The airplane is now painted! N numbers (aircraft spruce slanted 3 inch numbers) are applied, along with a new experimental decal. Canopy weatherstrip added, and the wing root seal put back on. Did a big pre-flight and took it up! I got some grey baggage carpet from an autoparts store. Cut to fit and glued in place.
Hours: 4
After a weeks work, the zodiac is painted!
Hours: 0
Today I took N601LG for its first flight. See http://lancegingell.com/firstflight.asp for details!
Hours: 1.4
Fitted second side material, rear, and centre console/stick boot.
Fueled up the airplane (halfway). Re-fitted the cowling. Did a runup. Did a taxi run to test elevator authority, lifted the nose wheel! Did a few high speed taxi runs to verify elevator and aileron authority.
Hours: 4
Fitted foam to sides. Fitted one side panel and pocket. Fitted top forward skin over panel.
Hours: 4
The DAR came and inspected the airplane today. N601LG is now airworthy and legal! I need to do a little more ground testing and get all the inspection panels back on before it goes airborne.
Finished autopilot wiring and tested. I need to verify the GPS signal when the airplane is next out of the hangar.
Wing root rubber fairing fitted.
Hours: 5
Fitted TruTrak Digitrak controller to console. Fitted autopilot servo to aileron control on rear of stick.
DAR called. He will be here tomorrow. Lots of closeout items completed, fuel tank/baggage placards added etc.
Hours: 6
Fitted N number decals, Canopy decals, passenger warning decal, experimental decal.
Punched and fitted data plate.
Hours: 1
Drained all fuel.
Using 3 bathroom scales ($5.99 each at Target!), I did my weight and balance calculations. The scales were rotated so that a different one was under each wheel each time. My empty weight is 712lbs.
Made some full forward and aft scenarios for the POH.
Called DAR to get my airworthiness going. Mailed out forms.
Hours: 2
I tested the fuel flow to the carb with the airplane weighted/blocked in a 12 degree angle of attack (longerons at 12 degrees nose up). The fuel line was disconnected at the last point to the carb, and a line was run to a fuel can.
The electric fuel boot pump was turned on for 1 minute. 0.3 gallons (38.4 ounces) was pumped through into the fuel can. This equates to 18 gallons per hour. The EIS fuel flow peaked around 18.6 gallons per hour (as recorded on the PC via the serial cable).
Fitted clamps on the fuel hoses. Cleaned up and clamped engine wiring.
Fitted a catch and hinge to the oil door. Cut the cowl, and fitted the oil door.
Cowling fitted back on and screwed/camlocked in place.
Hours: 4
Ran the engine again. Did a longer taxi. Adjusted ailerons and re safetied as I wasn't happy with the travel near the stop. Riveted on the rudder stops.
Fitted right seat.
Hours: 4
Filled brakes with brake fluid. Tested brakes - both fine.
Filled each fuel tank in turn 2 gallon increments, noting EIS6000 fuel level readings at each. Left the right tank full, and the left with 2 gallons. Checked for leaks (none). Tested gascolator drain. Checked fuel pump, which primed in about 5-10 seconds. No leaks.
Rolled the airplane out to the taxiway (testing my brakes!). Put on the top skin and top cowling. With helpers and extinguisher at the ready, I started the engine! Air temp was about 95 degrees F, so I didn't use choke. Throttle full closed. I turned the key and within a few seconds it started right up! Engine is VERY SMOOTH and quiet. Oil pressure came up within limits. Tachometer wasn't working. I ran the engine for about a minute with a few throttle changes, then shut down.
Following the engine run, I taxiied the airplane a short distance and back to the hangar. It 'drives' great!
Both engine runs were logged from the EIS with my laptop for later inspection.
Hours: 4
Put sprial wrap on my control stick electrical wires. The stick wiring is connected to the airplane with 15-pin dsub connectors. I put shells on these and ty-wrapped them together.
Put spiral wrap on some side wires too.
Fitted the oil cooler deflector from Jabiru to my cowling with 5 minue epoxy. This was easily done with the lower cowling in place.
Fitted a catch on the fuse panel. Labelled the fuses.
Hours: 2
Worked on seats. I'm using a fiberglass covered foam block as a 'seat booster' to bring me forward, since I'm only 5'3". It seems to work rather well. I'll upholster the sides. It is fully removable too.
Tidied up some more wiring.
Fitted lower cowling back on.
Hours: 1.5
Fitted cabin heat box to firewall. Put extra tube hole on the cabin heat muff for the carb heat (riveted the tube ring from the old carb heat muff onto the new cabin heat muff. Connected the scat for the carb heat, cabin heat box, cabin heat bypass (waste). Connected cabin heat control cable. Tidied and clamped components.
