I countersunk the reinforcement angles and dimpled the armrests. After edge finishing the armrests, I primed and riveted the parts together.
Finished Armrest Reinforcement Angles
Installed Manifold Pressure Restrictor and Aileron Trim Cable
One of my old college buddies Matt was in town this weekend to visit. I was hoping we’d have more time to work on the plane, but at least we had a little.
I received this brass restrictor fitting from Wick’s Aircraft today. It has a 0.040 hole drilled in the middle to dampen out the pressure changes so that the manifold pressure sensor reading doesn’t fluctuate wildly. Wick’s has a $15 minimum order, so I had to pay an extra $5 fee since this is all I ordered. I was going to add a couple of other parts onto the order that I need so that I didn’t need to pay the fee, but their prices are substantially higher. Companies with minimum order sizes piss me off anyway, so this will be the last time ordering from Wick’s if I can help it.
I also got an order from Aircraft Spruce with some more Ray Allen servo cable for the aileron trim. Matt helped install the connectors on the ends and I wired it to the VP-X alongside the pitch trim cable.
Under the seats, I installed a 5 position molex connector to attach the cable to the aileron trim servo.
Replaced Flap Position Sensor Wiring and Worked on Air Vent Bracket
Since I had some extra trim servo cable, I replaced the three wires from the VP-X to the flap position sensor. I’m trying to keep all wires color coded where possible and these were three wires that didn’t match up with the colors on the sensor.
Fit ELT
My ELT showed up yesterday from Gulf Coast Avionics. I drilled the mounting plate to the shelf and installed nutplates so the mounting plate can be removed in the future if necessary. There are three connections necessary for the ELT: a telephone cable that connects the ELT to the audio alert box and remote interface, an insulated four-conductor wire for power, ground, and GPS serial input, and the antenna cable.
I connected the telephone wire and snaked the other end through the conduit and up behind the panel. I had to cut the RJ12 connector off of the end so that it would fit through the conduit, but that just gave me an excuse to buy another tool so that I could crimp a new connector on the other end after I was done :-). Even if I hadn’t needed to cut the end off to route the wire, I would probably have done so anyway so that I can make the wire the exact length necessary instead of coiling up the extra wire.
Replaced Andair Fuel Pump
Andair recently posted that they had updated their fuel pump design and offered a free upgrade for anyone that had purchased one of the older designs. Mine arrived today and I quickly installed it. The controller is now integrated, so that leaves an empty spot next to the pump on the mounting bracket. I don’t think I’ll mount anything here though.
Worked on Instrument Panel and Air Vents
I fabricated the additional clips that attach the instrument panel to the forward canopy supports.
Here’s another shot from behind the instrument panel showing where these clips attach. You can also see that I’ve finished the left air vent support bracket and drilled it to the side skin.
Here’s the front side.
I only used the top three holes to attach the bracket since these vents are smaller than the Van’s stock plastic vents. I’ll fill the bottom holes with an extra rivet.
Here you can see how I ensured the air vent brackets were coplanar before drilling the brackets to the side skins.
Started Fitting Classic Aero Designs Aviator Side Panels
Luke at Classic Aero Designs recently sent me the unfinished Aviator side panels so that I could custom fit them to my plane. Since I’m using shorter air vent brackets and an after market canopy latch, I asked him to leave them uncut so I could trim them to exactly fit my air vent brackets and canopy latch handle. They marked the planned cut lines in silver ink. I cut around the air vent, and you can see they would have removed way too much material.
I also trimmed the aft end to tick under the canopy latch plate and to fit around the canopy latch torque tube. The marked cutout to the right is for the rod that connects the canopy latch handle to the idler arm.
Worked on Canopy Latch Handle
Before trimming the upholstery panels around the canopy latch handle, I want to trim it down to final size. I didn’t have much time tonight, but I did manage to taper the aft ends of the mounting flanges to match the taper in the handle.
Finished Trimming Side Panels
I did a little further trimming on the canopy latch handle brackets and then trimmed the side panel to fit around it and the push/pull tube.
Here’s a closeup of the cutout around the canopy latch. The fit is snug across the bottom and aft end and follows the side caps along the front edge.
Here’s a closeup of the cutout for the push/pull tube. I’ll need to paint the area behind here and around the latch handle since the side panels won’t completely cover these areas.
Packed up Interior Panels and Cowl
After much back and forth with Van’s, it looks like my cowl was trimmed too much at the factory. I spoke with Mike and Gary at M&W Composites (who manufacture the cowl for Van’s), and they agreed it seems wrong and asked me to ship it back to them so they can lay up some more glass along the sides. I packaged up the cowl and plastic side panels so that I can ship them out tomorrow.