My RV will have an ECI XIO-360 from America's Aircraft Engines, with an Airflow Performance fuel injection system and an e-Mag/p-Mag electronic ignition system. My prop will be a three blade composite from Catto Props.
Total Construction Time: 167 hours and counting
December 4, 2008 (2 hours)
Fabricated the little plates that connect the triangular shaped plates behind the prop blades to the spinner. Then drilled the screw and bolts holes for these parts.
December 5, 2008 (1 hour)
Noticed there's a very small gap between the inside of the spinner and the forward spinner bulkhead. It's thought some people have had screws fail due to this gap putting stress cycles on the screws. To fill the gap I mixed up some epoxy and flox, applied a thin layer to the inside of the spinner at the bulkhead. I then taped up the edges of the bulkhead and clecoed it in place for a while. Before it had fully cured I pulled the bulkhead out. There were a few areas with some gaps so I'll repeat this tomorrow, but maybe using micro instead.
December 6, 2008 (5 hours)
Microed the inside of the spinner to fill the gaps from yesterday. Then I decided to pull out my baffle kit again while I was waiting for the spinner to cure and also for the Fedex guy to deliver my throttle and mixture cables. I got the rear set of baffles drilled, deburred and clecoed together and screwed in place. Only had a couple of minor spots to trim. I'm very glad Van's finally made a pre-bent, matched drilled baffle kit.
December 7, 2008 (7 hours)
Continued working on deburring, riveting and fitting more of the baffle parts. Getting the side pieces to fit was simple, but the forward ramp parts in front of cylinders #1 and #2 took a lot of test fitting, trimming and refitting, mostly where they meet the engine case right behind the starter ring gear. After about five hours of messing with these I decided to get back and finish up my spinner. I mainly had to do a little deburring, then cleaned and primed the parts. After that I riveted the nutplates on and then the closure parts behind the blades. Nice to have this done. I'll probably change to countersunk screws and tinnerman washers later, but this is good for now.
December 8, 2008 (2 hours)
I decided to run my throttle and mixture cables through the bottom of the firewall recess, so I drilled out a hole for each. I also drilled out the holes for the four cables in the control mount and screwed it to the bottom of the panel. It looks like I might have gotten lucky with the throttle and mixture cables I bought from Van's, it appears they are just about the right length, slightly long if anything.
December 10, 2008 (2 hours)
There's two large angles that attach to a mounting bracket between the sump and the fuel injector. I decided on where to position these angles, then pulled the FI off so it would be easier to bolt the angles in place. With the angles in place and the FI back on I spent some time trying to determine the best location for the control cable attachments to the angles. Had to stop because my bandsaw blade had broken the other day.
December 11, 2008 (2 hours)
Bought a replacement bandsaw blade and so I finished the two angles that will mount the control cables to the FI controller. I also drilled the holes in the control bracket that hangs under panel.and a couple of holes through the firewall for the cables.
December 12, 2008 (2 hours)
Enlarged the size of the holes in the firewall and drilled the holes for the screws for the eyeball passthrough fitting.
December 13, 2008 (3 hours)
Spent a little more time getting the eyeball fittings drilled and fitted. Also primed the cable attach angles and bolted them to the brackets and spent time trying to fine-tune the cables so there would be full stop-to-stop travel for the mixture and throttle.
December 14, 2008 (6 hours)
Realized I forgot to install the lock washers behind the control knobs as well as the rubber boots at the forward end of the cables, so had to almost completely remove the cables. With those back on I also found that the travel of the cables was limited by the boots. The mixture side was relatively easy to fix, but on the throttle side I finally decided that I needed to make a new angle bracket with a leg behind the engine mount tube instead of in front of it. After a lot of rework I finally have full travel of the controls again. I reinstalled the eyeball fittings in their final position and also attached the cables to the subpanel using adel clamps. Then I final torqued all the FI bolts and marked them with torque seal. Next I worked on getting the alternator and starter installed. I'm missing some of the starter nuts and bolts, so I left those as a loose fit for now.