Wired GPS serial to Garmin 327 transponder for flight timer activation (on GPS ground speed). Needs configuring in software.
Torqued the prop to 16-19ft/lbs as recommended by Sensenich.
Hours: 7
Fiited spring to ramair ducts. Epoxied rubber to the front of the ducts. Riveted on some wire clamps to route the oil pressure sender wire.
Drilled holes in rear of ducts and expoxied/fiberglassed tubes on to the ignition modules for cooling.
Drilled an installed nutplates in spinner. Tracked spinner. Torque prop bolts (need to check torque values).
Tracked prop.
Reinstalled plugs after tracking (plugs removed to spin up prop faster/longer!).
Bent oil cooler flange to give better clearance with the cowling.
Exhaust still won't quite fit without touching the bottom of the cowling - need to work on that some more.
Hours: 6
Finished gull wings. Trimming ramair ducts. Cabin heat kit arrived from Jabiru. Fitted cabin heat muff. Removed carb heat muff temporarily.
Hours: 3
Started permanently fitting the Jabiru gull wings and ramair ducts.
Fitted airbox to air intake scat tube.
Looks like I make need to hold my exhaust clear of the cowling somehow, since it touches.
Hours: 1
Fitted the prop. According to the instructions, there should have been a fiberglass forward prop flange. This wasn't supplied. Pete at Jabiru said that it was no longer required, since the rear had been beefed up.
Prop and bolts were 3/16". Jabiru's bushings, flange and instructions all said 1/4" bolts! Drilled out the flange on the drill press, and the bushings on the lathe.
Fitted prop on bolts. (bolts need torquing still).
Spinner cut for prop using a paper template. Fits nice.
Inhibiting oil drained from engine. Added 3.5 litres of Aeroshell 100. Safetied sump plug again. Removed one plug from each cylinder. Turned the prop over a few times by hand, and then with the started. Oil pressure came up. Put plugs back in. Compression seems good.
Fitted adel clamps for fuel lines from wings. Fitted fuel lines to selector and clamped.
Hours: 5
Fitted oil seperator, hoses. Scat tube to carb fitted (this was tricky since the airbox output is too large a diameter.
Put high temp RTV on the exhaust spring joints on a recommendation that this will help reduce vibration fatigue. Installed oil and fuel overflows
Checked elevator cable tension, adjustment, deflection. Installed stop made from fairlead material. Safety wired turnbuckles.
Checked ailerons with deflection template. Adjusted tension. Safety wired turnbuckles.
Installed seat belts.
Installed and riveted center console.
..and took the airplane outside for a photo op!
Hours: 6
Canopy bubble holes drilled out to 5/16" with a unitbit. Bubble fitted and screwed into place. Flashing riveted. Handle fitted inside.
Added a small extension to the outside flashing at the rear - looks much neater and supports the rear of the flashing better.
Weatherstrip fitted and glued into place.
Hours: 5.5
Drilled primed and riveted flashing, mostly finished and installed. Latch installed. Cable cut and fitted. Tweaked side cover - new ones built (they were snagging on the front top skin).
Hours: 12
More canopy work. Working on the flashing. Gas struts are too long!! They appear correct on the plans, but they are too long and the canopy opens too far. This means the bubble runs into the cowling. Shortened gas strut end pieces and fittings about 6mm each. This helped just enough. I had to drill out and reinstall the bracket for them though.
Hours: 4
More work on the canopy. Positioning front hoop using a thin wooden template. This made trimming the ends of the hoop really quick, without needing to remove the canopy several times!
Hours: 3
Fitted canopy striker studs. Worked on canopy frame flashings and hoops. Rear hoop/tube is now cut to length and fitted. The canopy bubble sits nicely on the fuselage and the hoop with no trimming so far.
Put aileron cable ends on and nicopressed. Checked aileron deflection. Made some more airplane noises.
Rear skin flange bent around tube to finish it off.
Hours: 6
Thank goodness I live on an airpark. My neigbour came up with a *great* throttle solution.
From the throttle bar, I now have a rod and bellcrank system. A long aluminum rod with ball ends bolts to the throttle bar, goes down and connects to a bellcrank plate, and then on through a 1/4" steel rod with ball ends onto the carb. The bellcrank is connected to the bungee pin with a small close tolerance bushing made on the lathe.
This throttle is *much* smoother, and easier to operate precisely. I'm much less worried about failure too.
New throttle system fitted, adjusted and safetied.
