February 9, 2021
Huge day! Cross off the first engine start. Boy did that feel great to have an near instant start and for her to run so smooth. Whew. Backing up, I started with installing the fuel tank vents, attaching the rudder cables to the rudder, and attaching the yaw damper cables. This is was engine prep time; flush both fuel lines,…
February 7, 2021
Well the rear windows are sanded. That was a fun start to the day. Tomorrow the outside of the door windows and then I will begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Ha. Still have to sand/fill the door gaps for the McMaster Carr door seal. After that excitement I moved on to the continuing ER…
January 30, 2021
Whew, this was a big day. A number of smaller items checked off and a couple big ones too. First up was installing the new servo motor in the rear vent. Back when I wired it up, no workie. So AeroSport sent a new servo and that did the trick. Took some time to get the mechanical and electronic settings…
January 24, 2021
The engine is a part of the project I underestimated. I had the engines on my Aztec overhauled so I thought I knew what I was getting into but damn there is a lot of work. Today was spent mostly fabricating and installing the ignition harness. Each cable had to be made from wire and terminals. Also I was able…
January 23, 2021
Ugh, one of those days that just wears your down. But I grinded through and got a decent amount completed. I installed the oil lines and got the fittings mounted into the oil cooler. It isn’t installed yet as I don’t want to risk damaging it. A time consuming project was running the cables for the heat controls and then…
January 10, 2021
Whew this was a long day. Started with terminating the CHT and EGT wires in the Garmin GEA24 connector. Then moved on to terminating the other end. The grind comes from the awkward spots to cut, strip, crimp, and screw each wire. That could be a pain but the biggest pain was installing all of the Adel clamps to support…
January 9, 2021
I’m not sure why I put off the Elevator trim tabs for so long but hey they are done now. Riveting, proseal, more riveting. Oh and blind riveting. Once the proseal cures I’ll slide in the hinge pins. The big excitement of the day was finishing up the electrical wiring. I put in the remaining instruments and flips the switch.…
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…
December 14, 2020
Started off running the 8awg wire for the alternators, shunt, and ESS (essential bus). Lots of lugs to crimp and heat shrink to heat. Then closed off the firewall pass through. It was time to rivet up to forward cockpit. It took some serious contortion under the panel but I managed the bucking bar pretty well – of course a…
November 9, 2020
Finished up the deburring of the holes, counter sinking spar holes, cleaning the parts, and finally priming them. Cue the riveting, today I seemed to not have my head on straight. Half the rivets had to be drilled out either due to incorrect assembly or crappy rivet setting. Ugh, one of those day. But I did get the rear spar…