December 18, 2008 (1 hour)
It's been pretty cold out in the garage all this week, so I haven't spent a lot of time working on the plane. Gary, my tech counselor, came over yesterday and gave me a number of good ideas. This evening I finally heated the garage a little so I could get to work trimming the tops of the baffles across the back and aft part of the sides.
December 20, 2008 (6 hours)
It was a bit warmer today so I got a fair amount done on my rear baffles including the aft cylinder ones. It took a few iterations to cut down the baffles to get an even 3/8" gap to the cowl. Once that was done I got to work on the oil cooler. I wanted to mount it as high as possible, which I was able to work out. I didn't position it inward 3/8" like the plans show, but by trimming the spacer in the corner I was able to get the opening to the oil cooler fully exposed.
December 22, 2008 (1 hour)
We've been back in the deep freeze, with the outside temps barely getting above zero and the garage only around 20 degrees. Decided I wanted to get something done tonight so I pulled out my Vetterman's exhaust system. These were pretty straightforward to put together and they are very well made. I still need to add the heat muffs and exhaust hangars on the aft pipes.
December 24, 2008 (1 hour)
Worked on the baffling a little more this morning. I had to modify the aft center support bracket to clear the fuel injector line to cylinder #4.
December 25, 2008 (1 hour)
As of today I've been working on my RV for 3 years, starting on the horizontal stabilizer on December 25th, 2005. So far I've spent about 1,950 hour on the plane. This morning, before the family was up and it was time to open presents, I got a little more work done on the baffles. I trimmed the forward edges and tops of the cylinder #1 and #2 baffles and bent them to align the front end with the cowl air inlets. I also started trimming the ramps enough to get the cowl on again.
December 26, 2008 (6 hours)
More work on the baffles. Got the front ramps trimmed and bent upwards to match the cowl openings. Also fabricated the two conical parts that fit in the outer corners and started working on the center parts.
December 27, 2008 (6 hours)
Finished the center baffle and the clips that attach it to the ramps right behind the starter ring. Also trimmed the tops to match the cowl. Finally I took all the baffle parts off and started riveting the parts together.
December 28, 2008 (6 hours)
I torqued and safety wired the starter and alternator bolts before easy access was blocked by the front ramps. Then I finished riveting all the baffle sections together and installed them. Also fabricated the four tension rods that cross under the cylinders to tie the bottom of the baffles together. Even with Van's newest baffle kit, which greatly simplified the baffles, it still took a long time to put it all together. Later in the evening I popped out in the garage and cut the four spacer that are used to mount the oil cooler.
December 29, 2008 (6 hours)
With the baffles mostly behind me, I had a lot of fun today starting to hook up all the engine accessories. Final installed the oil cooler and ran the oil cooler hoses. I also installed various fitting, the SD-8 auxilliary alternator and a bunch of other stuff. I also installed the replacement prop governor mount cover because the original one had a bend in the flange.
December 30, 2008 (6 hours)
Today I worked on the various engine sensors, including the fuel and oil pressure, oil temp, EGT and CHT sensors. I also drilled holes in the aft baffles for a couple of blast tubes pointed at my eMag and pMag. I also installed and safety wired the oil dipstick tube.
December 31, 2008 (6 hours)
Spent some time in the morning measuring the five fuel lines I need to order. I made a little mounting bracket for the fuel flow sensor, putting it between the fuel injection controller and the distribution block. I also made a couple of clips for adel clamps that I attached using the engine sump bolts and will support the heavy gage alternator and starter wires.
January 1, 2009 (4 hours)
I haven't flown since early last year and I knew my biannual flight review was due. As I'm getting pretty close to having my plane done, it was a good day to take my flying club's 172 up with one of the club instructors and knock some of the rust off. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly it all comes back.
Before I went flying I soldered up the terminals on the ends of the alternator and starter wires and connected them to the ends. I realized that I had forgotten to run the alternator field wire from my switch in the cockpit, so I had to feed it through the mess of wires under the panel.
