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RV-8 #82497

j-red

Well Known Member
They say some like building, and some like flying. I like both. Thus far, it's worked pretty well to alternate building for a year then flying for a year to keep me out of trouble. In March, I sold my 6a, and knew right away that the next project would be an 8. I want to learn tailwheel, and just love the piston-fighter look. After searching for an affordable project that could be finished in about a year, I was able to snag a pretty complete airframe which included a potentially useable engine and prop.
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Flying out of KPHL Wednesday morning at 6am, I arrived in Phoenix, AZ at 8am local time, and picked up a 26' Penske truck and went to load up. By 1pm, kit and I were on the road for two and a half days, or 36 hours of driving! Fortunately, I was able to pick up a travelling companion for the last 12 hours. The promise of spending a week with her grandchildren was enough to persuade her to endure a day in the truck :)

As for the truck ride, it went splendidly. I chose the Penske for several reasons: price, newness of the trucks, and the fact that they had wood floors into which we could screw tie down brackets. The truck I was given was nearly brand new with less than 7k miles on it when I got it and nearly 10 when it was turned back into a local depot here in Delaware. The extra space of the 26' truck allowed for a little more versatility in where we tied things down. The result was a remarkably uneventful journey.
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I wish I could say that were the end of the story, however. Upon arriving at home, we began to unload. Everything was going great and soon all that was left was the fuselage. We placed two ramps made of 2x10's behind the main tires and walked the tail down the center ramp. I had my wife stand on the bottom of one ramp and my son on the other so that they wouldn't slide backwards when the tires hit them. As I gave the required rock and heave to get the tires up on the ramp. As I did, the left ramp gave away, and the whole fuselage came crashing down on the central ramp. Talk about a kick to the stomach. A valuable lesson on waiting for more help. (ironically, a bystander had just offered some assistance... "No thanks. I've got it...." ) The center ramp left two huge wrinkles in the firewall and lower floor panels. Fortunately, while it caused significant additional labor, the cost to repair was relatively minimal. The lower panels are merely cosmetic and they, along with the firewall, saved anything structural from being damaged. I don't have a pic of the damage, but here is the firewall removed and the new lower panels being installed.
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The new firewall went in pretty easily, and now after two weeks, we're back to where we started from.

The several days of waiting for parts left time for inventory, and evaluation of the kit condition. Like most used kits, there are some pleasant surprises, and some things I'd do differently. Overall, though, I'm pretty pleased with the quality of workmanship.

Anyway, That's the first installment. Lots of progress has been made in the past two months. I'll do some back-posting to get the thread up to date as I'm able.
 
While waiting on replacement parts, I began shopping for avionics. I'm familiar with GRT but, while happy with the capability of the Sport SX I had in my 6a, I've been really impressed with the integration available from some of the other vendors. Eventually, I settled on the Dynon Skyview system based on cost, availability used, and features... especially with Dynon's comm radio. I've cobbled together a very nice system from new and used parts, occasionally coming up with surplus components which have hopefully gone to help others through the classifieds here.

Most of the month of May was spent setting up the electrical system, installing avionics and wiring, mounting accessories such as the ADAHRS and running associated pitot static lines.

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The airframe kit came with a VP-X Sport. I probably would not have gone this route if it hadn't come with it. Fuses are cheaper and work just as well. However, there were some intriguing features such as flap and trim control that the VPX performs and, as I said, it didn't really cost me anything so it looks like an opportunity to learn a new system.
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The control sticks were cut for tosten grips which I've used in the past and like quite a lot. However, the 8 "needs" an infinity grip which meant that I needed a longer front control stick. I toyed with the idea of welding an extension back onto this one, but eventually decided to just order a new one.
I combined all of the grounds into one in order to reduce the bundle size, then brought them all into a 9 pin dsub connector. The trim, flaps, flip-flop, ap disconnect and PTT are all controlled on the stick. I still have one on/off button left with no designated purpose. I was going to put the starter on the stick since the VP-X will disable it when the engine is running which means accidentally hitting it isn't as much of a worry. However, I decided to put it on the throttle instead.
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[ed. FYI I can't see the pics - plain vanilla Mac. 1926Z 6/7. v/r,dr]
 
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Thanks for posting this about your new project! I'm a long time RV-8 builder ( take that to mean....slooooooooow builder! #81303), and I'm just now starting on my QB fuse, after two moves and a retirement in the last year!

I too just used a Penske 26' truck to move my whole project from Virginia to Florida, and am well familiar with the precarious loading and unloading using that center ramp. My fuse is not on the gear yet, so I was able to get it onto the truck with two other strong helpers by carrying the forward part of the fuse up to the ledge of the truck while a helper carried the tail end up the ramp. Then repositioning the two helpers up onto the truck, then carry the fuse on up inside. My fuse was secured very similarly to the floor and sides of the truck as you did, and wings in their cradle in a similar manner! Total success in transporting it to Florida! Now have to move it once more from my garage to a hangar in SRQ in early August, but probably with a much lower trailer of some sort... I just knew what you were going to say when you talked about the journey in that truck...so far! I could totally picture your situation!! AAaarrgghhh!! I'm glad you were able to repair the damage without too much fuss and $$$!

