RV-7 N117TR

I must be dreaming, the wing strobe wires were the last wires to terminate.

There will be many more wires as I add stuff in the future, but done for now.

I double checked the aileron alignment and torqued everything down and finished the aileron trim.



I hooked up the battery again and set the flaps and checked the landing/nav/strobe lights (all working yeah!). A couple pics of the joggle I put in the flap to fit the lower fuse.



The flap/aileron/wingtip gaps are pretty decent, my right wing tip is about 1/8 off vertically. The flap to aileron pic shows the nylon aileron stop on the hinge.



I'm satisfied with the fit of everything except the wingtip plexi, both sides now sport bulges that weren't there when I fitted them last winter.


My nylon wheel aileron stops put me within the angle of aileron travel. I spent 3 hours readjusting the elevator pushrods, things just didn't work after the ailerons were hooked up. Frustrated I took an early sack lunch and came back and found the problem, the foam pipe covers on aileron push/pull tubes in the wing ribs was limiting the elevator travel. Silly me, removed the foam and everything was gravy!
I also installed the canopy slider rails and started filing my wing root ribs.

My brother and I tweaked the canopy blocks and set the canopy.
My fairings still fit pretty decent.


I made these little brackets to help tuck the rear fairings in. I used some stiff paper to get the basic angles and shape before making it out of metal.

I used some paper draped over and clecoed to the windscreen to make a pattern for the top windscreen fairing.

Cut the fairing and drilled one hole in the center, this let me slightly adjust the fairing to let it lay naturally. Everything lined up pretty well and drilled the holes with a hole finder. Pretty happy with the fit of the rough cut.




Filled the gas can in .5 gallon increments, and poured 4 gallons in each tank. Unhooked the fuel hose at the carb and used a piece of hose to pour in the marked gas can. Ran the electric fuel pump for 3 min and got just over 1 gallon (20 gall/hr) so I believe I am good fuel flow wise. I also removed the spark plugs and loosened the oil pressure line into a bottle. It took about 5 10 second cranks to get oil primed in the oil pressure line.

Huge day today, first engine start was a success! Unfortunately I don't think I have the bandwidth to post the video. We chocked the wheels and tied down the tail and my brother was on fire duty. It started at the end of the 2nd 10 seconds of cranking, my 1/2 inch of throttle only yielded about 460 RPMs. It chugged to life, had good oil pressure and was really smooth at 1500 rpm. Main Alt works, EGT/CHT pressures and temps all seem in line, not sure if my SD8 came on line when I shut the main Alt off or I didn't configure the EBUS amps correctly in the G3X. Ran it for 3 min and hottest CHT was 220. I didn't get a rpm rise at idle cutoff so I need to read up on adjusting the airscrew and setting the idle, overall pretty awesome. It's also a small pregame for the first flight, If I'm going to do the first flight I need to fly the first flight in the hanger several times. Seems like checking the gauges and dong the first start was a blur, I could've taken better notes for sure.



I double checked for fuel and oil leaks, I did find a very small seep of fuel along the copper crush washer/lock washer at the carb inlet screen. Not sure if I need a new washer or add permatex to the threads.


I had read about fitting trouble of the wing root fairing rubber and was avoiding it, I filed to 3/16 clearance fit the rubber channel and it fit like a glove! The seal does have a top and a bottom, one direction isn't conducive to bending at 90. I did use my drivers license to position the seal around the leading edge.


Thanks to Ray for dropping by and giving my plane another once over and things to touch up before my airworthiness inspection.

I finished (still have to dimple and edge roll) my windscreen fairings, no special bending just cut to the shape of my template. Overall I'm happy with them, I like working with fiberglass but I made these in the time it would take me to do 1 layup. Plus it's something different!



I did a good job of service loops and wire runs except the center tunnel. After everything was bundled it seemed to shrink and I was several inches shy of the tunnel cover fitting. I couldn't find a decent wire stretcher and I didn't want to rerun all of the wires I opted to make the center tunnel 2 pieces with an angle. I've heard it on the forums before but make sure to run enough wire, it took me half the day to come up with this solution and its still not done.

I finally finished the center tunnel/heat box. Sending my carpet back to Oregon Aero to have the angle area cut out.


I had to trim a relief notch around the cover in front of the spar for my wire runs on the side.


Side panels installed, I made these out of .032 a while back.



Edge rolled the fairings and removed the plastic from the plexi, Dusty CropperHopper no more!



A Lear and a Malibu in the same day with a 421 practicing approaches, airport was hopping. Thanks Dave for stopping by and I look forward to my motivational ride!