Hours: 3
Started fitting dual throttle. Cable swivel ends were missing. Had to make some. Cable ends for the 2 throttle cables didn't fit (*way* too tight). Nuts for the big cable ends were too big. Ended up making some from aluminum blocks to clamp the cables.
Finally got the throttle cables in place, but the friction and slack in the system isn't good. Also, if the spring on the carb fails, you cannot go full throttle, since the cable from the bar to the carb is stranded and will not push the throttle (it will only pull against the spring). So, one spring failure and you have no throttle. Not good. I'm basically under impressed with the throttle arrangement after waiting quite a while for it.
Pitot/static connected up to instuments.
Canopy rails fitted back in place. Cotter pins and washers fitted on gas tubes.
Hours: 10
Aileron trim wiring.
Painted pitot tube and riveted in place. Fitted tubes through wing locker. Clamped. Riveted wing locker side in place.
Wired up 12v Aux power in console
Wired up GPS cable
Hours: 4
Wired Taxi, Landing, Nav, Strobe lights. Routed left wing wires.
Riveted center console.
Riveted left aileron and flap.
Removed left wing tip and repositioned lights to remove dip in wing skin. Riveted back in place.
Loctited flap limit switches and set screw. Painted throttle bar with grey rustoleum (like engine mount). Elt remote mounted with #4 screws.
12v power outlet mounted in center console. Wires need connecting up.
Hours: 5.5
Wing bolts torqued up.
Aileron cable ends fitted and connected bellcranks. Aileron rods fitted.
Aileron balance fairlead fabricated and fitted. Balance cable crimped and fitted.
Zenith included the wrong parts for the aileron cables (just like the rudder), so I can't finish that yet. They said to send the old part back, then they would sent the new part out. That takes way too long (days elapsed) from the west coast, so I'll have to order from Aircraft Spruce I think.
Right flap and aileron riveted in place.
Hours: 5
Marked/made aileron and flap deflection templates. Rigged wings using tapes, chalk lines, and templates. Plane was weighted down on the horizontal stabilizer to a 9 degree attitude.
Drilled rear spar bolt holes and fitted bolts.
Fitted flaps [This is best done AFTER rear spar is bolted or clamped, since it will change the flap angle a LOT!] Had to adjust the flap hole on one side a few mm. Also had to trim some of the inboard skin of the flap to clear the side skin and flap control tube. This involved removing and installing the flaps a few times.
Drilled and fitted ailerons to wings with clecos.
Fitted spar bolts (not tightened yet). Wings are nice a solid now.
Hours: 7
Fitted aileron fairleads in side skins. ZAC didn't supply enough material in the kit, so I used some thick delrin material.
Wings were presented in place, skins trimmed.
Drilled holes and fitted grommets for fuel lines, wires, pitot. I moved the pitot line to run through the inside rear of the baggage compartment, so that it could exit through the first lightening hole behind the spar. Better for inside routing, and clear of the aileron cables.
Cut slots in rear of wings for rear spar bolt access.
Fitted wings with wires/fuel lines in place and aileron cables. Used a wooden strip to pull the aileron cables through.
Used 'bullets' (ground cheap hardware bolts) to mount wings for now, since they are good for quick placement. These will be replaced with the final bolts soon.
Hours: 6
Today the airplane was moved to my neighbours hangar. We took the airplane plus one wing on a trailer, then the other wing, cowl, parts etc. on a second run. My garage now looks huge, and empty!
I have wonderful neighbours here on the airpark (thanks!)!
Hours: 2
Finish mag wiring. Tidy engine wiring. Finish CHT wiring - using Jabiru USAs method of drilling a hole in a cylinder head fin for a tie-wrap. Test fitted ramair duct to check clearance.
Wired headphone jacks. Tested intercom.
Worked on aileron fairleads
Hours: 3.5
Safety wired fuel pressure sensor lines.
Connected ELT, fitted batteries.
More wiring & panel tidy up.
Hours: 2
Finished wiring COM coax to radio, tested. Wired mic jacks and tested.
Wired elevator trim from stick to servo wires, and servo wires to indicator. Tested.
Wired fuel pressure sender. Fitted resistors for EIS sensors. Configured EIS for correct reading of fuel pressure.
Hours: 3
Finished the brake lines. I tapped 2 8-32 holes in the back of the gear leg, screwed in some plastic clamps, and fitted the brake line in place. I'd seen a similar thing (screwed in clamps) on the AMD S-LSA 601 XL at Oshkosh last week.
Painted canopy spring brackets with flat black rustoleum.
Fitted the exhaust - I had to loosen one bolt on each manifold on the left side of the engine to get alignment in the muffler, then I popped on quite easily. I put 2 springs in place on the lower portion of each side. There were no instructions or pictures of this!
