4 Sierra Tango Building and flying Van's RV-7 N834ST

Firewall Forward

Aug 2004 – May 2006 · 58 entries · 278 hours logged

Engine, prop, exhaust and those darn baffles. STILL working on the baffles! Aaaaaargh!

  1. Choosing the engine Ah, the engine. That all important item at the pointy end that turns the big fan on the front. There seems to be lots of debate about engines when you look t...
  2. 2004
  3. August 24 Yeah, I know Oshkosh was ages ago now, but I figure I should get to writing my bit about what I saw there. Lots and lots of planes for one thing, and also so...
  4. 2005
  5. March 20 He we go again.... I've been doing a bit more research, and I'm now erring towards the TMX engine from Mattituck with the FADEC option. This will help financ...
  6. April 17 Well, it happened! The engine is ordered! The choice was an easy one to make after talking with the various engine people. It was to be the TMX IOF-360! At S...
  7. May 12 I got home and it looked like the UPS man had been. Funny, I didn't remember ordering anything that large recently. It was two cases of aviation oil, some re...
  8. June 26 I found this picture on one of the forums. I can't remember where though. It's a much better picture of the TMX than I have at the moment, so I hope nobody m...
  9. August 28 I got an email from John Sannizzaro the other day. He took this picture of the TMX when he went to the build school a while ago. He's known as Captain John o...
  10. July 28 At Oshkosh, I was looking to order a propeller. I already knew what I wanted. For me, it was a no-brainer. It was to be the MT 3 blade. I wanted something tw...
  11. August 7 Last Friday, I called Mattituck to check status on our engine. They're right on schedule, as promised. Engine has been assembled, and is scheduled to be test...
  12. August 14 Last Thursday. Mike Yusek called from Mattituck to let me know my engine was ready! Woohoo! They crated it up, and shipped it Friday, so it should arrive som...
  13. August 19 · 5 hours Today, the engine arrived! Woohoo! The shipping company actually tried to deliver it on Wednesday to the hangar, but sonce nobody told me, nobody was there t...
  14. August 28 · 9.5 hours Something else we figured out some when Mike was here was the engine harness routing. We tried to route the harness up through a hole in the right intercylin...
  15. September 2 · 13 hours Here's a bit of a problem... I've got to squeeze this transducer into a tiny space between the oil filter adapter and the secondary alternator. Hmmm. That ai...
  16. September 18 Last week, I got a phone call from Mattituck explaining to me that they managed to fail a couple of the Superior Ryton sumps. Turns out that it cannot withst...
  17. September 20 After speaking with Mahlon again, he said that there's still the same opportunity for a FADEC engine to have fuel in the intakes. Maybe not as much, but ther...
  18. October 9 · 8 hours I guess it's time to start tackling the baffles. Not the most looked forward to job. First we laid them out on the bench and figured out what bit went where....
  19. October 13 · 4 hours I got out of work early today and went to the hangar. I didn't really have a lot to do at work, and the weather was nice. Yesterday, I ordered a 4 into 1 exh...
  20. October 22 · 4 hours I dropped Lucy off at the Airport for her business trip this afternoon, and then went down to the hangar. I started to work out the throttle bracket, since I...
  21. October 23 · 9 hours I continued on with the throttle bracket today. First I put the holes in it, then went on to trim out it's final shape. It turned out really neat. Here it is...
  22. October 28 Today, the exhaust showed up from Aircraft Exhaust Technologies Inc., and what a work of art! It looks great. Here are some pics.
  23. October 30 · 7 hours I was actually at the hangar a bit longer than this today, but Cameron was here, and my friend Colin came by so we spent a whole lot of time hangar flying. A...
  24. October 31 This evening, I spoke with Kirk at Aircraft Exhaust. He checked out my pictures on this site, and saw my issues. From the discussion we had, he seemed to thi...
  25. November 4 · 4.5 hours Today the prop arrived! I didn't make it to the hangar in time to meet the delivery, but luckily for me, Cameron was there to let the truck in to the hangars...
  26. November 6 · 12 hours Today was a big firewall forward day. I continued finishing up everything I needed to do in order to get the engine on for the last time. First task was put...
  27. November 7 · 7.5 hours More aeroplane stuff today! I started with the alternator, and getting it mounted properly and secured. All I needed to do was double check everything, torqu...
  28. November 20 · 8 hours This week, I received the stainless steel prop governor line form Mattituck. This should help with the clearance issue I have to the alternator. First thing...
  29. December 4 · 6 hours Back to the baffles. Clayton came by today and we started to put the baffles together. We did a little trimming to them to make them fit the engine better. T...
  30. December 11 · 5 hours I didn't really get a lot of time at the hangar today as we had the inlaws in town from Chicago. We dropped them off at the airport at midday, and then I wen...
  31. December 18 · 6 hours It was really cold at the hangar today. I was wrapped up too. I had ear plugs in for the noise of the heater, and my insulated winter boots on! I carried on...