January 2, 2009 (6 hours)
In the morning I decided to install the terminals on the ends of the EGT and CHT wires coming from the EFIS. These need to be crimped and soldered, and is a little tedious, especially with solder wicking up into the female terminals. I also made a new ignition wire to replace one that was a couple of inches too short then installed the ignition wires, including the pass-through fittings through the baffles.
January 3, 2009 (10 hours)
I started out routing all the rest of the miscellaneous wires and temporarily fastening it with cables ties. Later I'll remove the cable ties and fasten it all with adel clamps, but the cable ties let you plan everything out a lot easier. After that I decided to finish the rest of the FAB installation. I bent the top part upward at the front to get a better airflow into it from the cowl. Then I aligned it one last time with the cowl inlet and marked it. With the cowl and airbox back off, I finished installing the alternate air bypass door on the underside of the airbox. Once it was all installed on the plane I decided how I wanted to route the cable into the cockpit and drilled holes for the eyeball fitting in the firewall. I then fabricated a little bracket that I riveted to the left subpanel bulkhead and attached the control knob to it.
January 4, 2009 (8 hours)
Today's the final day of my Christmas week off, so I tried to finish up a bunch of various tasks. I pulled off the camlock mounting strips from around the firewall and drilled and countersunk the holes for the receptacles at the sides and bottoms. Once those were ready I went ahead and sealed the various little holes in the firewall. Then I riveted the camlock strips to the firewall and fuselage skins. After that I riveted the receptacles to the strips and installed the camlock grommets and studs in the two cowl halves.
January 6, 2009 (1 hours)
Got another parts order from Van's today, including my battery. I put it into it's support tray, but still need to make cables to it. I also received the 45 degree fitting for the oil cooler return line, so I inserted it and then hooked up the last oil hose.
January 7, 2009 (4 hours)
Got out in the garage early in the morning and decided I'd make the lower cowl support bracket, which I've been stalling on. Drilling, deburring and riveting it together took up a couple of hours. Then I spent a fair amount of time in the evening trying to get it attached to the gear mount so it would hang at just the right height. Somewhat tedious, and a hard space to work on, but in the end it came out seemingly pretty good. During this I also set and locked in the depth of all my camlocks around the cowl, which is pretty easy to do.
January 10, 2009 (4 hours)
I didn't leave a wide enough gap between the front of the air inlet ramps and the air inlets. I trimmed both a bit to get close to a 3/8" gap. Then I made up templates for my baffle seal material using some tagboard I had laying around.
January 11, 2009 (6 hours)
Used my templates to cut out the baffle seals. After laying out rivet patterns I clamped the sheets to the baffles, then drilled and later riveted them in place. I also attached a piece to the top of the FAB. Then I used Pliobond to glue the front pieces to the cowl and bottom of the FAB inlets.
January 12, 2009 (2 hours)
Before I installed the purge valve control I decided I didn't like the downward tilt of the control brackets. I finally realized that when I made my panel about 1-1/4" deeper, I didn't add that same depth to the control mount bracket under the subpanel. I finally realized I could rivet a couple of the extra fuel tank z-brackets to the bottom to extend it down just about the right amount. So I managed to cut, drill, prime and rivet them in place.
January 15, 2009 (2 hours)
Because my airplane is electrically dependent, I installed two ground straps from the firewall to the engine. I also received all my fuel and brake lines from Bonaco, so I spent a little time starting to install them. I discovered I need different nipple fittings to the fuel flow transducer, so placed another parts order. Lately it seems like I'm needing to order some part or another 2-3 times a week.
January 16, 2009 (1 hour)
This evening I crawled under the panel and drilled holes for and installed the adel clamps that hold the control cables to the subpanel. I also spent a little more time trying to determine the best way to secure the purge valve control cable to the engine.