Finished fitting the choke cable to the carb. It has a few bends (mainly due to the location of the nose gear), but I lubed it up a bit with some oil to help smooth operation.
Started wiring the panel side of the stick. It’s a 15pin Dsub connector from the stick to the wiriing behind the panel. I still have to finish the trim switch wires back, once the trim cable is in place.
Fitted EGT probes (2 - one at the rear exhaust on each side, 110mm from the engine). Wire them up and tested them by heating the exhuast a bit.
Wired up oil temp sender and oil pressure sender. Still need to clamp the wires somewhere.
VDO Fuel pressure sensor (from Grand Rapids) mounted with a couple of adel clamps to the engine mount. Barbed fitting permatexed on. Need to finish hosing and wiring it up.
Hours: 4
Finished carb heat cable end and attached to airbox. Brass pin soldered in place.
Starter switch wired to solenoid and sheilded wire for mags. Need to connect the engine end.
Canopy rails and striker studs painted with flat black Rustoleum.
Dynon EFIS D10A mounted in the panel (I'd already wired it). Altimeter fitted into the panel.
Started working on choke cable.
Engine fins cut for CHT wires. CHT probes fitted under plugs on exhaust side of cylinders.
Hours: 5
Cotter pin holes drilled in canopy rails, main gear supports. Cotter pins fitted in main gear supports.
Flap switch fitted with backing plate (to locate keyed washer).
Falcon Vertical card compass fitted.
Started working on CHTs. Jabiru suggest dremeling away a part of the head fin next to the plug to give some room for the CHT wire.
Drilled 3/4" hole in the firewall in the center/top tooling hole. Grommet fitted. Wires run through 1/2" inner hole.
Hours: 6
Yes, off to OSH with my neigbour in his Falco F8L. Hope to see some of you there!
Hours: 0
Wired the stick grips to a 15 pin D sub. I had to tin the wires first, since that 24 gauge stuff just doesn't crimp very well at all. The wires will go under the torque tube and out through the spar web hole under the centre console.
Hours: 1
Started wiring the EIS engine monitor and testing it. Fitted OAT (glued into NACA cabin vent). Connected OAT to EIS and tested. 87 degrees - phew, hot in here!
More panel wiring. Fitted Ray Allen stick grips to the Y stick (I'd already wired them at the top)
Wired tail light - and turned it on.
Hours: 2.5
Fitted transponder antenna. Wired up to transponder rack.
Finished oil cooler mounting with nutplates. Brackets mounted to sump with 3/16" rivets. I'm not strong enough to pull them, so I used my $6 harbor freight rivet squeezer with a C-clamp on it!
Axel nuts checked and cotter pins fitted in nose and mains.
Fabricated brackets for avionics back support and installed.
Wired some panel items to the airplane.
Hours: 6
Wired and tested intercom on the Garmin SL40. Works rather nicely. No music input though :-(
Finished bolts and safety on steering rods. This is the last thing (hopefully) that is under the panel, so now I can put the panel in.
Fitted carb heat/air filter box to firewall with A4 rivets.
Installed panel. Lower support (to firewall) is really close, so its tricky to get to the back of the switches, beware of this if setting up a panel like mine. The switches could be centered about 35mm up and be better.
Hours: 5
Fitted master and starter solenoids to firewall. Wired them up. Wired up the battery cables, tested with a nice solid 'clunk'.
Did some more panel wiring.
Hours: 3
Finished fuel fittings on fuel selector, and fuel hose to the gascolator. Fuel pump mounted to the firewall. Fuel flow plate riveted in place. Gascolator riveted in place.
Regulator mounted to firewall.
Continued on panel wiring. Tested parts of the panel. I'm trying to do as much as possible on the dining table before I move it into the airplane, since its easier to access! I'm getting to the point where I need to connect up the EIS (which has wires connecting to everything!), so its going in the airplane soon - now that I'm pretty much done on the fittings on the floorplan.
I've been deciding where some more of the wires will run. I'm not keen on putting too much through the centre console because of the stick & cables, so I think my audio cables will go under the right top longeron around to the center back of the baggage shelf.
Hours: 8
Fitted fuel lines to gascolator and fuel flow.
Fitted brake lines to master cylinders and through fuselage under gear.
Work on fuse panel for instruments.
Hours: 2.5
Fitted oil cooler brackets. Clamped oil cooler in place and put lower cowling back on. Move cooler to opening on cowling.
Fitted gascolator in the floor ahead of the spar. I used a 1/4" bolt in my fly cutter, and a hardwood block to keep the hand drill straight while I drilled down from above. Worked very well for a clean hole.
Started planning brake lines.