Finished up the wing root fairings, floor foam and a list from my tech counselor. I also updated my builders insurance to first flight, builders policy didn't cover anything with the engine running.
I also redid the FAB to cowl seal per plans, no pics cuz I somehow drilled through my fingernail and was sidetracked. Cleaned up the hanger from the last couple weeks of progress.
Tomorrow morning planning on double checking FWF, richening the idle screw, cowling up and doing taxi test and a full power run.

Found some fuel leaking on top of the FAB to carb plate after sitting overnight seeping from the bottom of the carb. No fuel inside the airbox.

Hoping it fixes itself but I may have to pull the carb apart and check the float height.
Pic of my new FAB to cowl seal.

I adjusted the idle mixture screw and did some taxi test today. I found the idle mixture set at 3/4 turns out, I turned it out to 1 1/2 and it idled much smoother but no rpm increase at idle cutoff. I turned out 1 3/4, smooth idle and 20 rpm increase at idle cutoff. Full power run was 2070-2080 Rpm, maybe a little on the low side. I'll have to check with Catto and see what he thinks. Taxi was great, no surprises, brakes were stiff but much better than other taildraggers I've flown. I now have .2 on the airplane! In the pic you can also see my fuel flow close to my test results before, I was pumping the tanks dry to find unusable fuel. I started with 4 gallons in each tank, ran the engine 3 short times and pumped over 7 gallons back out.

Fuel seems to be dripping from the inside of the carb, still not sure why.

Thanks to Ray for helping me rivet most of the top skin on, still have to do the longerons. 3-5 rivets looked to short and 3-6 were too long, going to get some 3-5.5 for the longerons.


Cold compression check was good, all 77/80. It was my first airplane compression check, thanks again to Ray for teaching me. Since my engine doesn't have any mags/impulse coupling to click as a TDC giveaway, it took a little practice to find TDC. It really gives you an appreciation of the pressure/ power on the prop blade if your slightly off TDC. Pic shows a later shot, 76/79.

I got ahold of the shop that originally overhauled my carb, he said the needle and seat needed to be adjusted and to send it back and he would fix it.
I made some poster board templates just in case I want some sort of fabric glare shield.

Krazy glue is your friend for small hardware in hard to reach places. I glued the washers to the nuts, inserted into a box end wrench to get it in place.

I also used Krazy glue to glue washers to the roll bar match the windscreen to the canopy.

I wanted a watertight seal so I installed the fairings and used electrical tape over the windscreen. I removed the fairings and put a small bead of proseal underneath the fairing, it took some cleanup on the metal with a rag and acetone but I think it turned out all right. I'll know tomorrow when I remove the tape.


I'm going to have to get more sidewalk chalk for the hanger, the girls had all the food groups and then some displayed until the next rain.

Well, they had my favorite group, TREATS! Your plane is looking good. How about a few shots of the whole plane? I'm going through builders withdraw being stuck in Michigan without my plane!

Dang, I had it all together on Fri for taxi test and I was too excited for pictures. Today the carb is in the mail to Arkansas, tape over the windscreen, panel is on the bench, canopy is on the floor waiting padding/tape and I need to pull some interior panels to get to some rivets. Oh we'll that's the story of most builds, put it together, take it apart and repeat!

Removed the tape and all is good, I will probably touch up the proseal in a few spots to make sure I don't have any leaks though.


Thanks to Ray for helping me rivet the windscreen fairings and longeron rivets. I need some AN426-3-6.5's to rivet the last 10 on each side. They are going to be kinda tough to buck under the canopy deck. These are the last rivets on the airplane, Wow!

I also fabricated my baggage/kiddo seat tie downs in the baggage compartment but no pics.

My second try at the cargo/kiddie seat anchors. I didn't trust the rivnuts to hold in a crash scenario. I made the anchors out of .125 aluminum tapped for the 5/16 ring and a large area washer and nut JB welded on the back (wanted more surface area than a nutplate). I blind riveted to the fuse bulkhead and baggage floor rib. I planned on using a 3 point tie down system with a standard car seat for kiddos.



The two rings in place with the bulkhead cover. I drilled holes for the tie downs through the bulkhead cover for easy on/off.


I made a .063 angle to capture the top of the bulkhead, center rib/slider rail and top tie down. I drilled out the existing rivets and re riveted the angle in assembly with the existing 1/4 inch threaded rod and another AN 4 bolt. I'm going to plastic coat the D ring tonight so it doesn't jingle.

I drilled 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the canopy horizontal rails so I could shake out the leftover blind rivet pieces.


