Pitot and AOA Air Line Install

 The Garmin Heated/Regulated pitot static system requires two air lines to be installed. One for the pitot static system and the other for the Angle of Attack indicator. I installed those lines today. I had been thinking about this for some time, a way to mount the air lines where they wouldn't conflict with anything else I've mounted in the wing. I saved a picture from my surfing the internet showing this method, this is not my idea but I liked it and made it my own. Sorry, I can't give credit to the individual that I borrowed it from, if you are seeing this let me know and I'll give your credit.

Anyway, it required drilling about 24 holes, inserting protective plastic bushings, and routing the air lines. I made a small template out of scrap aluminum and drilled holes in it, this allowed me to position the holes in relatively the same position on each rib. The chosen path takes the lines over the top of the front of the gas tank when it's installed. The lines will route out to the rear of the wing once they clear the front of the gas tank. These pics are of the bottom of the wing. The YELLOW line is for static air and the BLUE line is for the AOA.

 

Fuel Tank Bay.

 

The Pitot Static Port is not installed at this time, it will be after covering.

Stick Grips

I installed the grips on the sticks today. I used yellow heat shrink on the 6 wires all the way to where they attach on the grip head. A little bit of a process getting all the pieces on and the wire threaded through the stick. The wires have to route out the side of the stick because of the way the stick attaches to the control horn. I used a grommet on each side to further protect the wires from potential chaffing.

The stick head with the switches mounts on the top of the stick, there is a spacing tube that goes over the stick (this is to accommodate smaller diameter sticks) which plugs into the stick head. This all has to be held in place in order to drill a hole through the head, spacer and stick for a rivet that secures it all in place and prevents it from coming off or rotating. Once the rivet is in place, the foam grip can be slid into position. It is very tight and takes some pushing to get it seated.

Instrument Panel

Got the Instrument Panel back from powder coating and re-installed it, for the last time. Came out really nice. I'll be re-installing all the avionics over the next couple of days. I have to remove the windshield anyway so Chris can continue wiring. I'll be working on fabricating some sort of mounting system for the glare shield that will sit on top of the panel. The lock plates are already installed in the top of the panel, I just need a way to mount the fire wall side of the glare shield.

Door Trim

I received the door post pieces back from powder coating yesterday. I wanted to get the inner pieces installed today so I can permanently mount the instrument panel. I fitted the pieces using the #40 clecos and match drilled them to the larger #30 size. These pieces will be riveted in place and I'll secure them even more by Hysol'ing them to the frame since the instrument panel mounts directly to them.

I had to prep the frame and the inside of the pieces by scuffing them to accept the Hysol. Once scuffed, I wiped everything down with Acetone. I mixed up some Hysol and laid a nice bead of it on the inside of each piece. Then I riveted each piece to the frame. I was able to get a good bead of Hysol spanning the piece to the frame on each side. The outer pieces, when in place will cover all traces of the Hysol and will finish off the door jamb nicely. I left them to cure for several hours.

The next task is to install the instrument panel.

Extreme Windshield Cont...

After a couple of emails with Richard Holtz (the EW guru), it was determined that I could trim the upper corners of the Extreme Windshield. So, I did. These areas will be covered with a cuff, yet to be fabricated...

Patching Oratex

I decided to tackle the patch repair today. First thing was flip the fuselage so I could examine the damage and to clean it with Acetone, both top and bottom. When I got it upside down, I saw another hole I didn't realize was there. The handle of the rotisserie had punched a hole near the firewall.

I cut two patches out of the Oratex 6000 scraps I had on hand and pre glued them. After cleaning the fabric, I used blue masking tape to tape the fabric together so I could place the patch on the inside. By pulling the fabric as taught as I could get it while taping it, gave me a pretty good surface for the patch. A lot of tape was used, well beyond the perimeter of the damaged area. Once that was done, I rotated the fuselage back up to glue the inside surfaces. After the glue dried, I laid the patches in place and used the heat gun to get them installed. They went on without issue and I left them to cure overnight. I also removed the tape.

 

The next morning I used the Toko iron to shrink the fabric and get it taught again. Worked pretty good. I was able to get the fabric pretty smooth. I again applied the blue masking tape all around the damaged (sliced) areas in order to keep the Super Fill confined when applied. I used a plastic putty blade to spread the Super Fill into the gouges to fill them in. Once finished, I removed the tape leaving the Super Fill only in the damaged area and left it to cure.