One thing I am curious about with your project is the status of wiring for various things like tail lights, intercoms in the back seat, flap motor installation wiring, etc... prior to installation of floor boards.
 
Ha. I?m so anxious to get the floor boards in and sit in there pretending to fly, you wouldn?t believe! Every time I think about it, though, there?s always something else I think of that needs to be done first. My hunch is that they?ll finally get reinstalled the day before the DAR comes to visit!
 
Ha!! That's what I thought! The other option is to put nutplates in and screw them dowm so that they could be removed for "other things"!
 
Current Status as of 6/21/18

[ed. I can't see the pics. v/r,dr]

Have spent what seems like an eternity working on the canopy skirt and wheel pants and I know that I've only just begun. This is, without a doubt, the least enjoyable part of any build for me.

As of the beginning of June, the wiring was almost entirely complete. Dynon system is up and running and the only wires left to run are for engine systems and monitoring.
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While waiting on engine parts to be overhauled, I decided to finish all of the fuselage projects that could be completed prior to hanging the engine. The sliding canopy was one of those major projects.

When i purchased the kit, the canopy had been cut and sika'd to the steel frame (a little sloppy, but it looks like the excess can be trimmed off and made to look nicer with some effort). The frame had all of the holes drilled in it for the side skirts, and that's about where the previous builder left off.

I attempted to locate the holes in the skirts using the "intersecting lines" method, but this resulted in many egged out or double drilled holes in the fiberglass. Eventually, I decided to make aluminum templates with a simple homemade strap duplicator. These worked perfectly. Notice there are no cleco's connecting the skirt to the canopy itself. The plan was to use Sika to attach the two.
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Aside from a slight gap at the front, the right side fit perfectly all the way down. The left side... not so much. I ended up cutting a slit the entire length of the fairing and folding down the lower portion. Once it was taped in place, the slit was filled and glassed. The same technique was used on the front 6" on the other side, and now both sides hug the fuselage neatly when closed.

The difference in fit between the two sides also made the rear connection difficult. One skirt fit fine and was held in place by simply taping it down. The other had to be pulled tightly up and to the rear, cleco'd to the steel frame which required a couple of holes in the windscreen (something I was hoping to avoid altogether), and strapped down with tape. Eventually the best way to join the two of them was with an aluminum "strap" cleco'd to both while fiberglass "straps" were done above and below it. These temporary straps then held it in place while it was removed and the inside glassed together. It was then returned to its home on the windscreen and several layups done on the outside. After much sanding, blending, and shaping, the final step was to cover the rear deck with tape and make up a batch of thickened epoxy to fill in the space between the fairing and the slider track.... followed by more sanding shaping, etc... I didn't take pics of everything, but here is one at some point in the progress:
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After several more days of fitting, it was time to sika the skirt to the canopy itself. The inside of the skirt was rolled a couple of times with straight epoxy as a sealer/filler, then sanded and primed. The canopy itself was taped off, roughed up with 120# sandpaper, and prepped. Sika has a special cleaner and primer for this, and both were used on the canopy as well as the fairing. An extra layer of tape was added to the canopy so that any excess sikaflex glue could be pulled off cleanly. This really worked out pretty well.
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Finally, after the sikaflex was dry for several days, the cleco's were removed and each hole countersunk for a rivet. That's pretty much where I left off before moving on to the wheel pants. The rivets will need to be filled, and I'll be finishing the exterior of the skirt with UV Smoothprime along with all of the other fiberglass components, which is the reason I stopped here. Figured it might be easier to do it all at once...
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The wheelpants have not actually been as difficult as I expected. They've been time consuming, but only in short "spurts" as I will explain.

The procedure was to lift the tail and level the top longeron, then snap a center line on the floor from the front to the back of the aircraft. I used a sliding T-Bevel square to match the angle of the center seam on the tire front and back, then measured using a framing square from the center line on the floor to the place where the angle of the center of the tire intersected the floor. That distance was used to basically snap a straight line on the floor which would be right through the center of where the tire contacts the floor. This line was then used to make sure the wheel pant was aligned perfectly with the aircraft's direction of flight.

Sunlight backlit the holes in the brackets, making it easy to match drill them in the translucent fairing once the fairing was centered horizontally, and the angle matched vertically with the angle of the tire (again, that sliding T-bevel was a huge help). After each was held in place with cleco's, the gap around the tire could be opened up as necessary (supposed to be 1/2" all the way around). Finally, a thickened epoxy paste was injected into the gap between each bracket-to-fairing contact point and left to set. This took several iterations, doing one joint at a time while the others were cleco'd to hold everything in place.