I bought some industrial strength velcro at Wal-Mart, I wasn't expecting much but it's pretty decent stuff, I used the soft side under the rear canopy skirts. The self adhesive works really well, even the little pieces I trimmed off stuck to everything.

My dad and I just drove the last 20 rivets on the RV!!! Last airplanes he riveted on were repairing B-52's in the 60's.

I pulled my carb off and shipped it to Larkin at Tri-States Airmotive in Ar on Monday, the float needed adjusting and the gasket on the accelerator pump had rolled. I'm excited to get it back next week and get this thing weighed!

Short session after work and picking up kiddos from school. I prosealed the edges of the canopy in my good clothes, Very Daring! As far as I can tell no proseal on my clothes or canopy where it's not supposed to go! I used a large syringe lots of gloves, electrical tape and cleaned up any stray proseal immediately.


I also installed the $17 battery I finally found at radio shack in the ELT, I still can't believe it was $17 for a battery 1/2 the size of an AA.

I installed the Experimental sticker, seatbelts and played with the flap position sensor bracket.

I notched a corner of the panel and used a rubber bushing for the wires on my under glare shield led lights.


On the lowest setting with the Kick dimmer, I think it's very doable for retaining night vision and seeing in the cockpit. If anything it could be a little dimmer, but for less than $30 for the LEDs and dimmer I'm happy.



On full blast, it really lights things up.


I took a pic with the Whalen strobes/navs and landing lights on at night, guess which side has the 75 watt Hid vs the 50 watt Hid? Duck works was having trouble importing the bulbs at the time, instead of waiting on an indefinite back order for the 50 watt I put the 75 watt on the right. I'm going to have some aiming to do but will probably use the 50 for taxi and 75 for ldg.


Kind of a crappy pic, the crescent moon through the prop and runway lights looked much better in person.

The Velcro pad under the canopy skirts was too thick, the canopy didn't want to close the last half inch. The industrial Velcro stuff from WalMart was pretty amazing, pretty sure it's better than welding....It took me 45 minutes to pull it off, kind of like skinning a catfish but much harder!


I bought this 3M citrus based adhesive remover to remove the leftover glue, appears to be plexiglass safe. I did get some overspray on the Plexi in the 30 minutes and countless sprays it took to clean the glue off.


I replace the Velcro with this 3M paint protection film from spruce, I almost sent it back though. When I pulled the tape out it was just a plastic strip with no adhesive. I double checked the website and it said it had adhesive on one side, I spent 5 minutes with fingernails and a dental pick to get the wrapper off of the tape. Besides the PIA of removing the backing I think it's pretty good stuff


My carb came in the mail today, and its reinstalled. I posted a question about the stiffness in the throttle arm several months back, the throttle arm feels much better now. I think the rolled seal on the accelerator pump was semi binding up the throttle arm before. Before re-cowling I put a wrench on most of the connections and found the #2 cylinder oil return AN fitting loose. I was actually checking the tightness of the flare nut when I felt the NPT threads of the fitting give a little. I removed it, added some permatex to the threads and retightened it 1 1/4 turns after snug.


I forgot to get any pics with the scales, but thanks to my cobra car building buddy the airplane now has a basic empty weight. 1038 lbs, not to shabby as I was hoping for 1080 or less. Of course there's more radios etc when i get the money but it was with carpet, heated seats, armrests etc.

I put the tail numbers on this morning, I tried to parallel the stiffener on the fuse. As I read the FAR's my 3 inch tall letters needed to be spaces 1 inch apart. I drew reference marks on the letters paper, lined up the long edge of the letter (top or side) reference marks with the marks on the fuse. Came out pretty well.


Drained the unusable fuel from the right tank (flop tube), and it was right at 12 oz. The standard fuel pickup on the left tank was 2oz.


All leveled and ready for some $$. Calibrated the right tank, I thought the voltage values were a little odd, 11.915 for 1 gallon and 11.936 for 20 gallons. The left tank showed .002 volts. Dang something is amiss so I decided to put the plan away and investigate it later.


My cobra friend drove his car out to help me calibrate the tanks. Really sweet car, custom suspension etc.

Forgot to mention I did another engine/taxi test since I reinstalled the carb, everything appears to be good but I did t pull the cowl.

