't reach on your own, so it waited, and waited, and waited. Finally it's done.