Dropped the tail to check clearance... YES! It's perfect and even on both sides! Next steps include filling the gap between the front and rear pieces of each fairing, then installing nutplates in the fairings themselves. Finally, they'll be filled, sanded, primed and painted... but probably not until after some period of test flying.
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[ed. I can't see the pic . v/r,dr]
 
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I see several notes regarding pics. They're hosted on halie.com and I can see them regardless of which computer I'm using. They are larger files and take a moment to load. Any ideas as to why I can see them and others can't?
 
8/3/18 update

I’m way behind on posting. July was pretty much a wash between work taking kids to camp and family vacation. This week I’m building the engine and will take a few photos for the records and share them, but here’s what happened in July...

More fiberglass! I’ve contjnued to spend inordinate amounts of time with the wheel pants. The gear leg fairings were assembled with their hinges and the transition fairings, which I bought from rvbits, we’re bonded to the wheel fairings, split, and a little overlap formed to cover the split. Lots of filling and sanding with no end in sight!

More sanding and shaping of the rear skirt joint and I’m finally pleased with that area too.


Carbon fiber wrapped the panel and got it installed. Everything works as expected. Radio checks on the ground seem to confirm good transmission and reception although we all know the real test is with the engine running....
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8/05/2018 Update

Finally had a chance to get my engine built and hung. This is the second lycoming i've assembled and it was definitely much less intimidating this time. Just follow the overhaul manual carefully and check off each step as it is accomplished.

The engine assembly isn't completely finished, but done enough to get it out of the church gym so that VBS can commence next week!

List of things to do include:
  • Purchase 5 shorter pushrods for valve clearance
  • Install intra-cylinder baffles then oil drain tubes
  • I'm going to hold off installing the superior cold sump until a new fuel pump gets here... should make it a little easier to keep the plunger in the right spot while putting the pump in.

Next major job: the cowl!

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Had my son take a few obligatory pics for the FAA :)
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8/22/18 Update

The cowling is nearly finished! With the engine hung, a whole world of new jobs opens up and this is a big one that needs to be done before all the engine systems installation jobs that will come next.

First up was the front fuselage top skin. There's a lot of staring into the fuselage before starting this to make sure that any little jobs related to the wiring, brakes, etc. are finished. Access is going to be much more difficult after this is done. Assured that all was as finished as it could be, the skin was riveted on.

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2.25" spacers cut from pvc pipe hold the spinner disk at the correct location (I sincerely hope!) for the Hartzell propeller. The top cowl was held in place by using a 3/4" thick block of wood cleco'd to the cowl and to the spinner to center it in front and provide the proper 1/4" gap.

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The top cowl is held to the firewall with Skybolt fasteners. These are super easy and really make removing and reinstalling the cowl a snap!

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I'm going with hinges on the lower cowl except for the very bottom where it meets the firewall on either side of the exhaust. I've riveted some .063 aluminum stock which will get nutplates since I've read of the hinges breaking over time due to vibration in that location.

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Aside from riveting the aluminum skin, I've got about 15 hours in the cowl so far. The side parting lines have been trimmed on top and bottom and tomorrow I'll start on the long hinges that connect the two cowl halves together on the sides. This part of the build really has been fun, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it looks and how easily it's gone together. I don't at all relish the thought of all the filling, shaping and sanding that's going to be required though, especially around the inlets... :eek:
 
You're not quite done with that cowling

Round inlets, Amigo. It's a 'pay me now or pay me later' sort of thing. I fought temps for almost 9 years (head as hard as granite!) then put on the round inlets. It's like a MIRACLE happened. No other changes; no speed loss - tho that is still a secret.

Your oil cooler will also thank you.

Once you get those inlets in place, you will find your outlet getting smaller and smaller...

DanH can coach you thru the process...unless your head is as hard as mine....
 
Round inlets are NOT needed for good engine cooling. My RV-8A has an IO-360 with high compression pistons, and stock Van's delivered oil cooler. Cylinders in cruise range from 340 to 358 degrees, never reach 400, even in climb, with oil temps in the 180 to 195 degree range. Just sayin'. Round may be slightly faster, that's another story, but not absolutely necessary for adequate cooling.
 
8/30/18 Update

Cowling is structurally pretty much done. I've got a dreadful lot of filling, sanding, and sealing to do yet but it is done enough to move onto other more enjoyable things.
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I fabbed up a hidden hinge that worked fine, but had more flex on the hinge side than I liked. I just couldn't bring myself to spend $50 to buy the currently marketed one, so I went with the plans based piano hinge method. It works perfectly and looks fine. Could have saved two hours of work doing it this way to begin with. Picture is of my cobbled-together hinge. The cutoff piece of the cowl will be bonded to the door for stiffening.
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Next, I started on the baffle kit. I understand the need to have a single baffle kit that fits every airframe and that the 8 has a distinctively different cowl than the others due to the width of the cabin. All considered, it's a good starting point, but those instructions.... without the help of online kit-logs I may have never figured it out!

