First engine start up.

So here it is...... The first start up.  Those mag switches really make a huge difference when they are switched on.  The secondary ignition sounds too far advanced I think as well. I had just done a rough setting during the engine build. I actually have it set to the normal setting for the aerovee and plan to change it, however I figured that just running it up wouldn't be an issue. I am waiting also to see what the factory releases in terms of information or if it will stick to the 10 btdc setting that is in the manual. Either way I can reset the timing when closer to final tuning and test flying. Just as a guess the tuning can't be too far off anyway. I had it pretty well ok when I removed it from the Aeropup and it seemed to run ok on first start up so it will probably just need a minor adjustment or so.

 I did notice the engine had a fair bit of vibration to it on this run. I expect that it is the prop as I have never flown with this prop and it has sat on the shelf for around 4 yrs. It could just be way out of balance. I can't wait till the correct prop arrives and I can fit that permanently. 

Setting the trim

So a little bit of trim was in order. I trial fit the trim a few times and thought I may have to modify the pilot side, but in fact had to modify both. I found both trims impacted the seat belt flow. I basically just cut a lower corner out of both side trims and re glued the trim to the main frame and that fixed the issue. This had to be done with the addition of the modification to the trim for the throttle quadrant and the flap lever assy. I had a few goes at getting the cut outs right and only trimmed a small amount each time to avoid excess removal of the backing. The pic below shows the end result of the trimming as it was laid out over night under clamps to make sure the trim glue has a good bond. I have not stitched it onto the backing yet but may do so if it pulls away over time. 

In the pic below you can see the small screw I have added to hold the trim in place. This just stops it from floating around and the radio jacks at the front inherently hold the front of the trim in position so I have held off from adding a screw there. As it happens with the modifications to the trim on the pilot side, I had to add two screws to hold it in place as the trim tended to drop a little . I simply made two little angle brackets for the trim retainers and counter sunk the rivets to avoid any interference from the canopy when it is in the closed position. 

I have had to remove the windscreen to fit the dash carpet in the end. I tried to fit the carpet a few times and found that it would be near impossible to do a nice job without removing the windscreen. I had plans to valcro it down and so on but in the end just glued it to the metal. It is not perfect as the gps antenna cable and bolts for the fuel tank level sender poke up here and there, but on a whole it looks great. I am hoping that no big air bubbles occur later. 

Pronounced view of the gps cable 

               

So here I am trying it on for size after the trim has all been fitted. I must say I like my black interior. I have noticed, sitting in there, that my left leg tends to lean against the flap lever assy and I think it will be a real problem long term. I think I will try to make something or some sort of small cushion I can Valcro on for long flights, to make it just a little bit more comfy :)  

Getting closer

Well the new pics of the cargo bay don't seem to reveal too much more detail. Still it looks ok so it will stay for the time being. 

The brake lever and flap lever are shown below in the on and off position for the brake. I had noticed yesterday that the brakes were a bit spongy when I applied them. It must have a slight air leak somewhere. They had been fine for ages and only have been a problem since I disconnected and fitted new olives, as I needed to add those rubber grommets where it goes through the firewall. I hope I just need to nip up the fittings a little. I'm sure that's all it will be. 

Park brake applied. plenty of room for the brake to be on and the flaps in the off position. 

So I finally added the Turbo blankey yesterday and wrapped the post turbo exhaust pipes. This felt good to finalize.  

Just for a little aesthetics and maybe noise cancelling I added some carpet to the floor. It looks really nice and adds to my black interior theme. I will add more to the sides later after the wings are on. 

I had been putting this off for a long time, needing to cut a hole in the cowling for the exhaust exit. This actually was easier than I imagined. I fitted the RHS cowling and used a 12" rule and marked the exit. I used a hole saw to cut the offending obstruction out and Wal ah ,, job done. Painting the cowl will be next I think.

   

Emily came and helped me do the two person job of fitting the gear leg fairings. Again I had been putting this off for ages and it turned out to be a 20 minute job all up. I am just amazed at how securely they are in position as just a piano hinge is holding them in place. Thumbs up for that design. 

