January 8, 2021
The day started with mounting the engine. Only hiccup was “losing” one of the engine mount spacers. But thirty minutes later I found it in my pocket, please don’t ask… Then I got some work done on final wiring/labeling of the pilot switches. The only wiring remaining in the cockpit is the Starter/Mag switch. Probably knock that out tomorrow and…
January 7, 2021
Exciting part first, around 4:30 my engine arrived. And hour later the packaging foam was cut away and she was lifted up. Super exciting! Tomorrow hopefully she will be hanging off the front of my plane. This was another day of lost time… Annual physical/BasicMed exam, cancel oil cooler order, pay for new oil cooler, call FAA about registration (they…
January 6, 2021
This week has been constantly interrupted by non-plane building crap. Bunch of real work and two drives to Denver – don’t ask. So progress has been slowed down. Ugh. One of the slowdowns was getting an oil cooler. I ordered one back in October and ship date after ship date slipped by. Airflow System has a supplier who has had…
January 5, 2021
So I think the tunnel is done. Well actually I want to give it one last cleaning… So today was again shorter than normal due to a two hours IPC (Instrument Proficiency Check) in a RV-7A. Went well and technically I’m free to fly IFR. In reality I have lot of work to do learning glass panel flying. Today began…
January 4, 2021
Late start today but still made some good progress – started with tightening the jam nuts and torque sealing the Elevator push/pull tubes. Then I fabricated an additional rudder cable guide and got it installed, followed by reorienting the rudder cable/pedal bolts to give more room from the rear seat scat tube and bent over the cotter pin in the…
December 31, 2020
Short day today. Adjusted the Elevator push/pull tubes which was a good exercise as I disassembled the front tube to check the thread length on each end. With the Tosten stick grips I cut down the sticks as low as possible and then set the best Elevator Up/Down to the best range. Installed Tosten stick grips and tightend all hardware…
December 30, 2020
For real, I think the spar tunnel is done until the wings go on… Started off adding connectors and drilling brackets made by fellow builder Leo for a set screw need to keep the Tosten stick grips from spinning. Then moved back into wiring mode to work on the connectors that stick grips plug into. That took awhile… Also soldered…
December 29, 2020
The tunnel is beginning to feel like an onion, peeling the layers to reveal one more item that needs to be completed before the tunnel can be called complete. Mounted the bracket I made yesterday for the scat tube. Before securing it I took on drilling the holes for the three engine cable firewall pass-thrus. I cut the gap in…
December 28, 2020
Back from winter break. Crazy but the build was at a standstill while I was gone. Huh. Guess I better get cracking. Started the day riveting the second rear seat back and then made the hinge pins. I set them aside until after I’m able to test the avionics, just in case there is an issue and I need to…
December 21, 2020
I failed to do a good job taking photos of this process. Brackets were already on so this was a day of drilling, cutting, grinding, epoxying, sanding, and repeating. Overall I’m pleased with how they turned out and the painter will hopefully not have a huge job smoothing out the seems.
December 20, 2020
I started the day finishing up the wiring – well there is still wiring to do once the wings are on and the control sticks are in. Oh and once the carbon fiber panel comes back from the painter (respraying due to poor adhesion) I can connect the wires to the switches. But other than that is is done. Whew…
December 19, 2020
More work on the wiring. Began with the fun time installing not one but two Adel clamps on the same screw on different side of the support. That was fun. Then back to the VPX. I’m down to 7 or 8 switches, and about 7 or 8 power circuits. Then it will be time for testing and troubleshooting. I sure…