Hours 58
Total Hours 1516
December 24, 2014. Tis the season as Clark Griswald would say! My two weeks off wasn't very fruitful for airplane building because of holiday parties and a 3 day period when the weather got bad and we lost electricity at times during an ice storm, but, we had a wonderful time with family and Christmas so it was worth a little sacrifice on the project! You will see some holiday decorations in some of these pics as we had the Batla Family Christmas in the hanger on the 26th. My sweet thing was a Batla before I swept her away in Holy Matrimony 33 some odd years ago! She also has a very large family....... I will say this, I have the most wonderful Barn/Hanger in the world! My propane radiant heater with attic fans kept my Hanger warm and toasty thru a lot of nasty days! There is no way I could have took on a airplane project like this without my hanger!
The last time I ran my engine, when I shut it down, the flow divider spit fuel out of the weep hole in the top! This happened on the first engine start but had not in the next several starts so I thought it might not be a issue. Wrong! I called Precision Airmotive, they handle Bendix fuel injection, and inquired about the problem. They said the divider needed to be rebuilt as fuel was leaking by the diaphragm. So, I ordered a fresh rebuilt flow divider from Aircraft Supply and Repair in Pennsylvania. It was another added expense but I certainly cant take a chance on leaking fuel starting an engine fire in fight! I have tags saying my fuel servo had been overhauled 75 hrs ago in 2006 but says nothing about the divider....It also gave me the opportunity to reroute my fuel line to the divider to a more direct route. Of coarse, I had to order a shorter fuel line from TS Flightlines but at this point, another 60 bucks is a drop in the bucket! I could not rig the other divider like this because I couldnt break the fittings out to re arrange them. Anyway, all installed in the pic above.
I "joggled" the flap skins to match the bottom of the fuselage.
I installed the glare shield pad I purchased from Classic Aero and it is very nice! All the fretting I've done worrying about the painted black glare shield was wasted energy! It looks great just painted with flat black paint! Then I installed the fancy LED light strip underneath the glare shield that came with the dimmer control and it looks great!
Couldnt help but take another pic of the panel! I then removed the Dynon screens (just the screws in the panel) and re installed the roll bar brace. (Not Pictured) Takes about 10 minutes to remove the screws in the screens and pull them aside. Then you can work on anything behind the panel! Defiantly an advantage to having the Dynon or any other glass panel screens on the panel.....You cant see the turn and slip ball here but somehow my ADAHRS got mounted slightly off level causing my ball to be slightly left. I jacked up and leveled the plane then shimmed the ADAHRS up very slightly to correct the problem. I also tested my pitot system for leaks using a shringe. I blocked off the pitot and aoa lines and injected 3 cc's of air into the system. I turned on the Skyview and the ASI said 170 MPH. It held like a rock. Then I calibrated my auto pilot servos and then tested the AP. Tested good! I then calibrated my flaps and trim system.
Then it was back to work on the lower cowl. I had brushed two coats of Smooth Prime on after two skim coats of epoxy to make sure to get rid of all the dreaded pinholes everybody talks about. Next time I will do this different! To much sanding! This bottom half took about 4 hrs to hand sand smooth after the Smooth Prime! it sands easy but it seems you can never get it finished! Finally I was satisfied but found more imperfections that needed attention. But, NO pinholes!
Then I thought for sure the other parts would be smooth enough not to have pinholes. Wrong! After light sanding with 220 grit, I could see all kind of pinholes with sanding dust in them in these gear leg fairings! Then I decided to skim coat them. I thinned the epoxy 1 to 1 with acetone and put on two coats about 4 hrs apart, skimming off the excess epoxy each time shortly after brushing it on. Messy!
I removed the spinner and it didn't have that many pinholes. I washed it thoroughly with Stewart Systems heavy duty cleaner. Then cleaned with Lacquer Thinner. (As per Stewarts Instructions) Then washed again in my handy sink. Then dried and sanded the gloss off with 220 grit. I blowed it off very carefully with compressed air to clean out all the pinholes. I dont mean a quick once over, I mean blowing every square inch! Washed again. Dried. Blowed out again. I then brushed on two coats of Stewart Systems Eko Prime Smoke Grey. (Should have sprayed it on) There were several stubborn pinholes I had to come back and work on filling with the primer but I finally got them filled brushing it in. After that dried, I sanded smooth first with 220 then 320. I think this is ready to be sprayed with primer again and paint.