Five hours over two days and most of the big pieces were in place.
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The next day, I finished out a few angle brackets in the center section and then jigged up the top cowl a fixed distance above the lower. A sharpie fastened to a popsicle stick that same distance was used to transcribe the shape of the top cowl onto the baffles. Two colors in alternate turns were used, and the cut made between the lines just to be safe. Testing the top cowl after reveals a nearly perfect fit aside from the back two corners which will need to be trimmed some more. Tomorrow, I'll get out the paperclips and get the gap fixed at 1/2" all around.
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*Final note: I love the Skybolt fasteners on the top, but boy am I glad that they were ONLY used on the top cowl!!! The baffles require installing and removing the lower cowl about a thousand times, and the hinge pins are so quick and easy when it comes to holding the cowl with one hand and fixing it in place with the other. YMMV
 
N Number Reserved 9/17/18

Lots of work has been happening resulting in the baffles, vertical air intake housing (snorkel), and windscreen attachment/fairing all being very near completion. Will post pictures when they are finished which should be toward the end of this week.

Update today is that I've officially reserved the number N801DR, and begun getting paperwork together to be sent off to the FAA for registration. EAA says to do this 3-6 months out in case of any delays. I'm really hoping to have the airworthiness inspection sometime in January/February, which means that this is just about the time to start all that.

Goal by the end of October is to have the fuselage ready to take to the Hangar. This will mean:
  • Prop hung and spinner fitted
  • Cowl joints and "gaps" filled and sanded including oil door recess
  • Horizontal cowl pin securement (is that a word?) figured out and completed
  • Fuel and oil hose fabrication/installation
  • CPI ignition system installation
  • Slick harness modification for auto plugs (ala G3i instructions)
  • Engine monitoring sensors/wiring completed including starter, alternator, and engine grounding cables.

Pretty aggressive schedule, but I've been getting 2-3 hours work done 6 mornings a week, so I believe it is do-able.
 
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Major Update: September 2018 progress

Lots of progress made here over the past month. It seemed like a dozen different projects were in process at once. This had its benefits. For one, when cowl/baffle work got tedious, it was possible to divert for a few days and still make progress but stay fresh.

Eventually, those baffles got done, though. Wow. Just wow. The center section was particularly challenging. It started with bonding in the upper cowl ramps and then closing them off inside. Used some foam to create the shape and then stabilized it with micro. The whole area was finished with about 6 layers of glass, and sanded smooth. Made what I thought would be a nice smooth transition for the baffle seal material to follow.
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My conclusion is that perhaps doing all of the baffle and seal work BEFORE installing those ramps might have been the better way to go. It seems that perhaps it would have been easier to get the baffles to seal against the top of the cowling in the center front area instead of against the ramps. The downside would be that the ramps would have then had to be narrowed significantly and perhaps wouldn't allow for smooth airflow.

Anyway, after a few days of making paper templates, followed by a few more days of throwing away good rubber seal material, the baffles are now complete and fit really nicely with no gaps!
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Of course, that is to bypass about a week worth of work on the air box assembly. So thankful that this was such a nice fit and didn't require cutting and pasting like some others have. It was nice to start getting some of the engine accessories out of the boxes that they've been in for several months now. Each new part, like the fuel servo, seems like an individual ray of light shining toward the end of the tunnel. Of course, it also meant studying up on the fuel system and anticipating fuel line needs, ordering new fittings, etc.
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Another major project was finished that really starts to give the plane a finished look: the windscreen. I had been delaying this, knowing that it would be a big project and being somewhat afraid of fiberglass work. Turns out, it was much more enjoyable and went together more straightforwardly than I expected.
The windscreen was first glued to the roll bar and top skin with Sika Flex adhesive. Spacers were used to get the matchup right between the rear canopy and the windscreen and Sika used to fill the gaps between.
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Then, after careful taping to define the area, a fillet of micro was built up around the front skin joint, followed by 6-10 layers of glass nd epoxy blackened with compatible dye
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Peel ply removed, and sanding begins... Several iterations of filling and sanding, and it was good enough to shoot with some primer.
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Peeled the tape off, and am really pleased with how it turned out. Nice even transition all the way around.
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Sept 2018 Cont....

Front baggage door has been finished, as evidenced by the last photo. The top skin had been riveted in place, but the locking mechanism was absent, and the interior skin had not been riveted yet. Not easy to locate those blocks and keep things tight, but managed to do it without having to crawl into the abyss and drill them from the inside.
The lock is nice and tight and, the fit around the firewall side is excellent. The canopy side is just slightly off, but hardly noticeable and there was no tweak that seemed to make any difference. Overall, I'm content with it.
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Finished it off with a spring for holding it in the open position. Picked it up at West Marine as they're made for boat hatches. Light weight and works great.
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Aside from a little big more cowl work, most of the remainder of the month was spent on FWF systems.

