Tonight I installed the remaining engine fluid fittinga on the back of the engine, at least those that need to be installed before the engine is hung. The only exception was the fuel pump overflow, where the fitting is on, but the clear tube isn’t. I’m waiting on parts from Vans before I can do that step.
I also installed the ground strap, and the governor and governor bracket, bending the fuel line out of the way, and clocking the governor lever to the right position.
Tonight I made the governor bracket, and test fit the governor. The bracket was trivial, and once it was completed I primed it with some spray can primer. I took the cover off the governor mounting pad, cleaned it up, then test fit the governor. Everything was fine, although I need to buy some lock washers.
Today I installed the sender mount onto the firewall, then I spent time unboxing the engine and installing various fluid fittings.
The sender mount was simple. I elected to keep the third port because I’m going to use the Aircraft Speciality P-Mag mod that uses the third port.
Unboxing the engine was exciting, and a bit messy. I pulled away the cardboard box, and then broke down the foam surrounding the engine. I only went as far as I needed to access the various fluid fittings on the back of the engine. I got most of the fittings installed, hopefully I can finish installing the last couple tomorrow.
Tonight I installed the master relay and started solenoid, wiring it up and torquing all the bolts and nut’s appropriately.
I emailed Vans and on their advice switched from the split washers shipped with these components to stainless internal tooth star washers. They are slightly thinner and allow more threads to show through after torquing the nuts. With the original washers, there were not enough threads showing where WH-P769 attaches to the master relay. With the new washer, it’s still not ideal, but seems ok.
The firewall is starting to look a little more crowded now.
Tonight, after several weeks break, I finally did some more work on the plane. I installed a few components onto the firewall; the manifold pressure sensor, the master relay and starter solenoid. the manifold pressure sensor isn’t actually installed yet, I had to prime the mount, but I located the parts and got them ready to go.
Tonight I installed the battery. Just a couple of steps was all I had time for tonight. I finished fabricating the battery bar, installed it, then installed the little grommet that sits on the side of the box.
Tonight I read through the firewall forward plans and then got started on step 1, making the battery box cover. I trimmed the seal to size then deburred and primed the cover.
Tonight I spent a few minutes installing the seatbelt shoulder harness cables. These mount to the seatbelt lugs, which are located at the baggage area rear bulkhead. The cables protrude forward and allow a seatbelt shoulder harness to attach at a location just behind the seats. Small job, but needs to be done.
Then I decided to finally open up the engine box. This has been sitting unopened since the engine arrived in January. It was exciting to see the engine, if only the top portion. I took out the documentation and spent time reading through it.
Tonight I only had a few minutes to work on the plane, so I bolted the flap door assembly to the tunnel cover. It was fun to play with the flap door mechanism, and once again admire the precision of these pre-punched parts.
With guidance from Vans, I trimmed about 1/16th off the leading edge of the cable clamp bracket, then primed it., match drilled it, and riveted into place.