Thanks to Chris from Steinair for talking me through my fuel sending unit issue. When I did the fuel pickup safety bulletin 6 months ago I double checked the resistance of the fuel sending unit and all appeared normal. I did hookup the wires backwards on the left tank though. I believe I hooked up the wires backwards on the right tank as well but its not easy to double check because of the flop tube installation. I believe I can check the wires at the connector side of the wire to find which one is the ground so I don't have to pull he tank. If I did hook up the wires backwards I can just swap the pins on he connector, note my wiring diagrams and I should be back in business. If these are the only wires I hooked up wrong on he airplane I'm still doing pretty dang good. I'm glad I waited and called Steinair because I had almost talked myself into pulling the sending unit, sometimes it's best to walk away from the project.

I finally made it back out to the hanger, my spare time was spent replacing the water heater at home. I'm glad I made the panel removable, I swapped the pins for the fuel sending units and reassembled 4 gallons into the calibration it still wasn't right. My right and left was reversed. Back into the panel to swap pins yet again. 3 rd time was a success, I ended up using 1/2 gallon increments because that was the easiest to pour. I poured 1/2 gallon in, wrote the total gallons on paper, refilled the 1/2 gallon pitcher, than the fuel had settled enough in the tank to hit calibrate on the G3X. Some starting voltage value would have been nice to have so I would've known if I had things wired up right before adding fuel. 0 gallons = 2.237 volts and 17 gallons topped the float at .301 volts. I made a drain hose/valve to screw into the 1/8 NPT quick drain to make things safer and less messy.


The chemical pitcher I bought at Orschelns, I aimed for 66-68 oz per 1/2 gallon so my gauges will error on the safe side. I ended up with 21 gallons usuable and a smidge to spare in the level flight attitude.

I bought some clevis rod ends and threaded rod at the hobby store for the POS12 flap position sensor. The Clovis had a locking tab for the pin.


I made a little aluminum bracket with a small 90 angle to fit on an adel clamp and hold one end of the threaded rod.


I made an angle bracket attached with nutplates, it took some finagling but I finally got the geometry right.


I put on the square rubber edge trim for the glare shield edge I got from McMaster Carr. Cheap, easy and looks pretty decent.


The wife/baby helped me do the runup AHRS vibration test, along with their first taxi in the airplane. I also completed the magnometer interference/calibration, GPS interference and touched up a few other configuration items.


How many turbine DC-3's are based at your airport? I was buried in my cockpit when I heard the Chirping of two tires, followed by a smaller chirp. Must have been a greaser of a wheel landing!

I found a little oil leaking from the #4 oil return AN fitting, I had to use an adjustable wrench on the flare side to help break it loose. I reinstalled a new fitting today and re-torqued all the intake/exhaust bolts, they had loosened slightly.


I spent the morning taking the plane back apart and replacing a couple of thick washers with thin washers to get another thread through the nylocks.

My Carburetor still seeps a little fuel from the bottom of the bowl overnight, I'm beginning to suspect the bowl may be cracked. Yeah, remove it one more time, ship it off to have the bowl replaced.


I'm still in limbo on an inspection, FSDO guys are back but aren't allowed to do certifications yet. Supposed to get back with them next Friday. I'm going to spend the next week and a half to get some transition training and finishing some piddly stuff.

I couldn't make a dcision on the lower empanage fairings, the plans version didn't work out so good. I originally filed the metal to a 1/32 gap, I then filed and fit the rubber channel onto the fairing with the lip on on outside. It actually seems to tuck up rather nicely. I still haven't decided which way to go.



I need to make the center tunnel a tad taller to clear the fuel filter.

I decided to play with the lower emp fairings some more, I was satisfied with the metal/rubber except there isn't a good way to transition ( that I found) it to the upper fiberglass fairing.
Since I've got extra fiberglass goodies laying around I'm only out a couple hours if I make some lower emp fairings out of fiberglass and don't like them. Thanks to DanH's sticky under the fiberglass forum, pretty easy if you take a little time to prep and minimize the mess.
I don't have any fiberglass tape so I cut strips out of my fiberglass sheet with the wife's quilting cutting utinsels.


The 4 mil plastic DanH recommended worked great, I've used thinner but it wanted to make little creases/folds in the fiberglass. Here's the 4 layers of 9oz crowfoot soaking in some west systems epoxy ready to be rolled/squeegeed.


I taped up the fuse/emp with some easy peel packing tape, short sections of tape (1 inch or so wide) attached to the fuse first and rolled up to the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer seemed to give a nice radius for the fiberglass to lay on. I worried about making a decent radius between the fuse and emp but it was pretty easy once I started taping it up. I stuck the fiberglass strips with the plastic on one side (like DanH says) to the emp/fuse and it stuck fine. I massaged it I'm place slightly, pulled off the plastic and added a layer of peel ply. We'll see how they turn out tomorrow!