Hours: 3
Worked on FWF components, planning mostly. Fabricated a small bracket for the fuel flow, since it will sit in the centre on the heel support. This will keep it the required distance (5") from the next fuel line joint.
Hours: 0
Labelled panel. Clear coat is now on over the labels. I used Aircraft Spruce dry transfer labels. The result looks very nice. I was going to use electronic print on labels, but the ACS ones have no border. The clear coat is an semi-flat clear.
Hours: 4
Worked on panel, prep paint etc.
Hours: 2
Drilled a few more holes in the panel. 2 of them are for items I don't have yet - autopilot and compass.
Added some L angle to support the radio rack. Fitted transponder and com racks.
Seats arrived!
Hours: 4
Fitted nutplates for bottom cowling. Removed cowling.
Finished laying out the instrument panel on the panel itself. I had to move the radios over to the right to get adequate spacing for the Dynon D10A. In fact, you need a little more room to flush mount it. I will probably do this, but I'm going to see how it looks first in the 'hole'.
Cut instrument holes with a fly cutter on the drill press. Switch holes cut with a unibit. Radio cutouts with a Dremel (slow progress), and a grinder.
Hours: 7
Dimpled top skin, firewall flange and instrument panel flange and canopy side. Fitted nutplates with solid rivets. Reattached top skin with a few screws in the new nutplates.
This job wasn't too bad, since I borrowed my neighbours dimpler, angle drill and other bits (phew!).
This will allow me to get good access behind my panel in the future.
Hours: 4
Start fitting the cowling. Suggestion: Don't drill the bottom until you fit the top! I drilled the bottom in a couple of places (lined up great), then fitted the top, which was then too high! This was soon resolved with some re-alignment.
I did the cowl fitting with the prop hub extension temporarily mounted, so I could remove the plywood 'donut' easliy.
Trimmed the top cowl near the rear a little, and to match the firewall rivet line.
Drilled and fitted the camlock fastners for the upper cowl.
Hours: 6
Fitted battery clamp/support. Fitted odyssey PC625 battery.
Checked oil filter adapter that JabiruUSA supply for the oil cooler. After removing the oil filter, it appears that the oil cooler adapter has the protruding thread on the wrong side! Checking with Pete at JabiruUSA about this.
Hours: 1.5
Finished some work on the left canopy rail.
Fitted, Trimmed, Drilled, Clecod the front top skin. I pre drilled the holes in the panel edge of the skin. Pre drilled the holes in the firewall flange. Put the skin on, drilled through to the panel. Next, back drilled up through the firewall holes into the skin. Trimmed around canopy bracket, then drilled the sides. I'm planning to use nut plates instead of rivets here, so I an get behind my panel later. This skin needed to be in place to fit the cowl (next).
Wired up my pilot stick (Ray Allen G207). That was an intricate job, soldering 24 gauge wires in side the stik grip. Why don't they just wire them!!
Hours: 6
NACA vents cut and fitted.
I fabricated some brackets to hold some Vans Aircraft ball vents. Mounted them under the panel and connected up to the NACA scoop.
Hours: 2.5
Riveted the firewall.
Fitted engine mount. Torqued the engine mount bolts to ~18-20 ft lbs.
Rolled the airplane out onto the driveway and mounted the engine. My wife and neighbours helped tremendously. We lifted the engine into place, put the engine crate on its side underneath with some boards on top. This way the engine was on the mount and supported while the rubber mounts were compressed and bolted.
I put "JB Weld" epoxy on the part of the steering rods that go through the firewall to reduce friction on the baffle strip.
Hours: 2
My Jabiru 3300 Engine and firewall kit arrived from Jabiru USA! A few neighbours helped me unload the truck (thanks!). The cowl looks fantastic.
The dual throttle and cabin heat weren't in the box. Nor any mention of the prop. I emailed Pete at Jabiru USA to see what's what.
Painted the engine mount with gloss grey rustoleum.
Hours: 1
My Jabiru 3300 and firewall forward kit are on the way. I cleaned up the garage and put the plane in diagonally to make room to mount it.
Hours: 2
Riveted side skins. When front/rear join. Drilled out rivets in lower rear side of middle top skin. Put a shim inside the rear top skin baggage bulkhead to 'take up some slack' and remove the ripple between the rivets. Seemed to work, so I'll try on the other side too.
Did a little work on the canopy frame again.
Fitted the baffle strip on the firewall. I made some thin strips to provide a backing for the rivets.
Painted the steering rods with black rustoleum.
Hours: 6
Crimped and added reinforcement L angle near the back of the top middle skin for the COM antenna.
