Mid-May Progress
It has been a while between traveling for work, turn-over for my new job, and working at a feverish pace to finish before I move next month so posting has been at the bottom of the list. My oldest son keeps asking though and I have discovered that he and his friends visit this site often to look at the aircraft and my progress. He now tells me he wants to be an engineer (aerospace?). All of my kids are really excited about the project coming to it's conclusion and look forward to flying when they come out.
It is hard to really convey the progress being made since much of it is finish work on the not-so-glorious "guts". But here goes ...
While we got the wings on last month, I waited to permanently attached them with the bolts until I knew for sure I no longer needed access. After deep freezing the bolts for a couple days and a little bit of grease, only a medium-sized "influencer" was needed to get all 8 CT bolts plus the 2 non-CT bolts per side in place. What took some time was getting the nuts on the bolts on the front side. My hands are not small and the space is tight. NOTE: There are two bolt/nut combinations on the bottom that you must use care when tightening because of the space to the gear mount. Do NOT start the nut on the bolt then hammer the bolt in further ... the nut will tend to get destroyed. Yeah, that was fun backing that bolt back out.
Once the wings were on, wiring and pitot/fuel lines could all be connected. I had Aircraft Specialty make the fuel hoses and I couldn't be happier. I originally screwed up the order but they swapped it out no problem. These guys are awesome. I did learn they will send you fittings that can be used with a plastic tube to determine the EXACT length you need. Next time.
One of the "fiddly bits" was to set the breakout force for the nose wheel. A digital fish scale worked great.
Over the weekend the first set of fluids were "transfused" into the aircraft. After much hydraulic fluid on the hands (and floor), I learned how to bleed brakes.
Finishing up the baffles and fitting the cowling has been slow progress but I am hoping to be complete by next weekend and ready for the first engine run.
Like others, the Superior IO-360 with the Airflow Performance fuel control doesn't quite fit the stock IO cowling. A hole in the bottom side was necessary and I will glass it over later in the week.
I am sure we will come up with an appropriate modification name.
The clock is ticking until the movers get here at the end of the month and until then, long hours at the airport with the cowling and canopy remaining. At least it is only a 4 1/2 hour drive from work to the airport here so weekends will be filled with finishing up this summer.