All seat belts now fully fitted. Time for some trim I guess. 

I have fitted an old prop to test fire up the engine. It's a standard Aerovee prop made by Richard Sweetapple. Fantastic finish on it looking at it close up. It's a 54" x 46" . I initially tried it on my Aeropup when I was very naive about props, in fact I still am mostly but I have learned a thing or two :)  The correct prop is on order with Sensenich and I have ordered the cruise prop. 

I again had been putting off making these parts and I am not sure why. They were quite easy to make however I did a bad job in regard to bending the curve in the panel. I dented it everywhere in terms of very small dents. I will have to spend quite some time using putty and sanding it back to get a smooth look to it. There is no way I could just paint and fit them as is. It would really spoil the finish of the whole plane and I have come way too far for that to happen now. 

So at first attempt to fit these I had a little problem with 'plans to brain' recognition. The forward lip is designed to go under and not on top of the fuselage. Lol. Anyway I found it pretty funny at the time as I thought what a stupid way to make the panel. Until I realised I had it wrong. Ha ha.

Another day at the office

So the cargo bay turned out ok after all. Some work on the sides was done and then carpeted. The pics are terrible and I will try to replace them tomorrow. It was a very dark stormy day today so the flash went a bit overboard..

I bought a very lightweight and thin carpet from a local retailer and used spray glue to stick it down to the metal. It was a little bumpy around the corners and so on but not too bad. The carpet was dirt cheap so if I decide to change the bay I will not be too much out of pocket. I still have heaps of carpet just in case.

I fully expect, by the way I have run the fuel lines for the AeroCarb, that I will have the best Burping Sonex of all time. I had great plans to make the fuel lines straight, pointing uphill and well shielded. In hindsight I should have mounted the Gascolator in the usual location and I could have come close to achieving this goal. However I out smarted myself and thought that if I fitted it on the other side of the engine bay it would be well away from the exhaust and greatest heat source. I will probably keep the fuel lines like this at the moment and see if I can get it running in the near future. It will be just fine on the ground. I will have a look again at other options and fuel fittings to see if I can create a better and more direct route. The main issue is the fuel flow meter and incorporating it into the line. On a positive, the mixture cable and throttle cable fit excellently and work well. 

I will have to add a few more photos to this post tomorrow as today I also finalised and fitted the  brake lever and added the rubber grommets for the brake lines that go through the fire wall. I had to re bleed the brakes also.  I have had the brake and flap lever on and off the plane a few times in the last two days so that I could get the optimum bend on the handles and so on, so that they will not interfere with each other in operation. The way it is set up as well, will allow the brake to be set into the park position while the flaps are also in the off position. I'm not sure if I just got lucky with the configuration or Sonex have made the detent bigger to allow this option. Either way it worked out well. 

The canopy strap was also another little mission I carried out today. I was lucky enough to have some left over cable and swages from my old project and made the cable up. I had no AN525-10R10's in my bolt kit (again) so used the standard AN3 bolts to temporarily attach the cable and check for lengths.  In regard to the canopy today I also bought from bunnings :)  a 3" handle that just happened to fit perfectly for the inside of the canopy open slide. The threads, as an added bonus, also were an Imperial thread 8/32 and the correct counter sunk screws went straight in. It also looks good too. The canopy latch spring I also fitted to the canopy. This spring exerts force on the latch assy to keep the canopy normally closed.  A R-clip is also fitted to positively pin lock the canopy closed for flight operations. This was an easy fit today, by just drilling the hole in the correct spot with the canopy secured and closed. The clip will hang from the handle by a wire so that it will be obvious if it is not fitted during the run up checks before flight. 