January 17, 2009 (3 hours)
Tom Berge and Pete Howell stopped by to check out my plane today and both made some really good suggestions. Worked on a bunch of odds and ends today such as adding my second cabin heat muff and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff. I also had noticed that when I made my alternate bypass air cable that the door didn't open all the way. This is because by the time you bend the cable around the attachment screw three times per the plans there isn't enough cable throw length left. Because I had already looped the cable, I had to use my dremel and cut the cable sleeve along the length to remove about 2" of the metal sleeve. Never nicked the cable, which was good and now the bypass door opens fully.
January 18, 2009 (3 hours)
Today I installed my purge return fitting to the firewall, added a tee fitting into one of the fuel tank vent lines and ran a piece of tubing between them. I also installed the return hose from the purge valve to the firewall fitting.
January 20, 2009 (1 hour)
The steel NPT nipples I needed for the fuel transducer arrived so I went ahead and installed them as well as the hoses from the controller to the transducer and from there to the distribution block. I found one of my fuel lines has the fitting clocked wrong and I need to replace another one to change it to a 90 degree fitting on the end because where it enters the fuel pump it interferes with the prop governor mounting bracket.
January 21, 2009 (4 hours)
I worked on installing the purge valve control both in the morning before work as well as in the evening. I figured out a way to make a little bracket that would keep the control from slipping where it's attached by an adel clamp. I also drilled the holes in the firewall for the pass through and mounted the cable to the control bracket in the cockpit. Aaron helped me install the pass through and once that was done I called it a night.
January 22, 2009 (2 hours)
I decided that the purge valve control was just slightly too far from the control arm. Because I was already at the minimum thread length engaged into the rod end bearing, I decided to remake the little bracket holding the control to the engine. This gave me about 5/32" more which worked out just about perfect. I then attached the rest of the cable run to the engine, engine mount and under the panel using adel clamps. Cross another task off the list.
January 23, 2009 (1 hour)
Popped out in the morning before work and installed the fuel pump drain line from the pump to the firewall and out through the bottom firewall flange.
January 27, 2009 (2 hours)
Decided to take a different approach with the fuel flow transducer. I was having a tough time getting the bracket I had made to stay put on the engine mount without needing to add a bunch of additional clamps and angles. I found a drawing online from one of the transducer companies just showing it wrapped in firesleeve and supported with clamps around the hoses at either end. This is going to work a lot simpler.
January 28, 2009 (1 hour)
Got my replacement hoses from Bonaco, including the one I discovered I needed a 90 degree end and the one Bonaco had the clocking of the end fittings wrong. I installed the new hose with the single 90 degree end on just fine. Unfortunately, Bonaco made the same mistake in clocking the replacement hose, so that's still on hold. I've been holding off on finishing this area behind the accessory case as access is pretty tight. I'm going to get focused on finishing all the little odds and ends from the firewall aft for now until I get the new hose.
January 29, 2009 (1 hour)
I didn't realize it at the time, but when I did all my baffling I forgot to add the fiberglass ramps to the inside of the upper cowl behind the air inlets. This means I need to do a little rework. I got an early start just drilling out a few rivets to remove the baffle seals where I'm eventually going to need to cut the baffles down.
February 4, 2009 (2 hours)
After spending the last four days climbing in and out of the cockpit, baggage area and under the panel I decided I needed to do something different. I drilled the upper air inlet ramps to the cowl. Then I progressively cut down the baffles on each side to provide clearance. Once that was done I roughened up the mating surfaces, applied a generous coat of epoxy and clecoed them back on. Van's recommends putting the two cowl halves together on the plane while curing so it doesn't lock together in an odd shape. Unfortunately the garage is pretty cool so it will take a long time to cure. I put a small space heater on the area for a few hours tonight to get it started.
February 6 - February 20, 2009 (20 hours)
I had decided I'm moving my plane to the airport on February 21, so it's been a mad scramble to finish up everything I could at home. With all the time I put in I didn't to a good job tracking all the tasks day-by-day. In this time I tied up lots of the engine wiring, reworked the baffles and seals around the front inlets, installed the exhaust support brackets, fabricated the battery wires and did a few other odds and ends.