Here is a pic of the process of installing the flywheel magnets for the CPI ignition pickup. Dirt simple due to the jig they send along with the kit.
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I didn't take any photos, but the pickup and coil were both installed on the engine, and the "brain" box in the cabin area. I will get some photos of this, because it was mounted on a swing-down bracket so that it would be accessible in the early stages of test flying, or whenever necessary for checks/experiments/inspections but out of the way during normal flying. The unit is held out of the way by a simple hinge pin and can be removed/reinstalled by feel by reaching underneath the panel.
You can see in the photo of the baffles that the spark plug wires were cut to length and fitted with the included MSD super conductor ends. These were secured along with the fuel spider lines using a series of Adel clamps securing them to the pushrod tubes.



Another fun milestone: All of the control cables are now installed and working. It's possible to sit inside and push levers and have them do what they were put there to do!
Prop governor was the first to be installed. This one was easy. Vans instructions and bracket were spot on, and it was the only one of the major cable connections that didn't require custom work (due to the superior sump).
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The superior sump has a mounting boss in a different location than the Lycoming sump would have. After considering a LOT of options on here, I saw a way to extend the mounting area by using a steel plate bolted into the original bosses and attaching the Vans provided throttle bracket to it.
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The advantage of connecting it this way is that no extension or additional parts were needed for the cable to servo connection.
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Mixture cable was attached using the Vans bellcrank with the typical modifications for the protruding drain plug on the superior sump. The plug was ground down and the bracket as well, then a support welded onto the front side of the bracket.
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No Photos of the following work:
-Assembled custom stainless braided PTFE fuel and oil hoses finished in firesleeve.
-Manifold pressure bulkhead fitting installed in firewall, and cable made to connect with #1 cyl.
-Fuel and oil pressure transducers installed and hoses assembled/installed.
-Oil cooler installed to rear #4 baffle, and hoses connected to engine accessory case ports.
-90 degree oil filter adapter and spacer installed.

Still a fair bit to do, but it looks like we're still on track to move the fuselage to the airport at the end of October.
 
You are moving really fast. I am super sloooow builder. I like all of your pictures of the FWF stuff coming together. Thanks for sharing!
 
11/05/18 Update

My exhaust came in from Vetterman's a few weeks ago, and was installed in about 4 hours total. Went with the four pipe straight exhaust with downturned tips. Can't wait to hear how it sounds!
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The heat muff wasn't too challenging.
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And having the exhaust in place allowed me to install the EGT and CHT sensors then finally tie up all the FWF wiring! There are officially no more wires to run except in the wings which will connect up to the fuselage via molex connectors.
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Prop was installed and the spinner fitted a couple of weeks ago. I bought the AntiSplat wrench for this job and really debated before getting it about whether $60 for a wrench was worth it. It absolutely is. Made installing the prop by myself a breeze! Ok, maybe it wasn't a breeze (I forgot to clock it properly on the hub and had to take it back off and turn it one lug then reinstall...), but it was way easier than it could have been.
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Word of caution: I used the prescribed spacers when fitting the cowl and the gap is pretty tight! I've got about between 1/16th and 1/8th of an inch all the way around, so some adjustments are probably going to have to be made.

Before painting the baggage compartment panels, I heeded the advice of many on the forum and cut an access panel into the rear shelf so that the battery can be accessed quickly. Pretty easy one-morning job.
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11/05/18 Update Cont.

If I never sand a piece of fiberglass in my life, it will be too soon!
We?ve had some warm days recently, so the opportunity was taken to do some priming and painting. This required filling the weave of the cowling with several skin coats of micro followed by sanding, then thinned epoxy, followed by sanding, and then epoxy primer and, you guessed it, more sanding. Really disappointed in the color coat. I?ll probably need to have a professional re-do it in the future, but for now it will have to do.

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The rest of the plane will be polished with some vinyl touches. In order to keep some weight on the tail and get the canopy out of the way, the rear fuselage was polished and canopy reinstalled.

The baggage compartment panels were unpainted when I purchased the kit, but most of the rest of the interior was. Had the paint store color match the interior and shot the remaining panels with epoxy primer followed by a single stage PPG automotive product. Unlike the blue, they turned out great. Very important for baggage compartment panels... ��

Before they could go in, I had to run the xpndr antenna coax (a Dynon remote xpndr will eventually be installed in the baggage area but I don?t have the money for it right now... figured it won?t need it for the first 40 hours anyway around here, but the wiring and antenna will be ready and waiting when the time comes.), and the elt remote control cable. Those being done, my daughter came out today and helped me rivet in the rear floor panels and bottom baggage compartment panel. She is a very crafty person and loves to help.
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11/12/18 Update

Big day. Had a local auto towing service come over and help me move the fuselage to the hangar. This was the third time I've used these guys, although it was this particular driver's first time to carry a plane. He was pretty stunned to say the least :) Took quite a few pictures to show his buddies.
$125 later, she made it to her new home at the airport. Much easier, quicker and probably cheaper than rigging up a trailer myself.