Dash finalization and so on

After the instruments and radio were fitted I had to now paint the dash and rivet it into place. I had at first just temporarily placed everything to make sure it was all going to work out. It seemed to fit ok in the end. I am a bit disappointed however about the placement of the ignition key as it is ok with just one key, but usually you have a few keys on the plane key ring like the hangar keys and so on. As it stands at the moment these extra keys hanging will interfere with the trim control. I will have to get one of those detachable key chain devices I guess and store my other keys elsewhere during flight. A bit of a pain, however easier than making a new dash panel.  My next little mission will be to sort out the decals for the switches and circuit breakers. I am as yet undecided about how I will do this but I will give it some thought soon.

I have wired up the radio PTT switches and fitted the hand grips to the dual control sticks. I was so proud of myself with what I thought was such a great neat job until I tried to get the control stick boots over the top. Ahhhhhhh... they didn't fit.  The hole in the boot is not big enough by far to go over. I will need to slacken the wiring and hope I can get enough play out of the top to add a 2-pin electrical plug to both hand grip assemblies so that I can take them on and off when needed. Oh well, a small set back. 

Seat belts and cargo bay

I have made a first attempt at a cargo bay. On my last Aircraft I was up to, I think, prototype 3 before I was happy. I think this one will be ok, but I could change my mind later. I have decided not to go all the way to the floor as I like to be able to easily see the elevator push rod tube and spring assy. If I had made the bay lower, chances are I would have to enclose this area so the cargo wouldn't interfere with the elevator flight control. I was also worried about boxing in this tube for the reason that if cargo dislodged and somehow damaged the protection box mid flight, it would end up a real spoilt day.   I am going to have to sort out some side panels for the cargo bay no doubt, then black lightweight carpet over the top to finish it off. I like to have the cargo bay slope towards the seat too so that anything in there will tend to move forward so as to have less effect on the C of G.

The seat belts attached with no problems. I up drilled the tabs to suit the AN-5 bolts and bolted them in. 

After I had done all this work I realised also that anything metallic in the cargo bay would possibly affect the compass module. When I initially mounted the module I figured it would be right out of the way in this spot. I had planned on a deeper cargo bay. I will move it later if it becomes a problem but I have to hope that perhaps it will be better here than under the floor with the control rods and mechanisms all so close. 

Throttle positition

I have been looking at the install notes regarding the throttle quadrant and been confused as to why Sonex recommends fitting it on the vertical spar behind where it is in this pic. As it sits there it is held in by a cleco for the dash corner bracket. Personally I like it there as I can rest my hand on the dash and the throttle at the same time for small adjustments. I will leave it a little longer before I get serious and drill anything. I am trying not to be hasty in regard to final placement of critical components 

Will have to have a few more coffees and think on it...

On a side note, I finally took my first passenger in my Aeropup the other day. Climb rate was ok and  it flew fine.. I could certainly feel the extra weight. I usually wheel the sucker on 90% of the time but it seemed with the extra weight a 3 point landing was the go. All in all I am very happy with the plane now I have sorted out the camshaft issue. Just thinking about the wrong cam being in it for all that time makes me quite angry but at least I got to the bottom of it and now have a serviceable plane. 

Not breaking any speed records but temps good and running really well. 

Baffling times once again

I had a go in earnest to fit the baffles this time. As I had the cowlings all done I could then see how and if any trimming or so on needed to be done to the baffles. Essentially this was the end result. I ended up using the original P seal Sonex supplies and found it was easy to install and fit really well.  I had a go at installing the regular silicon type seal,got half way around the engine and discarded it for the recommended seal. I have yet to try and fit the cowling since the seals have been fitted so I will let that be a little surprise for me if it is too tight or anything and the cowling has become a monster to fit. I obviously have tried on for size both halves in turn to get the fitment right, just not done a complete cowling install on and off.

The gap around the intake tubing is a result from the extra height the spacers give when under the intake manifolds. I had to elongate the holes. I will need to seal these up obviously to avoid all my  precious cooling air spewing out the back unused. 

The top mounted cooler went on just fine. 