Intersection Fairings had brushed on epoxy, then Smooth Prime, then filled minor imperfections with Super Fill. (the blue stuff).
Filling and shaping wheel pants. Tried Super Fill and Epoxy and Micro, not much difference. The Super Fill may cure a little faster but not that much. I am using the West System resin with the slow hardener with micro. I wished I had purchased a container of the fast hardener so I wouldn't have to wait till the next day to sand but on the other hand, I've have not ran out of things to work on while waiting on epoxy to cure.
Had to build these corners up with glass cloth and flox on my empennage fairing. This piece I cut and shaped a couple of years ago. It fit fairly well. Most people have trouble making it fit but I heated it with my heat gun and re shaped it and got it fitting pretty well. Maybe I'm not as anal about perfection as most builders? Anyway, I smoothed the edges all around. Washed, sanded lightly with 220. Yep, plenty of pinholes!
Here I am shape sanding a wheel pant with a 100 grit paper glued around a 3/4" PVC pipe. Good for gettin in those tight spots.
I conjured up this sanding block. A screwdriver, just the right size, driven into a heated 3/4" PVC pipe and 100 grit glued on. Worked really good and was a brief relief for my aching hands, wrists, and elbows! I would fill these wheel pants, then sand them down the next morning, then fill again, then sand again! It seemed I could always find another spot that needed filling!
While working on these FG parts, I decided to install the UniFax heat barrier that I purchased from ACS. This is to protect the cowl paint from excessive heat from the exhaust system. I forgot to take a pic when finished but I drew a pattern with paper and cut out the Unifax to be anywhere there would be excess heat from the exhaust system. I glued it on with epoxy with a little micro mixed in. Then I covered it all with the aluminum heat shielding that Vans sells. I overlapped the Unifax and stuck down the adhesive backed shielding down to the cleaned cowl bottom. By the way, inside cowl is painted with White engine paint. Darn, I wished I had taken a pic when I was finished!
The flange where the two cowl halves meet near the spinner needed filling to match up better. I wrapped cellophane on the half that I didnt want the filler to stick to.
Then I filled with Super Fill. I sanded and shaped them the next day and they turned out good. Sorry, I forgot to take that finished pic too!
All this filling and sanding really takes a lot of time not to mention all the Advil I took to relieve my aches and pains.
This is a picture of my sink. It really paid off putting this sink in the hanger because I washed these parts about a hundred times it seems.
Here is a pic after I got the two skim coats of epoxy on the pants. The power was out and I had to finish using a small generator for light.
Okay, here is what I have learned from all this experimenting with finishing the fiberglass parts....Get the part shaped the way you want it with glass cloth and or epoxy and cotton fibers (flox) for structural items....Use epoxy mixed with micro balloons (micro) to fill and shape where you do not need stength, it is much easier to sand. Mix the micro really thick if you dont want it to run or sag. You can and I have added a little Cabosil to thicken it. I'm not buying anymore fancy fillers, West System Epoxy and cheap microballoon from ACS is the way to go.
From here on out, I will finish the parts as smooth as I can get them with Micro. Then I will brush on two coats of epoxy thinned with acetone, 2 parts epoxy/ 1 part acetone for pinholes. I will scrape each coat off with a credit card about 30 min after brushing them on. The credit card allows more of the epoxy to stay in the pinhole where a squeegee seems to pull some out. Then I will lightly sand the part with 320 grit to get smooth again and take the gloss off of the Epoxy. Then on to painting. Shoot Eko prime and look for more defects or pinholes. I may use more micro if the defect needs it and I will use glazing putty for pinholes. Sand smooth and re prime. Paint! Polish. That's the plan now!