Riveted top middle skin. Had a couple of minor ripples around the compound curve area, and some at the back. Most of the front ones are gone (by drilling out rivets, applying pressure in the right place, putting back in in order).
COM antenna fitted on top middle skin (rearmost).
Top skin is also bevelled along bottom edge.
Hours: 3
Continued wing step and belly fairing. Pulled some misc rivets.
Bent canopy rails to fit. I did this with a couple of pieces of wood and a clamp. It took quite a lot of pressure to bend, but since the wood was curved, I didn't get any kinks in the square tube. Didn't take long either.
Hours: 5
Started fitting wing step. I needed to move my COM antenna, since it was a bit far forward. Drilled & clecod the step.
Started wiring flap motor.
Fabricated sides for centre console and installed.
Hours: 2
Cut/bent centre console, fitted in place. Tested fuel selector placement.
Few other misc rivets, debur etc.
Finished curved notch in bottom of stick for turnbuckle clearance (bottom elevator).
Hours: 3
Trimmed and fitted rudder/stabilizer saddle. Riveted L angles inside. Trimmed rudder to fit over saddle with clearance. Clecod top rear skin back in place.
Hours: 4
Moved rudder fairleads inside, and shaped to fit better. Riveted rudder fairleads. Riveted baggage shelf, L's and other areas.
Hours: 3
Finally back from 2 weeks on the road. Hand riveted some tight corners and brackets around the baggage shelf.
Hours: 3
Fitted rudder bearings/bolts. Use AN-3-6 (not A's) so I have a cotter pin. Trimmed rudder top and fitted rudder fairing. Test fitted saddle. Roy assisted me with this work. He'd been there before!
Hours: 5
Rivet flap mounts, sides skin area, fit/drill flap motor/arms. Deburring. Rivted side L's to baggage floor. fit baggage floor. prepare for trailer ride to the other side of the airpark for weekend display!
Hours: 6
Drilled fairlead holes. Fitted cable clamps. Trimmed aft side skins for rudder deflection. Refitted elevator. Crimped and fitted elevator cables.
Hours: 3
Riveted rudder horn, uppear bearing.
Fitted rudder light. I had to file quite a lot of the fibreglass away. The light part didn't fit that well. The supplied lamp has nuts with star washers behind, so the first time the bulb needs replacing, the light will come off. Maybe I'll find something nicer by then!
Fitted rudder temporarily.
Hours: 2
Fitted trim cable, stablizer tips, mounting brackets.
Started on conduit mounting for electric to the tail.
Drilled rudder horn and upper bearing. Deburred and Primed parts.
Hours: 8
Safety wired brakes. Riveted seat pan sides. Drilled out top forward skin to A4. Removed forward top skin and trimmed to size. Drilled out hoop brackets to final size.
Hours: 4
Lifted airplane onto higher supports. Installed axles, gear, brakes.
Install nose wheel.
Rolled out airplane on the driveway for the first time! Woo-hoo! What a feeling!
Hours: 4
Repacked grove main wheel bearings per Grove instructions (of which there isn't much!). I used black lithium grease after washing out the original grease with gasoline.
Reassembled wheels using a lot of talk on the rim, and on the valve stem (so it would go through the grommet in the wheel).
Hours: 6
Put main spring gear under fuselage and marked 'notches' for the gear attachment bolts. Filed them using a big rat-tail file. It took a couple of gos to get a nice fit, taking a little off at a time.
Trimmed the end of the longerons that were overlapping the gear channel by 1 or 2 mm.
Drilled the axles to the main gear. Instructions for this were almost non-existant. The plans don't show the axles either. I put the rounded part of the axle flush with the bottom of the gear. The flat side was about 3mm from the rear of the gear. This roughly centered all the holes edge distance-wise. In addition, by mounting the brake caliper non-horizontal (rotated around one-hole in the multi holed bracket), I only had to grind a small corner of the gear off for the caliper to fit. I did this with a big belt sander. Took a while, but it was much less exhausting than filing the notches by hand!
Note: I drilled the axle holes by clamping the axle onto the gear (which was upside-down on the floor). Then I drilled through the axle into the aluminium gear leg using a 12" long 1/4" drill bit from sears. It was quite easy to stay straight because the axle has a deep hole to guide you, plus you keep the bit parallel to the axle. The drill hardly moved until I sprayed some Crisco olive oil on it (from the kitchen), Then the bit zipped through the gear like butter in seconds!
Hours: 5
Fork holes drilled in fork, doubler and gear leg. Axle cotter pin holes drilled. Wheel test fitted to gear leg. Nose bearing tapped. Lower bearing drilled out and bolted to fuselage.
Hours: 7
Finished up some L angles on the middle top skin.