  32. 2006
  33. January 9 · 7 hours Look who's here! Dave is actually being put to work while he's here on 'vacation'. He's got some serious catching up to do! We spent the day today messing ab...
  34. 2005
  35. January 13 · 6 hours I was on my own today at the hangar as Dave went down to Dayton for the weekend to see friends. I did some firewall forward stuff, tidying up loose ends here...
  36. February 19 · 6 hours I was tinkering about a bit and decided to connect the tacho sensor. I got a 12" extension from Van's, and it turned out to be exactly the same as the 24" on...
  37. March 12 · 9 hours I removed the fuel feed line to the fuel pump, and put some firesleeve on it. You have to be careful with the firesleeve length, because as you bend the hose...
  38. March 19 · 9 hours Today was a firewall forward day. I've been putting off the baffles for so long now, it's time I just bit the bullet and got on with them. Yesterday, I went...
  39. 2006
  40. April 2 · 8 hours It was a big day at the hangar today. Not as far as time was concerned, but as in I got a lot done for a change. About a week and a half ago, I spoke with Va...
  41. April 16 · 8 hours Here's the patch I made to go over the big hole I made in the air intake snorkel to clear the alternator bracket. It's stuck down here, but I need to sand of...
  42. April 18 · 1 hour Tonight, I stopped by the hangar briefly to lay up some fibreglass on the patch for the intake snorkel. It didn't really take me too long, and it turned out...
  43. April 19 · 2.5 hours Dodged out of work early today, which was nice because it's 74 degrees F here right now. Almost summery! I need to start pushing harder to get some of this s...
  44. April 23 · 9 hours Well, I did have my camera today, and we took a slew of pics, but for some reason my card was unreadable when I put it into my computer. It just said it was...
  45. April 24 · 1.5 hours Another evening at the hangar! I couldn't stay too long tonight as I had to play soccer this evening and needed to eat something a couple of hours before pla...
  46. April 25 · 1.5 hours This evening, I assembled the snorkel and left baffle floor so that I could make the bracket. Yesterday, the screws arrived for it, which was convenient. Her...
  47. April 26 · 5.5 hours I got to spend a fair amount of time at the hangar tonight, as I didn't have to go pick Lucy up from work. I got out of work at a decent time too!
  48. April 28 · 3.5 hours The other task I got done today was the right baffle inner wall. I made up the brackets that hold it to the floor, and riveted it all together. Things are mo...
  49. April 29 · 13.5 hours It was a seriously long day at the hangar today. It was so long that it's now the early hours of Sunday! Well I got a lot done today. The baffles are as good...
  50. May 3 · 3.5 hours I managed some hangar time today, by getting out of work earlier. To get out earlier though, I had to get in at 6:30 am, which is hard for me to do as I'm no...
  51. May 4 · 6 hours Ten pages of Firewall Forward! Wow. There's gonna be a ton more too at this rate. I'm really pushing along now. I got out of work at just before three today,...
  52. May 6 · 12 hours Another big day at the hangar today. I spent most of it doing the baffle seals. They're still not quite finished either.
  53. May 7 · 5 hours There are lots of bits and pieces that need to be done now on the engine. It's mostly wiring related, but there are some mechanical things too. I continued s...
  54. May 8 · 3 hours I did a quick stop at the hangar today and finished drilling the holes in the exhaust for the EGT probes on the right side cylinders. I then started trying t...
  55. May 10 · 1 hour I did some more polishing of the tailpipe tonight. It was a chore. Fortunately, I don't need to do too much of it! Anyway, I got it to a point that I'm happy...
  56. May 11 · 4 hours I had a bit longer at the hangar this afternoon/evening. First up, I removed all the baffles and the snorkel, and took them to a paint shop to be painted. Th...
  57. May 12 · 2 hours I stopped by the hangar on the way home and did some polishing on the tailpipe. This is it now, it's done. Whew. Now I can fit it for good - when I've done t...
  58. May 13 · 8 hours I had a reasonable day at the hangar today, despite the late start. I didn't get there until 2pm. I have a lot of things to get wrapped up, and the first one...
  59. May 14 · 9 hours We're moving along nicely now, and there really isn't too much left to do to get this thing cranking! I needed to make a new throttle bracket to get the cabl...
  60. May 15 · 2 hours This evening I stopped by the hangar (briefly) and attached the throttle bracket to the engine. I think I may still need a heat shield. We'll see how it look...
  61. May 20 · 8 hours I also did a bit of firewall forward wiring today, and secured the secondary alternator harness. Here it is all wrapped up and adel clamped.
  62. May 26 · 8 hours I took a day off work today so I could make some progress towards getting the plane started. The baffles were ready today, so I picked them up, and started p...
  63. May 30 · 7 hours I spent some time going through firewall forward stuff today too, first of all trying to find a way to route the crankcase breather. I'm not sure how this is...