I finally made some progress sealing my canopy, the bulb seal I tried was too thin. 5/16 thick worked on half the rollbar, but needed 7/16 for an airtight fit. McMaster-Carr didn't have another bulb seal (cheap) that would fit th bill so I bought two different densities of foam 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch thick. I like the feel of the neoprene Wx resistant foam (not prone to ripping/tearing) but it was too dense. After applying it to the roll bar the canopy was 1/8 inch from closing. The super cushioning polyurethane water resistant foam worked well, it went on in 1 piece 1 inch wide and 1/2 thick with the adhesive backing. The canopy closes and the foam compresses well.



For the side skirt seal I used the same EPDM 2x36x1/16 rubber Pat and Bob used. Using Bob's recommendation I put a pice of cardboard against the slider rail and traced the fuselage curve from underneath. Using 3/4 inch height on each edge gave a 1 inch height in the middle. The extra height in the middle gives more sealing material since the skirt is farther from the slider rail in the middle. Thanks for the tip Bob!


I ran the seal 1/2 inch under the windscreen fairing and put a bead of superglue at the slider rail/canopy deck junction in 6 inch increments. I can't believe how well the superglue worked, I also ran a bead of superglue on the outside edge of the rubber to the canopy deck. I was going to use the superglue to temporarily hold it in place and back it up with some weatherstrip adhesive but I don't think it needs it.


From the previous pic you can see I extended the skirt seal all the way back. I used some of the leftover neoprene foam as a backing for the rubber seal aft on the canopy pin blocks.


Since I had the canopy off anyway I decided to make a doghouse plug for the slider rail. I have the original UHMW plug from vans but its so flimsy after I sanded it enough too fit I'm not confident it will work. I used packing tape on the doghouse and leftover foam to build up the edges, waxed it up and poured in some west systems epoxy/filler/flox. We will see if it will make a usable wedge to seal the rear slider rail.


Thanks to Bob, Pat and Bob for all of the ideas, especially Bob for letting me observe the seals in action!

My fiberglass lower emp fairing turned out pretty decent, but I think I'm going to use the metal fairings only first. After I'm flying I can sand/fill/teak the fiberglass.
I got to finish up the evening with a little transition training, I haven't flown for 4 months. It's been 5 months since I've flown a taildragger. Overall I was happy with myself, the pedals/seat were set up a little tight for me and I landed with the brakes on a bit the first landing. Landing 5 or 6 I bounced it in, overall a fun success! I had a great RV friend to teach me, he said 3 points and normal wheel landings didn't seem to work well in his 7. A tailwheel low wheel landing seemed to work quite well, same technique that seems to work in my friends tailwind. My initial impressions were the light control forces of the RV, Yet the rudder was much more effective than a champ/citabria. The elevator pressure seemed different though, raising the tail on takeoff and raising the Nose during the flare seemed to go from heavy to light and vice versa Very fast. It's amazing how well an RV flys when compared to the certified planes.

I bought these painters coveralls at WalMart hoping to use a sleeve for the aileron boot. The material is too breathable though, Still hunting for the cheap/easy solution.


I filled between the spar/fuse side with a stack of neoprene foam I bought for the rollbar to canopy seal.



My fiberglass plug for the canopy slider rail came out pretty decent, now to trim and cut a slot for the rail.


Another night of transition training, I'm really feeling spoiled by the airplane. I think I flew better last night, I reverted to trying to milk the flare tonight. I believe the shorter wing/design reduces ground effect and you can actually put the airplane on the ground. Floating and dissipating all the energy to a full stall three point ends up with the tailwheel contacting first.
I should find out tomorrow if the local FSDO can inspect my plane after the furlough aftermath.

My fuel filter was hitting the center tunnel cover of my RV-7, I needed to add an 1/8-1/4 clearance. I decided to make an access panel to service the filter, instead of stacking up some .063 strips to gain the clearance I decided to try the technique in this thread. It's underneath the carpet and a little rounded bump would work much better than a jagged square.

I made a sandbag out of an old pant leg, sewed the ends and filled it with sand.


I cut the oval shape out of some scrap 3/4 plywood and 1/4 masonite, mdf on both sides would have left crisper lines but I already had it. I sandwiched some scrap .032 Aluminum between the wood and screwed it down. I didn't have any body hammers so I used a slightly rounded flush set and my rivet gun. I had the shape hammered out and cleaned up in just a couple of minutes, I couldn't believe how good this worked!