Started on the nose gear (Hint: Using CH801 Nose gear photo guide). Drilled and filed bottom bracket. Drilled part holes in lower bearing. Started drilling steel gear to fork and fork doubler.
Fitted tube and tyre to nose wheel. Inflated.
Hours: 6
Drilled the left side as per the right side previously. Then drilled both forward side skins to the rear side skin & upright.
Hours: 1
Drilled & clecod the longeron splice area at the rear of the middle top skin. Next I drilled it to the longerons (from the rear forward).
At this point, the middle top skin wants to buckle out on the bend to the fuselage.
I removed the bottom 3 clecos from the the B2 hoop. This relieved the buckle on the longeron (but put a small buckle back on the hoop. I drilled the rest of the longeron while pushing down vertically on the from part of the middle skin (I hadn't cut it all off yet, so I could put pressure down on the edge of it to push the buckle out). I finished drilling to the longeron, then cleco'd the B2 frame again. Hey presto, it fits!
Hours: 2
Cut B2 hoop. Fitted gussets and trimmed. Fit rear top middle skin again. Drilled and clecod gussests and B2. Marked B2 on skin. Removed skin. Predrilled #40 holes. Refitted skin, drilled skin to B2. rough cut skin front. The baggage compartment looks really big right now!
Hours: 3.5
Cut B3 hoop. Fitted, drilled and clecod gussets. Marked skin centreline and pre-drilled centre holes. Backdrilled bulkhead 4 to skin. Marked B3 hoop on skin. Removed skin. Predrilled #40 holes. Refitted skin, drilled skin to B3.
Found unwanted visitor crawling under the skin by my head!
Hours: 3.5
Reassembled more parts. Riveted a few more. Fitted control stick! Started looking at the landing gear to see what was ahead.
Drilled pilot holes in the bulkheads. Fitted rear top skin. Seemed to go quite smoothly.
Marked up rear harness brackets.
Hours: 6.5
Started prepping the nose gear. Clecod a few parts back into place. Drilled the stop bolt/ring on the torque tube. Marked the rear bulkheads ready for drilling. (I need to put the baggage floor back in before drilling).
Hours: 2
Finished bolts and rivets in side skins, Riveted other internal sub assemblies. Riveted a few more holes that I couldn't get to underneath.
Hours: 3
Did lots of reassembly. Fitted AN3 bolts on gear/seatbelts.
Riveted floor, gear supports. Started riveting side skins - almost done.
Hours: 7.5
Deburred side skins, primed, riveted. Continued reassembly. Riveted a few sub parts. Primed a few others.
Hours: 5
Jean assisted me with some deburring. Many parts primed or painted, reassembly started. Parts of cabin floor riveted. Started riveting the SS A5 rivets in the pedals. I'm not heavy enough to push the hand riveter closed with one of these rivets!
Hours: 6
Fitted lower engine mounts & made shims. I drilled the outer hole with a #40, then drilled the forward hole from the bottom up by measuring along the longeron.
Drilled out remaining pilot holes to their final sizes while disassembling the entire forward fuselage. This took a long time!
Started deburring, and painting some of the steel parts with rustoleum flat black enamel.
Hours: 9
Connected all of the flap actuator and controls up. Put some cardboard "beers of the world" box flap templates in place on the arms. Adjusted everything for correct 27 degree flaps down per the photo guide. Retracted the flaps to the limit (will a 9.6v drill battery), but they were still down a bit! Seems like my flap travel isn't enough. After some measuring and starting again from 0 degree (along the flap bottom), it appears I only get about 20 degrees travel before the flap actuator arm touches the rear channel. Need to investigate further.
Hours: 1
Enlarged flap control tube holes in side skin to allow stop rings though. Positioned and Installed flap control bearings. Drilled & clecod.
Hours: 2
Located the flap control arm hole on each side of the fuselage using the wing template and half a piece of piano hinge clamped to the rear channel. Drilled the 1" hole in each side with a step dril, and the a file to finish it off.
Located the hole centres for the flap bearings and drilled a pilot hole.
Cut, drilled and clecod L angle around the hole. Fitted the flap motor and actuator rod.
Drilled out a few AN3 bolts here and there (gear support/brake bearings).
Hours: 3
Installed inboard seat belt doublers. Completed drilling center console. Drilled & fit seat pan on each side.
Drilled the last few holes on the baggage floor and removed it.
Marked, drilled and clecod the flap mount gusset and flap actuator mount. Tested the flap motor.
Hours: 4.5
Fitted torque tube. Drilled and bolted front and rear bearings.
Fitted, driilled, cleco'd L angle around seats, channel and armrest.