Gascolator

I had to order some spares from a automotive performance shop in Perth to do these fuel lines. The price I paid for the parts was at a BIG premium let me tell you. I have found identical parts on ebay from the same manufacturer for around a quarter of the price. Off track here but usually the only time I have ever seen price differences like that, is with memory cards. Anyway back to the point; I borrowed my mate's pipe bender and made the pipe as below. It came out sweet and I was really surprised with myself nailing it on the first attempt. Blind luck I put it down to but I'll take it! 

The Gascolator is a permanent fixture but I have since changed my mind in regard to the fuel line routing. It was going to work out well but the throttle cable threw a spanner in the works. Essentially the fuel line is just there to hold up the fuel flow meter so I could wire it up and have it set up in the EFIS without it dangling by the wires.  

What I do need to do to the gascolator however, is add an extension in the form of a brass 45 or 30 degree bend and that will have it protrude out the bottom of the cowl for ease of fuel drain during pre flight.  

Antenna

I bought the MGL recommended antenna with all the other equipment. The ol DELTA POP. 

Yeah..sooo...nice name ...anyway hopefully it works well. 

I mounted it,  in what I hope is a spot not too close to the canopy to create a good ground plane for reliable reception. I have seen others in this location so surely it will be ok. We will see. I have noticed too that it sits proud due to the rivets on the centre spine holding it up. I will either have to make a white rubber gasket of sorts or see if I can create a small cavity on the underside of the aerial to allow for the rivets. That's down the list a bit far now to care about so I will worry accordingly later. 

Oh I say, Is that some instruments I see in the mail?

Well yes, as it happens it turned out to be the Discovery Lite and V6 radio ol Chap.  I was very excited to see this arrive I can assure you.

Amongst the two big ticket items were the pre-wired harnesses, egt's, compass module, fuel flow meter, current sensor and a few other bits and bobs.  I had, at first, thought that it would be a very simple affair,and to be honest it has been I guess.  But it is time consuming to fit it all and bring it up to operational status.  I have had to incorporate more wiring than what I had anticipated. Lucky that plug I fitted to the firewall was a 26 pin plug. I have used at least 18 pins as a best guess. 

I have doubts about my logic regarding the location of the engine module. The module incorporates the wiring really well there in terms of ease of access and aesthetic wiring runs. In regard to handling the temperature? I guess we will find out. My main logic was the cowling in general is a very small space and in regard to temperature differences in such a small space, well could it vary that much? I wouldn't have thought so. Anyway we will see if it stands the test of time. I am placing a lot of trust in the turbo blanket enclosing the majority of the heat that could compromise the module's longevity.

This is the general layout of the dash. I have since added the mp3 input and that is about it. I am struggling to work out where to place the headset plugs. The passenger's side I will fit on the corner of the dash and the side panel but as for the pilot side I am still at a loss. I really had my heart set on having them on the panel behind me. The pre wired harness is wayyyyyy too short for that option and I don't fancy trying to extend the wiring at this stage. I will find a home for it and see how it goes. Perhaps tomorrow will bring a new idea. I am pretty happy with my Narva usb plug. It is a 2.1 amp twin usb port and hopefully will work very well keeping my mini ipad charged and if necessary my phone too. 

Cowling revisited

Quite often in my life, I have had to eat my words. I was so assured that the cowling was going to be a straight forward affair I guess I deserved it when I came to hurdle.

All was going really well until I added the lower half hinge pin. This tended to force the bottom of the cowling forward and hence make it sit proud of the prop flange. I had a small meltdown at the time and then sat there for ages thinking about the best way to move forward.

 I toyed momentarily with glassing up both the vertical side hinge holes and reshaping from scratch where the cowling meets the fuselage and dismissed that idea promptly as too hard. I figured that perhaps reshaping the nose would be way easier. So again I sat there for a long time then went to work on option 2. 

I enlisted the trusty Dremmel and cutting disc for this task and ground out a blade width and some more towards the lower end.  I have pulled the snout in and reglassed it.  It now fits really well. 

I still need to do some work around the fuel filler area. I have been jumping to and from different areas on the build to keep things interesting and also moving forward. I will get to the fuel door in the near future.