I cut the excess off, used the handseamers to tweak the edges a little, add some nutplates and It's a fuel filter tunnel bump! Thanks for the Tips!

My canopy doghouse plug is starting to take shape.

I bought a 3.6 volt Hitachi Litium ion screwdriver, pretty disappointed after loving my 18 volt Hitachi lithium drill. I returned it and bought a Milwaukee screw driver, it was double the price but puts out 175 in/lbs instead of 40 in/lbs. the 40 in/lb Hitachi wouldn't drive #6 screw into a fresh nutplate, I think I'm going to like it. It should pay for itself putting all the screws in before I fly. Pic of my New and Old Milwaukee.

For now I'm just using the metal lower empennage fairing, I can play with the fiberglass ones after I'm flying.


I wanted to fly it first without the CG Ring but I'm trying to find things to do while I wait on my carb. I was going to re torque the prop so I figured I might as well install the ring. My first weight of 1038 and CG of 82.64 inches was pretty good, but I run into aft cg issues with 330 lb passengers and 100 lbs baggage and 0 fuel. Gross weight is 416 lb pass, full fuel and 100 lb baggage the CG is 88.16 which is 1.34 aft the rear limit and gets worse as fuel is burned. I've heard that the 12 ish lbs moves the CG forward about 3/4 inch, I think 1 1/2 would be about perfect. We'll see next week.

I checked my pitot system for leaks today, I used some latex tubing ($18!!!) to controllably pressurize the pitot line by rolling it up and clamping it. Checked out OK, pressurized to 145.5 knts and lost 1 kt in 2 min.




Static system has a leak somewhere .

I replaced my water heater several weeks ago and made some chicks out of the old PVC.


I still haven't received my carb, still waiting on parts. I hope it comes soon so I can get my inspection.

I finally got my carb back with a new bowl and Kelly aerospace metal float. Its installed and awaiting leak and run test in the next day or two. I forgot about having to file off the shoulder of the casting around the drain plug so the FAB plate will sit flush.


I finally updated the databases in the G3X thanks to the fine folks at Garmin. For whatever reason the updates wouldn't write to a 8 GB SD card, I had to use a 4 GB.

My inspection is scheduled yet again for Dec 4, not much to do but clean and organize.

New bowl on the carb wouldn't run right, long story short it was running lean. Idle screw 6 turns out and it never ran rich, pumping the throttle 6 or 7 times would yield a smooth running 1800 Rpms but pulling the carb heat would increase 100 Rpms. An A&P friend helped me pull the carb apart, we expected to see a blocked passage of some sort, everything looked good. It ran good before I sent the carb back to have the bowl replaced so I knew the problem was in the bowl.
I got the old bowl back in the mail today and I think I found the problem.
Pic of the new bowl, notice the 1 port next to the mixture metering sleeve.


Pic of the original bowl, note 2 total ports 1 on each side of the mixture metering sleeve. I'm going to do some more research but I'm thinking he lack of this second port in the new bowl was causing my lean condition.


I cut my losses and ordered a rebuilt carb from another vendor, and modified yet another bowl to fit the FAB plate. All three drain ports on the bowls have been slightly different sizes.
Flange to be filed flush.


Done filing.


FAB plate attached, proseal not pictured is currently drying sealing the drain to the FAB.


I made a cheap preheater, electric heater with a 3 inch roof vent and 3 inch dryer hose.


Several local airports have "lips" of concrete off the grass runways, I decided to get the Bell Tailfork because it is a drop on replacement for Vans.


No static leak after all, it was my syringe to hose leaking. I'm hoping to install the carb and Tailfork tomorrow with an engine run on Monday. Fingers crossed after that I've just got paperwork to do before my Dec 4 inspection.

New carb installed with a light to help the proseal on the FAB top plate cure and keep things semi warm for a test run tomorrow.


Bell tailwheel fork was a piece of cake to install, maybe 15 minutes total.


No pics but I viewed my checklists on the G3X using Garmin's heck list editor software. I wanted to see how the checklist were displayed and accessed before I spent time finalizing my checklist. Seems each "Group" checklist is available via a soft key, I was hoping it was formatted this way instead of one long continuous checklist. I think I will have 3 groups:
1-Engine Start
2-Runup
3-Emergency
A little more formatting and ill have the checklist complete.
As a side note, I had a "EIS hardware failure" message when I turned the G3X on. My oil temp was missing, not sure if something broke while it was sitting or if it has something to do with the 14 degrees last night.

