Sunday, February 13, 2022

Cowling and Misc

I haven't been able to work on the plane much lately because of our move to Colorado. It has siphoned off most of my spare time. However, I was able to get the bottom cowl temp mounted. 

 Preliminary lines drawn on to show where I will cut for the radiator and the inter-cooler.

As you can see on the left side, it is trimmed a little short. So, I attempted to reattach the strip of fiberglass I previously trimmed off but my fiberglass resin failed to cure, even after a couple of days. So, I had to peel that off and clean up a hell of a mess just to start over. I think my hardener has past its shelf life. More on order. Once it arrives I will reattach the pieces and will be able to determine the correct line to trim off. Hopefully, I'll get back to cutting and fiber glassing soon.

More progress was made this week by Chris getting really close to finishing up the electrical system/wiring. We're literally down to three or four wires left to terminate. That is a HUGE deal, this has been quite the project and it's nice to see it come to an end. We finally got a handle on the backup battery system and how it works. I think it will be a very nice backup system.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Rear Bulkhead and Backup Battery

Finished up the backup battery connections and wire routing in the rear today. I also mounted the new rear bulkhead to check fitment.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Backup Battery, Radiator Mount and Heater By Pass

I picked up the backup battery tray and bracket from powder coat today. It took a while to get it installed but I got it done. Ready for Chris to get it hooked up tomorrow.

I also picked up the radiator mount and got it installed.

The bypass valve and tee for the coolant/heater system arrived. I'll need a few more clamps to complete the installation but the hoses are cut and fitted.

I spent the rest of the day swapping out temporary nuts for permanent lock nuts I had installed in the avionics bay on various trays.

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Turtle Deck

I finished installing the rivnuts for the turtle deck today. I test fit the turtle deck afterwards and was happy. I removed it and took it to have it tinted. I'll pick it up the end of next week. I used white nylon washers for the test fit, I'll use smaller stainless washers when finally mounted.