Sunday, October 26, 2014

90% done and 90% to go

I've seen the title statement a few times while reading other builders blogs and I am really getting a feel for what it means!  This week I have been busy with the inlet ducts fiberglass work and during those times when I am waiting for epoxy to set up I work on other smaller projects on my To-Do list.  So, here you go... a few of the projects for the week.

I finally got around to fitting the oil cooler inlet to the firewall.  You can see the valve I am using to control air to the cooler during the cooler months.  I decided to try something new here...I am using a push-pull servo mounted to the bracket and controlled by a rheostat on the panel.  I powered this up after getting it all mounted and it seems to work rather nicely.

Here is the same view of the oil cooler inlet duct with the valve open.

So I was working on getting the slider tracks bolted down with countersunk screws (pictures later) and found that I had somehow managed to crimp my static air line under one of the nuts.  Well, I ended up replacing the entire run of tubing.  Good thing I used braided hose for my brake lines, it left me with some extra tubing for this task.  :-)

Speaking of using countersunk screws to bolt the slider track down.  Here they are.  The canopy is off which is why you see the roller assembly but no canopy.  The reason for using countersunk screws instead of the round head screws called out for in the plans is to allow me to finish the tip up mod which has a piece that runs just above the bottom of the track.  Round head screws would sit too high to allow the roller assembly to pass.

Ok this is kind of funny.  Remember last week when I mentioned lending a bunch of rivets out to a friend who is building a 12?  Well it turns out that I was ready to install the side caps seen in this picture but I didn't have the rivets!  I laughed about it but I have so many tasks that waiting on this one was not a big deal.  In this picture you can see another modification that I made besides the eyeball light.  Just below and to the right of the eyeball light there are two new holes with nut-plates riveted to the back of the cap.  These two holes will allow me to bolt a Ram ball mount here.  The idea is that I can put anything here....say like a drink holder.  ;-)
Here is the problem of the weekend...I finished the shape of the new inlet ducts and after temporarily setting them in place I decided to check the fit with both cowling halves installed.  Yep you guessed it...it didn't fit.  So, after a few choice words I took my obligatory two steps back and came up with a solution to the problem.  In this picture you can see the amount of space I had to work with.  My finger is wedged between the cowling and the top of the baffles where the inlet currently sits.

Time for some surgery on both inlets.  It turns out that the original inlet duct would work if I used some of the new parts that I fabricated for the other inlet.  Here I have started the process of integrating the two parts for the right side inlet.

And here is the left side.  I had to really chop this one down.  Here I am starting the process of putting it all back together.  Ok I'm back to almost where I was when the weekend started.