I couldn't get the G3 X EIS hardware failure to ever re-appear. Must have fixed itself. Oil temp showed as __ because it was less than the 40 degree threshold. Meanwhile a red X means my #2 EGT probe went south. I connected the #2 leads to the #4 probe and the problem stayed with the #2 probe. Ohm meter on the good probe showed continuity between both leads and each lead separately to the probe body. The bad probe showed no continuity between the probes or the yellow wire and the probe body. More after I talk to the experts.

Long story short, my carb seems to run a little lean. Idle screw out 3-6 turns and it runs fine, no increase in RPM on idle cut off. Less than 2 1/2 turns and it stumbles between 700-1000 RPM when slowly increasing the throttle. Running at 1700 RPM leaning only gains 20ish RPM.
I even tried the air screw from my previous MA4-5 carb which was visibly different from my new carb.

For as different as the airscrews looked I was surprised in how little difference it ran. My guess is my idle jet is too small and after the air screw gets much over 2 turns out it doesn't do much. I'm going to talk to the Marvel Schebler guys tomorrow.
If it was the typical rental aircraft I wouldn't have even noticed it, I'm being a little picky with mine. I've read several threads on the archives on VAF about drilling the main jet out a couple of # drill bits, after they're flying. I may have to do this with my main and idle jets, we'll see.
Inspection is only 3 days away.......parting shot of my 7 while adjusting the air screw on the ramp on the last 50 degree day I might feel for a while.

Inspection passed yesterday!


I did most of the reassembly today. I had to do a little massaging and filing in a couple places but after several hundred screws the inside is together.


Tomorrow I need to put on the cowl and re-weigh it. Than a short flight in a friends RV6 around lunchtime and see if I'm ready for the first flight in the afternoon.

I'm still feeling the Grin, its been 8 years and 11 months.......and it's just starting.



I can't say enough about the VAF community, it wouldn't have been possible for me without you guys.

I was so nervous at lunchtime I wasn't sure that I was ready, plane was ready but I was shaky. I've studied a lot about first flights and if you the builder are ready or not. I'm about a 2000ish hour pilot, 1500 ish dual given, 5 year 35 hour tailwheel pilot without a lot of recent experience. I spent about 7 hours 6 months ago in the back seat of a Citabria giving my first tailwheel endorsement. I am lucky enough to have received 6 great hours of instruction from the GustBusterGuy last month, Thanks so much Loal! Yesterday's forecasted winds for today were 360 @ 15G19. I would've cancelled for tomorrow except Doug (local RV6 builder/pilot) offered to give me some time in his 6 today shooting T&G's. winds ended up being 12 knts right down RWY35 and after bouncing Doug's 6 several times down the runway I knew I was as ready as I would ever be. A lot of anxiety/excitement happens on the first flight and I'm very thankful that I was prepared to do the first flight. Use the advice on VAF to help prepare yourself to do or not to do your own first flight. Pic of Doug and I..


Originally I was not going to do any high speed taxi test. After discussing this (and after transitions training) I decided a high speed taxi test was a good decision. Temp was 18 on the gnd but preheat before start had Oil and CHT's at 80. Startup, taxi and runup was perfect.
The only item not preflight checked was the handheld radio with the headset adapter, it had a hot mic and I decided to unplug the headset and use it that way. In flight I could transmit but not hear. In retrospect I should have shutdown and I could've trouble shot and used the headset and PTT on the radio and not the stick.
I pulled on the runway and slowly added about 1/3 throttle, airspeed came alive and rotated the tail off and pulled power to idle at 40knts and let the tail settle back down. I think it was important to establish basic airspeed readings and control inputs and gear tracking in this scenario.
I taxied back and went for the takeoff. Very easy 5 second count to full power, gauges green and I was up and away. Both tailwheel RV's I had previously flown were Hartzells so my Pfactor and climb with the Catto were less. 2CHTs were at 405/410, the others were around 390. I added some nose down trim and climbed at 125-130 IAS. Temps all fell below 390 after leveling off at 3000 for 15 min leaving WOT. Engine ran Great, I unconsciously kept climbing and averaged 151 knts IAS (160 TAS) 4-6000 without wheel/leg fairings and 15.2 GPH. Basic maneuvers as described in AC 90-89A for 40 min as well as an approach to stall to 55 IAS. Everything felt right with the airspeeds, but if I would have fixed the radio I could have verified with the chase plane.
I started my descent in the same extended left hand pattern over the airport, and made my first approach to landing. I anticipated my fixed pitch coasting more power off but I was still high on my first approach, I could've made the landing but the second time I heard that little voice in my head say "Your high, it's the first flight, a good landing starts on downwind and You've seen lots of ugly landings but never an ugly go around" I went around at about 400 AGL.
Next approach I compensated by pulling more power and had an excellent approach followed by a perfect 3 point a tad fast, small ballooning and bobbling between the 3 wheels. I think 3 landings on my first but all acceptable in my book.
After all the grinning and sighs of relief (my wife was so nervous she lost part of her lunch) we rolled her back in the hanger and pulled the top cowl.


