Wheels, brakes, gear fairings, cowl, wing panels, and first engine start!

Hours 90
Total Hours 1334


Lets get started on my 2 weeks off starting Oct 1.

 I mounted my new Desser Monster Retreads on my new Grove Wheels. The tire and wheel on the right came with my project and was well used. someone probably decided to swap out the kits new wheels and brakes for their old ones. The kit was missing a brake caliper and several other parts so I was better off buying new Grove brakes and wheels.

I hand packed the wheel bearings with Aeroshell 5 grease.

New tires and brakes mounted. Also ran the 1/4" brake lines as per Vans plans.

Brake lines connected to firewall.

 I then put on the gear and wheel fairings. These were already put together by the previous builder when the plane was a 7A nose gear model. The gear fairings are a little short for the 7 plans but will work. I raised the tail to put the plane in level position.

I had to change out the nutplates on the brackets where he installed #6 nutplates instead of #8.

I built a stand to raise the tail of the pants 8 5/8" high as per Vans plans..

 I hung plum bobs from the center of the plane in the front and back and snapped a center chalk line underneath the plane. I then proceeded to align the gear fairings by running a string parallel to the chalk line to simulate airflow. I then installed the SS worm gear clamps on the upper portion of the fairings securing them to the gear legs.


 

Another pic of the gear fairing alignment.

I then lined up the wheel pants. The I drilled the mounting holes in the wheelpants.

 Another pic of lining up the wheel pants.

The pants did not mate up well with the brackets and the FB would soon crack out if something wasn't done to support it. After getting the pant/bracket holes drilled, I layed up 6 layers of 8 oz cloth to reinforce the pant/bracket mating areas. After that cured and the holes were redrilled,I applied a a layer of flox epoxy mixture with 1 piece of FG cloth on top and let it cure a while. Then I put packaging tape on the brackets, remounted the pants, waxed and put in the  mounting screws.

After they cured, I pulled them off and this is what they looked like. The layer of flox and cloth conformed to the pant and provided a strong level mating point of the pants and brackets. I ground off the excesses flox later.

 The I decided to deal with the uneven gap between my spinner and cowl. I decided I wanted 1/4" gap all around. I mounted the cowl and drilled holes thru tounge depressor sticks and gauged 1/4" all around the cowl halves. The pics below will show this. Then I cut a 14" circle out of an old piece of Formica counter top I had laying around. I waxed the formica side with mold release wax.

Then I mixed up a large batch of micro with some cabosil and applied it to the cowl halves.

I put the circle down on the top and pushed it down until it rested on the tongue depressor sticks. the excess micro oozed out the sides.

After it cured, I took off the circle and found a nice flat surface all around that created a perfect 1/4" gap between the spinner and cowl. I will epoxy one layer of cloth on this for strength and finish filling and sanding it to look good.

I then mounted the intersection fairings by drilling them on, marking the center line and cutting them in half. Then I reassembled them and epoxied them to the pants.

 It's looking nice but these have a lot of finish work ahead of them.

I installed the upper fairings I bought from Vans. They fit well but I couldn't figure out how to hide the mounting screws. Oh well, cant have everything.

I the shifted gears and went to work on the lower outboard wing skins. This C dimpler came with the tools I bought from another builder and this was the first time I got to use it. it worked very well dimpling the skins.

As I got to the outer edges riveting the skins on, things got easier but the earlier bays almost killed me! Riveting with one arm on the outside while reaching up to the rear spar and bucking the rivets was tough! I woke up the next morning with black and blue arms and feeling like a truck ran over me. The second skin was much easier and I had learned many new tricks.

After the skins were finished, I installed the wings  and temp installed the wingtips and turned on the position lights. Strobes worked good as I turned the hanger lights out and took this pic. Its looking good!

 I layed up a FG flange for the transition fairings on the wheel pants.

 Installed the flaps.

 I installed some heat shields I had purchased getting ready for the first engine start. I finished clamping a few wiring runs on the engine and behind the panel and clecoed on the forward upper skin. I went to the airport in Big Springs and bought 25 gallons of 100LL Av Gas. 5.95 per gal, OUCH! I brought it home and filled each fuel tank calibrating the Dynon sensors as I went. I emptied each tank while testing the boost pump to 48 gph at the servo connection. I filtered the gas as I put in about 6 gal in each tank. I then tested the fuel flow at the fuel divider with the throttle wide open and full rich, 3.8 gph. I pullled the mixture to ICO and the flow stopped. This confirmed my throttle and mixture controls were correctly installed so far. No leaks or glitches so far!

