Engine Case Bolts

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I switched out two engine case bolts for longer versions. These are specific bolts, ordered from Lycoming, and are 1/8 longer than the originals. The Vans plans have you place a washer and a cushion clamp on these bolts (one on each side), and there aren’t enough threads showing if you use the original bolts. The clamps hold the starter lead on the left, and the alternator power wire on the right.

Replacing the bolts was fairly easy. The cushion clamps always a pain, but I was able to get enough fingers in there to make it work. The nuts are torqued to 96 inch pounds per Lycoming.

Note the couple of threads now showing on the bolt in the top center of the image. This clamp is holding the alternator power lead.
Note the unpainted bolt head in the top left of the picture. This is holding the clamp which holds the starter lead.
A view looking aft showing the left hand bolt threads protruding above the nut

Cowling Paint

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I painted the bottom cowling white. This required carefully masking the edges of the heat shield, and the exterior, and then a few seconds of actual paint application.

The paint was fine. I used a high temp enamel spray paint, and it went on nicely. The paint really showed up all the areas where I had some stray fiberglass strands. If I did it again, I would have taken more time to sand the inside before painting. Still, I don’t plan to be showing off the inside of the bottom cowl to anyone.

The resin I used to seal the heat shield ran in a couple of places, and made an annoying couple of puddles. I could have used a lot less resin, and I should have realized that with no cloth to absorb the resin, it was going to run. No big deal.

Wing Move

Posted on by Neal

Today my friend Jeremiah helped me move the wings to a hangar at the airport (KRNM) at Ramona.

I rented a 20 foot u-haul truck and transported the wings in their cradle. In terms of the order of operations, we took the wings out and lay them down on a couple of mattresses. Then loaded the empty cradle into the truck, and secured it to the sides of the truck by lashing it down in several locations. With the cradle rock solid, we carried each wing into the truck and secured into the cradle. The clamp I made at the forward end (wing root end) held the spar in place, and rolled towels on the outboard end helped pad the straps that we used to secure that end. I used some foam triangle shape to peg the wing against the frame of the cradle in a couple of spots, just so that nothing would move. Then we loaded up a storage rack with ailerons, flaps, and wing tips.

The trip was uneventful, and the unload was the opposite operation.

Wing cradle secured in the truck, about to load the wings.
Blanket covering the wings. Storage rack on the left. The green color is the cling-wrap used to secure the ailerons, flaps and wingtips
Safely in the hangar

Cowling Heat Shield

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I started on the lower cowling heat shield. My plan is to get this applied, then paint the rest of the inside of the lower cowl white to make it easier to detect oil etc.

It took a while to work out the best way to work with the foil. Initially my plastic squeegee wasn’t stiff enough, and it wasn’t getting the air bubbles and wrinkles out. It was also a bit of a weird shape, and I had a couple of false starts getting the right size sections of foil cut and sized.

I ended up finding it easier to work with 18-inch sections at a time, which led to multiple overlapping pieces, but fewer problems with wrinkles and air bubbles.

I got about half way done applying the foil before calling it a night.

Getting started on the right side. Note the multiple bubbles and wrinkles.
Switching to a harder plastic squeegee made a big difference. Wish I had started that way.

Trim Servo

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I finished a couple of wing-related jobs. I wired a connector onto the Trim Servo, and corresponding right wing wiring harness. Then I worked on a wing cradle modification in preparation for moving the wings to the airport.

For the servo, I installed a 9-pin d-sub connector. I contemplated different arrangements, and eventually settled on a d-sub connector. I plan to safety-wire the two connector halves to prevent them from loosening, and to keep the wiring secure I glued a zip-tie holder onto the servo housing using some epoxy glue.

I still haven’t installed the tabs onto the pushrod, which is what the servo attaches to via a couple of springs. I need to do that before the wings are attached, but I’m slightly concerned I may end up needing to adjust the pushrod length when I rig the ailerons, and that might require a rotation of the pushrod.

On the wing cradle, I made a fitting to hold the wing spars in position on the cross beam. I’ll add a padded “cap” to the fitting to grip the spars and prevent any movement.

Wing Tip

Posted on by Neal

Last night I fitted the left wing tip’s rib. This involved locating some holes on the rib and on the fiberglass, so that the web of the rib is flush with the edge of the wingtip.

I miscalculated one hole, and needed to fill it once I was done with locating all of the other holes. holes are then countersunk, and the rib deburred and primed.

Tonight I riveted the rib into position. This required the rivet gun, as the flange of the rib is facing inside the wingtip (i.e. outboard). The riveting was quick and easy.

Rib taped into position, and drilling underway.
Once the rib was installed, the wing tip was completed, except for trimming the rear edge. I installed it and marked the line where it will need to be sanded back

Wing tip nut plates

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I installed the wingtip nutplates on the left wing. I had to order a few extra from aircraft spruce the other day, because I was 5 short of the number I needed.

I found one nut plate where the holes weren’t quite aligned, so I filled one of the holes and will re-drill, countersink, and rivet the nutplate on tomorrow. Otherwise I finished the task.

Clecoed nutplates. The one in the foreground has one hole filled to fix a misalignment problem
Nutplates riveted on both sides
Installing the wingtip and measuring the aft edge (where the arrow is pointing). The aft edge needs to be sanded down until it’s flush with the aileron trailing edge.

Wing tip

Posted on by Neal

This weekend I focused on the left wing wingtip. With the flap and aileron installed, I confirmed their alignment, then mounted the wing tip and match drilled holes into the wingtip. The holes in the skin are then deburred and dimples, while the fiberglass wingtip tip holes are countersunk, and rivet holes are drilled to install nutplates.

Checking the alignment between flap and aileron
Using a ratchet strap to apply pressure to hole the wingtip in position.
Match drilling holes into the fiberglass wingtip
Deburring wing skin holes
Dimpling wing skin holes
Marking and drilling holes for rivets to hold the nut plates
Countersinking fiberglass holes
Countersinking rivet holes

Aileron Rigging

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I installed the left wing aileron and used the templates to find the neutral point.

I got a little concerned when I found the pushrod rubbing on the aileron attach bracket, but then realized that it only makes contact at the end of the aileron travel, which is likely beyond the stop on the other side (once the wings are installed and both ailerons are rigged).

I also found that I wanted to use a combination of the flap and the templates to determine the correct aileron neutral position. Luckily these two methods concurred, so I taped the aileron into position. This will then inform the placement and fine tuning of the fiberglass wingtip, which is up next.

Note the blue template being used to help identify the neutral aileron position
Rigging the pushrod from wing root to bellcrank
Where the pushrod extends through the rear spar and attaches to the aileron. I ended up rotating the pushrod so the manufactured heads of the rivets face the spar and bracket, given maximum clearance
Aileron and flap installed, establishing the neutral position.