Only item we found was some blue spatter on the cowl under #3 intake tube. A little finger running found the source around the intake tube, its not fuel/oil but our best guess is preservative oil. My instinct is to pull the intake tube and replace the gasket. Other wisdom says to wipe up the drip, check for intake leaks while running and fly again and see if the dribble re-appears. We'll see.


I also had a slightly heavy left wing, seemed balanced at 90 knts but I would guesstimate 1 lb right pressure at 150 IAS. Ball was almost centered, right foot resting on the right pedal centered it in cruise. I know the wing incidence/sweep, aileron/tooling holes, wingtip to aileron alignment is very close and the tail is very close, I suspect the left flap. During final assembly I shortened the left flap pushrod several turns to align it better with the neutral aileron. I need to check the flap positions and lower aileron pivot points reference the wings next.
The fun continues!

Awesome, Andy! Congrats on your first flight!

Awesome Andy!!!! I'm motivated to order my wings now!

Thanks!
I made it out to the airport today, Doug was kind enough to help me take the lower cowl off and do an induction leak test. Since it was 8 degrees Doug ran the engine for me while I sprayed starter fluid on the induction tubes. I was mostly concerned with the #4 cylinder with the blue goo under it. First sprays of starting fluid did nothing, it is incredibly windy (and freezing) that close to the prop at 1000 RPM. It would have been easier if I had a spray tube on the ether, but on the second try I but the nozzle 1 inch away from the induction tube gasket and sprayed. I noticed the engine shook just a smidge. I gave it another shot and the engine shook just a smidge, after 2 seconds of continuous spraying the engine started to cough and die. Induction leak confirmed. I used almost an entire can of starting fluid, next time I will have a tube so I can aim and concentrate it better. It took a lot of well aimed fluid to find the leak.

I also confirmed the issue on the PTT on the handheld, the mono-plug was shorted across the barrel and tip. Hopefully have both issues fixed tomorrow and decent wx for a Mon flight.

Andy, you wrote of carburetor trouble previously. Namely running too lean if memory serves. Do you think the induction leak created the lean running problem?

I'm sure it contributed to the problem. I had a major problem with the first carb after it had a new bowl put on it, the new rebuilt carb took 3-4 turns on the airscrew to run in the idle range correctly. I should've checked this sooner but It idled really well and the evidence didn't show until after the first flight. Plus i got on the lazy side after it got cold, preheating the engine, dragging the plane out in freezing weather and finding a pilot to run the engine for me while I sprayed starting fluid everywhere. I'm curious to find out where the idle screw will end up after I fix the leak.
Sometimes cutting small corners leads to endless circles...

I put a new intake gasket on #3 today and re torqued the intake /exhaust/fuel lines/hose clamps. The intake bolts all took another 10-15 in/lbs, a couple of exhaust flange bolts took a smidge, most of the hose clamps took 1/4 turn but all of the fuel lines were tight thank goodness.
I put the 3 nutplates on the inside of the cowl per plans, the nutplate on the inside was very close to the ringgear so i removed them. I'm going to fill the rearmost hole, 2 screws per side is plenty.


I originally set my spinner to cowl gap at 1/4-5/16, just enough room to put the cowl on but it's going to be very easy to scratch it after paint. I originally anticipated about 1/8-3/16 engine sag for the spinner/cowl alignment. My engine seemed to settle in (so far) about 1/8 lower after the first couple engine starts. Remains the same after 1 whole hour of flight time. I'm sure heavier props or lighter engines would produce different results.

Piddled on my PTT for the handheld while the engine was preheating , added some oil and took off. It's hard to fly in circles over the airport when things are running so good, even the heavy left wing wasn't so heavy. Like Van says in their "heavy wing" document I'm just going to fly it at least 10 hours first. Aileron trim was more than enough to counteract the roll, except I need to tighten the aileron trim handle so it won't move on its own. If everything is in order when I pull the cowl I may go for a little bit longer flight and find some cheap gas. I even ended up with a sweet wheel landing to finish up my .6

I like your aluminum "behind the prop" gap cover solution. It's time to redo mine one is cracked.