After checking everything I could think of or research, I charged the battery good and pushed the plane outside. I tied the tail down to the bottom of my John Deere tractor loader with a 2" wide tow strap. My wife came home from work and I gathered a couple of neighbors to help. After one last look around, I climbed in the plane and booted up the Dynons. I hit the starter for about 15 seconds several times with the mixture off until the oil pressure came up. I then pushed in the mixture and cracked the throttle. I never turned on the boost pump but the pre oiling had the fuel psi gauge coming up so I hit the starter and the engine started on about the forth blade! I ran for a moment then died. I restarted and it ran great at about 1000 RPM. I ran it for about 30 seconds and then shut it down and checked for leaks. I had a very small amount of gas escaping the weep hole  in the top of the fuel divider. It was decided that it might be a diaphragm in the divider that had been dry for a long time. I tapped a little on the divider and when I started the engine again, the leaking stopped. I will keep a close eyed on this on later engine starts. After about 5 runs including one up to 1800 RPM when I checked the mags and cycled the prop, I found no issues. The engine ran great at all speeds and oil psi was normal. Alt charged good and all my sensors worked. And much to my delight, my headphones and comm with the radio on, were completely silent with the engine running! No radio noise! I don't think I have ever flown a plane without some engine noise or whine in the headphones!

Needless to say, I am very thrilled! I have been working toward this day ever since I bought this used engine over a year ago. After changing the sump, rerouting the fuel injection system, installing and re timing the mags, I was a little worried if it would run. My controls turned out great also, the engine idles a little slow at 550 rpm but other than that, everything is fine. Here is a video above. I edited out a lot of the pauses and checks to get the file size down.

I put everything back on and pushed it back in the hanger. I worked about 90 hrs and this months progress was great! I forgot to mention, yesterday on October 14,  before I started the engine for the first time, I mailed off my registration papers to the FAA. On my next days off I will team up with my wife, Nancy, and get the top forward panel riveted up. (I better stock up on Advil) Also install the wingtips with the piano hinge method. Maybe start the windscreen installation, and of coarse, more work on the fiberglass parts getting ready for paint.

Baffles, Spinner, Oil door, Mount Prop, Engine Wiring, Mag Timing

 Hours 100
Total Hours 1144

Well, I accomplished a lot during this building session but didn't get as far along as I would have liked. I actually worked on the plane a total of about 100 hrs in all. I did get some things finished that I have been working on all summer long. I finished the baffles! Actually I still need to seal the gaps with silicone but that will take no time at all (where have I heard that before!) The engine is wired, the sensors working, all hoses and wires secured (less three clamps I had to order), alternate air cable finished, mags timed, and blast tubes finished to the alternator and both mags. I completed the oil door on the cowl and finished shaping the slick cowl bottom but I still have a lot of work to do on the cowl as far as finishing it for paint. I permanently mounted the prop and finished my screw less spinner.

 The first thing I did was disassemble the front ramps and paint them black. I wanted to see black when I looked through the front of the cowl, not those beat up scratched up ramps that I have been fighting with all summer. Then I attached the seals with pull rivets. Then I made the two seals that get bolted onto the cowl (not pictured).

 

Next came the threaded stainless steel rods that secure the baffles underneath. I had bought a cheap tap and die set from Auto Zone and when I tried to thread the first pin with 6/32 threads the die just crumbled! So then I got on EBay and bought a Snap On 6/32 die for 5 bucks. When I got it in the mail, I got to it and the Snap On die cut the hard stainless rod great! Dont try to thread these rods with a cheap die! I ground off one side of the washers so they would set flat against the flange and installed the tiny lock nuts.

I riveted the doubler to the rear spinner bulkhead and torqued the bolts.

I mounted the prop and torqued the prop bolts to 70 ft/lbs as per the Hartzell installation manual. Then I safety wired the bolts. I had been worrying about this job for months because I didn't have a special crows foot to work with the torque wrench. My solution was this...........

A good quality open end wrench, a bolt with a washer and nut made up on it, and a torque wrench. I used this formula to calculate the needed torque to equal the 70 ft/lbs because of the added leverage of the open end wrench......

Then I double checked this against two other torque wrenches I had without the extension on a bolt and nut I torqued in a vise where I didn't need the open end wrench extension. The calculation was surprisingly accurate. Of coarse, I read about how to do this on Vans Air Force, I would have never been able to build this plane without VAF. I really applaud those who built these planes before the internet came along!

Next I installed the front bulkhead, torqued and safety wired the bolts.

Because I am installing a screwless spinner, the front bulkhead/spinner fit has to be very close tolerance to prevent any wobble in the spinner. Normally screws secure the spinner to the front bulkhead. I applied a couple of coats of PVA and wax to the inside of the spinner then applied a thick bead of pro-seal to the bulkhead. Then I installed the spinner and screwed it on tight. 

Installing the spinner screws, I got to try out my special little short stubby screwdriver I bought a Oshkosh! What a wonderful little tool addition! I don't know how many times I could have used this little screwdriver in the past! The proseal sealed any gaps between the spinner and bulkhead. I left it three days and then pulled the spinner off. I was pretty tight but tapping on the bead lightly caused the bulkhead to turn loose finally. I read about how to build the screwless spinner on, you guessed it, VAF.

Next was the oil door fabrication. I had been studying on this for months. I had to grind a little of the honey comb portion of the cowl away in order to make the "hidden hinge" from Avery Tools work.

Then I layed up some fiberglass over the honeycomb area as it was very thin and it needs to be very strong as the hinge will be attached here.