First time I've been able to step back and get some good full-scale pictures of it.

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I rent a hangar up at DE25/Eagle Crest off of route 1. Have some friends over there and it's only about 5 minutes from the house. I was based in Georgetown a few years ago with another plane and found the 30 min drive and outdoor tiedown kept me from being able to fly as much as I wanted.
 
I see! I asked them earlier this year if they had any room but they didn't have anything. Moved down to Ocean City shortly after though. Did you have any big problems with corrosion? That's the main thing that I'm worried about while I'm building.
 
11/25/18 Update

The night we moved the fuselage, a couple of friends came over and helped fit up the wings with some tapered hardware store bolts. These same guys helped me do the wings on the 6a. Based on that experience, they were prepared for a several-hour-long ordeal. This was nothing like what they expected. Maybe 5 minutes per side, and they were temporarily hung.

Over a couple of days, the tanks were attached and fuel lines fitted.

The next major job was to check for incidence and sweep. Once the fuselage was levelled, 4 plumb bobs took care of the latter, and a piece of angle clamped to a 4' level made checking incidence a piece of cake.
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After reading everything available about the critical edge distance at the rear spar, I was seriously intimidated about drilling that hole. There was nothing to worry about however, as it turned out to be relatively easy. I did make a drill guide out of some 1" aluminum block, and drilled the initial hole with an 8" long 1/8th inch bit. It was gradually opened up and eventually reamed to final dimension, leaving almost 3/4" of edge distance all the way around.
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Next, tank brackets were made, attached, and match drilled.
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Then Ailerons Connected
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Next, the flaps were attached. The flap hinges had not yet been drilled and riveted to the wing, so this was done over the course of about two mornings.
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At this point, the control stick was strapped in the middle of its travel, and Van's jig used to center the bellcranks so that the ailerons could be lined up with the tooling holes in the wing ribs. Once they were in place, the flap control rods were connected, and flaps adjusted to match the ailerons.
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Last thing to be completed before removing the wings was to drill all of the intersection fairings and lower skin-to-wing joint for the nutplates that will be put on in the next phase.
o7n.jpg


o7s.jpg

If you've noticed that not all the tank attach screws are in place, good eye! I ran out and was waiting on a shipment from Spruce...

oPA.jpg



Having done all of this, we went out on the afternoon of Black Friday and pulled the wings so that all of those holes can be deburred, dimpled and get their nutplates. The wiring and hoses for lights, autopilot, and pitot need to be run still, and I need to re-make one of the fuel lines that goes out to the tanks (trimmed it to size, flared, and then realized that I had forgotten to install the hardware.... I figure it'll be about a week or so, and I'll assemble the crew again so we can put these wings back on for real.
 
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Ever wonder how bright FlyLED?s are???

Well, you can?t look directly at them, that?s for sure!
Got my delux kit from flyboyaccessories, and put them together over about two evenings after the kids went to bed. At least, I would have if three of the LED?s weren?t missing. The guys from flyboys we?re grewt and got them in the mail right away. A few days later they arrived and I can finally take the box of parts and the soldering tools out of the dining room and put them away (much to my wife?s delight!)

Here goes nothing....
oPU.jpg



It?s like a portable core meltdown!
oPZ.jpg


Ooh! Christmas colors!
oPi.jpg
 
12/22/18. First engine run

Last Thursday I gathered my posse of fire-extinguisher wielding airport buddies and cranked her over for the first time.... nothing. Cranked again... nothing. Fuel? Check. Spark? Ahh, no spark. CPI seems to be on, magnets are showing as synching when the prop is turning but still no spark. Ross says to check and see if the coil pack is getting 12 volts. It isn?t. Gotta have something to do with the setup in the vertical power vp-x box, but my laptop is at home and now the two days of hard rain they?ve been predicting has started with a drizzle. Pushed the plane back in the hanger and kept working away at the left wingtip.

Fast-forward two days. Got the laptop, and found that the coil circuit was configured to ?always off.? Well, that would explain it. Fortunately Saturday was sunny and pleasant: a much better day for a first run. A couple of new eyes were present to look over things before the first run, and without anything else to delay us, it was time to push the magic button. Boom: two blades and it?s running.