I will re-tape the area once cured so I can sand the Super Fill flush with the surrounding fabric protecting the fabric from the sand paper. Once happy with the finish of the Super Fill, I will cut exterior cosmetic patches from the thinner Oratex 600. I have the front patch already cut from 600 tape. I'll need to order a larger piece for the big patch.

Extreme Windshield

Over the past week I've been installing the Extreme Windshield. The first task which was accomplished previously, was to fabricate the Windshield/Skylight bracket and install the Skylight. It is necessary to have the Skylight installed (at least the forward edge cleco'd in place with the rest clamped) to help stabilize the bracket and to set the spacing of the windshield.

To begin the windshield installation I had to trim the aluminum side pieces to fit the fuselage and cleco them in place. The trimming was to clear welds on the fuselage, the length of the pieces was fine.

The next task was to use the provided template to cut the top of the firewall to shape. I decided to make a temporary Lexan firewall using my Titanium firewall as the template. This allowed me to "see" what was happening while making adjustments. It also would be less expensive to screw up, just in case.

Once I had the shape cut I set about fitting the inner boot cowl to the firewall. This inner boot cowl accomplishes a couple of things. First, it gives a surface for the front of the windshield to attach to. Second, it provides quite a bit of strength to the upper firewall. 

Originally, the Extreme Windshield was designed for the Highlander and the mold for the fiberglass inner boot cowl was made for it. When someone decided to mount this on the SuperSTOL they realized that because the SuperSTOL has a thicker wing, the angle of the front of the windshield was different and the fiberglass part needed to be rotated up to the new angle required. This means that the top of the SuperSTOL firewall would have to be bent out a few degrees to the new correct angle. It just takes some extra fitting/tweaking to make this work but once done the installation is the same.

As you can see from the pics, the fiberglass part is larger to allow for trimming. So, the object is to get the fiberglass part to be just about even with the Lexan shape. I got it close but realized the Lexan firewall was not allowing me to finish because of the required bend in the firewall. I decided to transfer the arc to the titanium firewall, re-install it and go from there.

After cutting the Titanium to match the curve, I measured and put the required bend in the Titanium then re-installed it on the fuselage. This is not a one time thing. It is a "get close" and try again proposition. The object it to have the windshield make contact with the entire top surface of the fiberglass part when installed. This is complicated by the fact that until you cut the windshield you can't know if it will make full contact. So, get it close and adjust if needed. 

Here is a pic showing the bend in the Titanium and the fiberglass part fitted to the Titanium. As you can see the shapes are a little different. First, the Titanium sticks up a bit over the fiberglass, this is so the windshield will be flush with the Titanium (it allows for the 1/8th inch thickness of the windshield). Second after everything is fitted, I will mark and remove the excess Titanium, sanding to the exact shape of the finished windshield.

The next phase was to lay the provided windshield template out on the Lexan and cut it out. Once I had the Lexan cut, I clamped it in place on the fuselage and squared it up with the leading edge of the skylight, leaving a 1/8th inch gap for expansion. When I was happy with the fit and position, I clamped it in place so I wouldn't move. I then drilled and installed cleco's all across the trailing edge of the windshield. This sets the position of the windshield for the rest of the fitting.

Then I used the firewall as a guide to draw a trim line on the Lexan. I trimmed it to that line and sanded from there to get it to fit in place without stress leaving a 1/16th to 1/8th inch gap. This is a curve and takes some time to get it right. Then beginning in the middle, I carefully drilled and cleco'd the front of the windshield in place working side to side.

The next part takes some strength as the sides have to forcefully bend into the channels on each side. First, you have to bend them down and clamp them to determine your trim line, otherwise they won't fit. Once trimmed, you can bend them and push the inside and behind the aluminum channels that were fit initially. Once happy with the fit you can cleco them in place. Then on to the rear upper part of the door opening. Same procedure, clamp in place and then trim. Re-clamp in place and drill for cleco's. Repeat for the other side.

Next up will be fitting the door trim pieces and figuring out what fasteners to use to finish up with the install.