Then I drilled the hinge to the door and cowl. I also drilled and fitted the camloc latch I had purchased. The fiberglass door is very flimsy and I had read of the door popping open during flight because of the pressure being exerted from the bottom inside the cowl. I knew I needed to beef the door up to prevent this so I fabricated a temporary flange out of thin aluminum about 3/4" high. The aluminum still had the protective plastic film on it. I super glued this to the door then layed up a flox fillet in the bottom corner. In the pic above, the door was taped in place with packaging tape. 

Then I layed up about 6 ply of 8 oz cloth. This was tedious as I new I couldnt get any epoxy on the outside of the flange.

After that cured I peeled off the aluminum and trimmed up the flange. Then I clecoed it in after I taped the door the best I could and then put on PVA and wax on the very edge of the door. Then I mixed up a batch of micro and worked it in the gaps.

After it cured, I was able to sand all of it flat and tap the door loose. I then sanded enough off the door to give a credit card gap all around to allow for paint. This is after I riveted it all together.

This is the finished product! I am very pleased at how this turned out! The door is very stiff. I am thrilled about the new skills I have learned with fiberglass! I have all kinds of fun fiberglass projects planned after this plane is finished. I would have never learned these skills if it wasn't for building this plane!....

The only drawback to the camlock is, when you press down to release the latch, the door will not come open unless you catch your finger inside the hole and release the pressure on the door while keeping the camlock button down. Maybe after the spring wears down it will release a little easier.

Next I taped the area where my hinge pin covers will be. Then I layed up enough cloth to fabricate a teardrop shaped hinge pin cover. My goal is for it to look like this...

Not sure who plane belongs to, but I really like the low profile, clean look of the small cover. And, how about that beautiful screw less spinner! Well, I will work on these later after the fiberglass cures, now its time to get back to the engine.


No pictures of my adventure timing the two Bendix mags. I purchased a mag synchronizer from ACS and watched all the EAA "hints for home builders" videos about mag timing. First I wanted to make sure the new flywheel I had purchased for my engine was marked correctly at TDC (top dead center of the number 1 piston). I pulled all the bottom plugs and installed a aluminum piston stop pin I purchased in the #1 cylinder. It screws into the spark plug hole. I rotated the prop until the piston bumped into the stop pin. I marked that spot on the flywheel in relation to the mark on my starter. Then I reversed the prop until the piston bumped again and marked that spot. Then I counted the marks between the teeth and sure enough, the TDC mark on the flywheel was perfectly between the two marks I had made. The flywheel also had a 25 deg mark before TDC, that is where I want my mags to fire. I made sure the synchronizer was hooked up right to the mags. The left mag needed just a little adjustment and it was set. The light comes on on the box as soon as the mag fires. The right mag was a different story. I worked for several hours and just couldn't get it to fire at the right time. When I had removed the mags months ago, I must have got the gears out of time. After fooling with it for way to long, I looked up on the internet how the Bendix mag is set for installation at TDC. You remove the little plug on top of the mag and turn the gear until you see a red mark on the white gear inside looking up straight at you. Then I made sure the engine was on TDC of the compression stroke and installed the mag back on the accessory case. BINGO! After a little adjustment I had both mags firing at exactly 25 deg before TDC. Then I hooked up the plugs to the harness and watched both plugs fire at once just to confirm I hadn't screwed up somewhere. This took way longer than I expected but I'm glad I learned how to do it so I can check the timing whenever I please in the future.

I turned my attention to hooking up all the wiring on my engine. Routing plug wires and sensor wires and getting them all clamped up. This was very frustrating trying to route everything just right but I believe I have it done. The adel clamps are a challenge, especially when getting two made up together but I tried to take my time. I am missing three clamps on this side that I had to order. Also shown here is the heat muffler ducting installed.

The left side after installing the alternate air door cable and all the clamps. The sensor wires are routed along alternate air door cable. I had to build a few custom standoffs for fuel lines and cable supports. I am missing a couple of clamps on this side that is ordered. All my EGT and CHT temps all said 72 degrees on the Skyview so I assume they are working.

I also completed the oil cooler install with the bolts I ordered, also shown here is my GPS antenna mounted and blast tubes for the magnetos. I safety wired the oil filter and oil temp sender. 

I fabricated and installed a brace for the oil cooler and baffles from stainless tubing. This will help prevent the baffles from cracking in this area as I learned they are prone to do. (VAF)

My Plane Power alternator installation instructions said to provide a 1" blast tube to cool the alternator. I found this PVC tubing that will slide into the 1" scat tubing and built a steel bracket on the end that will support the outlet and tubing. The black tubing was plugged and clamp holds it tight. The steel end bolts onto the engine block and the air will blow thru the rectangle opening onto the built in voltage regulator on the back of the alternator. this took a lot of head scratchin to come up with.

Looking up underneath after it is mounted. I also drilled a small hole in the bottom of the tubing so water can drain out. The scat tubing is clamped on the ramp flange and PVC tubing with safety wire.

Thats all the progress for September. I hope to finish the cowl, install the new Grove brakes and Wheels I have purchased, and get a good start on the wheel pants and landing fear fairings next month.