We followed a kitplanes article from several years ago regarding engine first runs. First, we spent about ten minutes at 1k rpm letting the oil temp come up, and checking pressures and temperatures. After a break to check for leaks, we ran it up to about 1600 rpm to check the prop, followed by a full power attempt for 10 seconds. Didn?t quite get to full power because even though we tied the tail to a tree, it kept coming up at 2300rpm or so and I didn?t want to risk a nose-over. Brakes held well, though.

Only a couple of issues. First, I noticed a little oil mist during the first run. An inspection revealed that the oil filter had backed off slightly in spite of the safety wire. Could be hand tightened an 1/8th of a turn or so. Will need to tighten it fully and redo the safety wire.

Second issue to work out is the electric/charging system. I?m not sure if it has to do with how the vpx was hooked up or the amp shunt or what, but when the alternator is on, the Skyview shows -13amps but 14.5 volts, i.e. charging based on voltage but discharging based on amperage. I get that the leads on the amp shunt are probably backwards, but to complicate things, the vpx indicates the battery discharging at 13 amps and shows the alternator to be on but putting out 0 amps. Somethings screwy and I?ll need to dig around and figure it out.

Without further ado, here are the photos/video

oPX.png


oPj.png


oP2.png


Video is of the second run at higher rpm. Cylinder head temps were never above 320, and egt?s kept pretty evenly together in the mid 1100?s.
Got a really good feeling about this engine rebuild.

https://youtu.be/5i22LVRe8ws
 
December '18 summary

Haven't had a lot of time to update the thread in the past month. The engine run was quite a leap forward past all the other tasks that had to be done since first hanging the wings. Going back through my build log, here are some of the highlights...

Empennage tips took a couple of weeks to do. This is an older kit and they were either never formed very well to begin with, or age and heat had caused them to distort, because they had to be cut, squeezed, filled, and overlayed in a bunch of ways in order to get them to fit right. Lots of work, but they turned out nice in my opinion.

Before:
oPP.jpg


After:
oPW.jpg


With the fairings done, the tail could be attached and rigged. Pretty straightforward process. A set of curved hemostat pliars made getting the hinge bolts in the rudder and elevators installed MUCH easier than the old "needlenose" method i've used in the past.
oPp.jpg


No pictures, but there was a day or two of fiddling with wiring in the tail. The FlyLED tail strobe needed a shielded two-strand wire and I had only run a single strand of unshielded back there, expecting to ground locally. The elevator servo wire had been run, and was connected using a db-9 connector in case the motor needs to be removed at some point. Also installed the ELT antenna back there under where the empennage fairing will go, and terminated the previously run antenna cable with a BNC fitting.

Next, it was time for the wingtips. Decided on hinges to attach for the clean lines they offer as well as ease of disassembly. Like an idiot, I cut one hinge to length without pulling extra length of pin out and now I've got to pay shipping on a single 6' hinge pin! doh!

Surprisinly, they fit pretty well right from the get-go.
oPJ.jpg


Hinge halves riveted to wing:
oP8.jpg


Tips primed and lights being assembled:
oPf.jpg


oP5.jpg



What the FlyLED's look like from the inside:
oPF.jpg
 
December '18 Summary Cont.

Got some heat shield a while back and installed it in anticipation of cowled engine runs. The interior of the cowl was epoxy primed to make cleanup easier, and this stuff adhered without any problem.
oPH.jpg


I also wanted to have the baggage panels in place before the engine run to help prevent any possibility of damage with any twisting movement of the fuselage while the engine was being cranked. The ELT was mounted in that area for ease of access. So thankful already for that battery door... after the first engine start attempt with the un-powered coil, I had to put it on the charger overnight. Super easy with this door in place.
oPk.jpg


Thanks to a member's response, I was able to afford a functional interior that looks pretty nice too!
oPN.jpg


My "friends" think so too :)

"Dad, I want to sit up THERE!"
oPq.jpg


"That's better!"
oPC.jpg



Plenty of other things have been done over the past month, but not every one merited a picture.

-The sense wires on the ammeter were reversed which is why I was getting that odd discharge indication during the first run. Swapped them and now everything reads as expected.

-Fit up the empennage fairing and lower trim pieces. May end up doing a lot more in this area, but was surprised at how well the factory piece fit.

-Installed 1.2 million nutplates under the wings for the inspection hole covers. The wings were largely done by the previous owner and this was probably one of those "I can do that any time" kind of tasks that got put off when a more exciting phase of building was available.