So I'm doing pretty good dispite the weather and the parties. Then disaster struck! I fitted my cowl slightly low anticipating about 5/16" of engine sag. This caused my spinner to be a little high lining up with the cowl. This bothered me. I want my finished plane to look good. I have been doing a lot of reading about shimming the engine mount. Guys do it to raise the engine back up after it sags, why cant I do it before the engine sags, and them take the out when it does? So, I loosened my two top engine mount bolts and stuck a piece of .063 aluminum in the gap. I put the cowl on and the spinner was perfect! A .063 thickness aluminum shim or washer between the motor mount and the firewall brought the spinner down 5/16". I fabricated the aluminum washers and cut a slot in them so I could slide them on and installed them and was feeling real good about myself.....Then....I put the bottom cowl back on and on a whim I decided to check the clearances between engine stuff and cowl and I got a shock! My snorkel was almost touching the bottom of the cowl! I did some research and this is what I came up with...... The cowl Vans sells for a horizontal induction apparently is slightly wider and probably deeper to accommodate the snorkel! I also read that the minimum clearance I could get by with is 3/8" between cowl and snorkel. This left me with two choices.. I could buy a new cowl and spend months fitting and finishing it or I could try to make this one work.
Almost everyone installing a snorkel has to do some kind of surgery on it to make it fit, now, I will not be the exception. I did not want to put an huge ugly blister in the front of my cowl so I carefully trimmed the snorkel until I could easily fit a 3/8" feeler gauge made out of wood all around between the snorkel and cowl. This took about a dozen tries. Off and on with the bottom cowl. I swear, this plane is gonna be worn out before I can fly it just from fitting parts and climbing in and out of the cockpit!
Then using electrical tape for a mold, I began laying up fiberglass
sections on the
inside of the snorkel. I smoothed the corners using flox
and layed up 4 layers of 6 oz cloth. Then worked my way towards the
filter laying up in sections.
After completing the lay up, I removed the tape the next morning and this is what I got.
This is a view from the inside. Now this was a very tedious operation and I had to keep reminding myself to have patience. It took me all day to trim the snorkel and do this layup, about 12 hours! The layup was very stiff but I was concerned that it needed to be as strong as the original part to avoid the snorkel collapsing if the filter became clogged and the alternate air was not opened. I temporarily installed the snorkel and the bottom cowl and felt with my feeler and I still had a little wiggle room with the 3/8" because all this was layed up on the inside. I removed the snorkel and sanded the new bottom with 100 grit and blew it out and cleaned it.
Then I layed up a graduated 5 layers of 8 oz cloth starting with smaller than the area to the last two layers covering the entire area and an inch onto the old original fiberglass. I figured the bottom of the cowl has a slight curvature and I could afford a few extra layers in the middle increasing the stiffness and strength of the part. I had a hard time making that last inch to stay down as the 8 oz cloth was pretty stiff. Finally I came up with the idea to use a larger piece of peel ply on those areas and it worked like a charm. Above is the finished product. It is very stiff and strong. Now, my only concern is, I have lost about 10-15% of the flow area inside the snorkel. The concern would be in the area where the snorkel narrows down the most. If this effects the air intake enough to be detrimental, I can do more surgery on the rear section to open it up in the other direction to make up for the difference. I'm not doing that until I can test the engine and see if it needs it. WOW! I may have dodged that bullet but it cost me at least 15 hours. I will also look for rubs when I test the engine with the cowl in a couple of weeks. And I will always want to keep my engine shimmed without sagging or I'll lose my 3/8" clearance. On the bright side, my spinner is level with the top of the cowl now.
Finally, I removed the tail feathers from the plane.
I began performing the Service Bulletin 14-01-31 that Vans aircraft put out earlier this year. It is a preventative measure but I would like to do it before painting. It will involve installing spar doublers to beef up areas where inspections on some planes have revealed small cracks in the forward spars.
I got almost all the rivets drilled out before I ran out of time and had to clean up and get ready to go back to work the next day. Hopefully on the next building session, I can finish the SB, finish the empennage tips, test the engine really good and possibly disassemble for painting.