-On New Year's Day, My family came over and helped do the weight and balance. I purchased a couple of these scales from ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/660lb-300kg-Digital-Floor-Platform-Scale-Digital-Shipping-Postal-Tabletop-Scales/232956234612?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Tested them out as soon as they came, and one worked perfectly. Checked the upper weight accuracy with several people being weighed seperately then all of us standing on it together to get closer to the 500lb region the airplane would require. It was within a few tenths of a pound. The other scale... not so much. The computer was DOA. Fortunately the company sent me a label and paid for return shipping then refunded the cost of the scale. Unfortunately, that meant moving the scale from wheel-to-wheel and leveling up everything twice (three times if you count the tail, but that was easy). My wife brought lunch and helped watch the ramps while I pushed the plane, and our son kept running circles bringing whatever tools, blocks, etc I called for. It was fun, and they were a huge help. Final weight: 1068 lbs w/o wheel pants

-Calibrated fuel tanks. This was fun. I put about a gallon in, which, by the time we warmed up the engine and taxi'd down to the fuel pump, was mostly gone. After leveling the plane, a friend pumped two gallons at a time while I pushed the calibration buttons on the Dynon.

This was also the first taxi test. Brakes were a little squeaky, but they're new and probably need to be cleaned off and "burnt in" a little bit. It does appear that one of the line fittings needs to be replaced because it developed a drip. Probably have to bleed them again once that's done, but it shouldn't be too big a deal.

Just a few items remain before it is ready for inspection.
-Labeling Cockpit items, required placards, and switch labels
-Flap position sensor rigged and calibrated with VP-X
-Passenger air vent
-Cut the passenger control stick to length, add a handle, and connect the existing wire to a ptt button
-Secure a few wires here and there
-Finish my tailwheel endorsement!

Most everything (except the endorsement) could be done in a day if necessary, but if you've seen my other post, you know that there has been some issue trying to contact the DAR I'm working with. Hoping that he'll be back in touch soon.

Couple of photos from before wingtips were finished...
oPn.jpg


oWA.jpg


oPs.jpg


oWL.jpg
 
That is a whole lot of Awesome! How long did the wing tip hinge work take, if you wouldn't mind enlightening me?
 
Prob about 6 hours per side by the time they were all riveted. More time than that on the tips themselves, but that pretty much took care of the hinges, riblets, and securing the pins.
 
Prob about 6 hours per side by the time they were all riveted. More time than that on the tips themselves, but that pretty much took care of the hinges, riblets, and securing the pins.

Thank you. Trying to judge how I am progressing and how much time does this or that take...roughly.

Thanks again
 
Definitely. I get two hours every morning before the family wakes up. This, I judge jobs in how many ?days? it?s going to take!
 
Airworthiness 2/15/19

Happy Valentines Day to Me!
Don Scarfone from up in Bear, DE drove down to perform the airworthiness inspection. The plane has been ready to go for about 3 weeks now, save for some last minute items that have been hanging onto the bottom of the "to do" list for what seems like forever. All were minor things, like painting the glareshield flat black, sticking on necessary placards, making sure the jamb nuts on the elevator hinges were tight :D, etc. Fortunately we've had a string of warm days recently, and so a sunny 75 degree day a couple of weeks ago presented the perfect opportunity to get these knocked off the list.

The inspection went just about like the one he performed on my Zenith four years ago. Didn't check every nut and bolt, but seemed to know what he was looking for and went right to those areas.

Most importanly, he stood still and smiled for the obligatory "handshake" picture :)
oWu.jpg
 
First Flight

I believe there is a law that states RV videos must be accompanied by music from the Top Gun soundtrack, so I've obliged :)

https://youtu.be/nAumTL5TRLs

First flight was a thrilling experience! After literally jumping off the ground, the plane flew flawlessly. Left wing was a little heavy, but nothing the trim couldn't handle. Flight was 30 minutes, directly above the field at around 3k', and mostly at 75% power to seat the rings. Winds were a little gusty up high, and it was overcast, but all was calm on the ground. I did two stalls before coming down to confirm the airspeed indicator and returned for a pretty smooth landing.


Couple of squawks included the flap circuit blowing at 20* down every time. With the VP-X, it can be reset, would retract fine, then blow again at about half-flaps. Worked fine on the ground. Turns out, one of the plastic covered spade connectors I used to connect it had pulled out slightly and would contact the flap motor at about that position. Reconnected it and taped over both wires then secured them so they wouldn't move like that again.

The landing light circuit also blew. Turns out it just needed to be set at a higher amperage in the VP-x.

Finally, I landed and found a pretty good oil slick dripping from the lower cowling. After plenty of cleaning and ground running, it became apparent that the oil temperature probe gasket had gotten cocked when it was put on. Gasket was replaced and is holding and dry. There is some oil up front that looks like it might be coming from one of the smaller through bolts that doubles for retaining the hall effect sensor for the CPI ignition. I'm going to try some wicking locktite and see if that helps there.

Aside from those minor little things, she runs great! 75% power resulted in about 165kts true without wheelpants, and the climb is unbelievable. Third flight occurred this morning and with an OAT of about 35 degrees the initial climb rate was about 2500fpm! Ran for 30 minutes at power, then practiced landings at KGED. I'll say this: paved runways are definitely harder to land on than grass!

Thanks to the vans community and to this forum for all the help and support along the way. Keep Building
 
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