Installed armreset sides, drilled and cleco'd to L angles.
Hours: 6
Visited Larry who demonstrated how quickly one can make a new rear bearing and cut the whole beautifully with a fly cutter on a drill press!
Fitted the new rear bearing to the frame.
Hours: 1.5
Started on Torque tube support and bearing. Cutting the 1 1/8" hole was tricky.
Moved on to the seatbelt attachments, which I fabricated and drilled to the gear uprights.
Hours: 1.5
Fitted, cut (snips), shaped (filed) and drilled/cleco'd the upper fuselage longeron doublers for each side.
Used a piece of thick paper cleco'd on to mark the last few holes in the baggage gusset. This saved having to remove the baggage shelf to drill 2 holes on each side!
Hours: 2
Drilled and clecod seat back, center channel, L angles to center from baggage floor.
Drilled the baggage floor sides to the L angles. I had to remove the front upper longerons one at a time to allow access for drilling. This was a pain, but didn't take too long.
Drilled the longeron splice holes and bulkhead.
Fitted, drilled, cleco'd the instrument panel gussets and canopy bracket on each side.
Fabricated a fairlead bracket for the bulkhead fairlead. Several builders have done this following a reported 'cable coming out of the fairlead'.
Hours: 4.5
Removed the baggage floor. Marked rivet lines. Cut & drilled L angle to floor. Put floor back in.
Cut center seat back channel to fit, cut clearing for torque tube.
Hours: 2
Drilled & clecod upright channels.
Fitted and cut baggage floor.
Contemplated the flap motor and parts. I may do these before I go any further, since the photo guide doesn't cover installing this at all! Seems like it would be good to do it before I put the baggage floor in next.
Hours: 3
Trimmed and fitted upright channels. Not yet riveted.
Cut/filed seat back side channels to fit. Drilled & clecod to side skin & baggage support.
Fitted L angle for baggage floor support. I removed the upright channels, put the L angle in place. Trimmed it roughly to length. Cut the 2 vertical L angles (already riveted to the rear side skin) in place, and slid the l angle in place. I marked the L angle intersections and the location of the upright channel. I also marked around the L angle to facilitate lineup. Next I removed it, crimped the forward section and marked the rivet locations. Reinstalled, drilled from the inside out. Removed the L, cut out the upright channel section, reinstalled.
Hours: 4.5
Continued on the seat panels with both spar access holes cut, L angles fitted and riveted with nutplates. Access cover screw holes drilled. Seat panels drilled and clecod to the spar and gear channel.
I got a response from ZAC on the lower engine mounts. Its OK to add an extra full-length shim. Less shims are better (thicker & less layers).
Set cabin width at seat back to 1120mm. Fitted gussets and seat back/baggage floor support.
Hours: 4.5
Fabricated, drilled, clecod gussets for L angle to heel support.
Fitted rolled gussets on heel support ends.
Made .040" shims for lower engine mounts. Looks like I may need a long shim under the whole lower engine mount. I emailed ZAC about this:
"I'm mounting my lower engine mount fitting (6B6-5), and I have the 2 .040" shims underneath. There is a still a gap between the enging mount 686-5, and the firewall stiffener 6B6-1, and the shims. It appears the engine mount bolt hole in the firewall is a fraction high. (almost 1mm).
Question 1: Should I fill this gap?
Question 2: Should I make a shim .063" the size of the FULL LENGTH of the lower engine mount fitting (6B6-5)to fill this 0.9mm gap?"
Started on the seat panels. Cut spar access holes in the seat panels, and gear channel slot.
Hours: 3.5
Cut, crimped, drilled and clecod vertical L angle in forward fuselage on the left side. Things are always easier second time around. Drilled out to A4. Trimmed the side side forward of the firewall. That looks nicer!
Started working on heel support gussets. Looks like I'll need to fire up the compressor to use the angle drill as there isn't a lot of working room in front of the spar.
Test fitted lower engine mounts. Looks like one may need an extra shim. Will check this once the gussets are done.
Hours: 3.5
Cut, crimped, drilled and clecod vertical L angle in forward fuselage. I was a little confused here, since the plans said it should be 400mm back from the firewall on the top longeron. If I made it square to the longeron, it didn't finish up near the heel support as per the plans. After scratching my head for a while, I found that the plans had been corrected in the Dec 04 update, and this distance was now 355mm. Much better!
Cut, drilled and clecod the 3 horizonal L angles (intersection holes first) on the right side.
Hours: 3
Finished the wing upgrights, drilled out to final size. Finished drilling gussets to final size. Finished drilling gear attachment holes.
Hours: 3
Drilled & cleco'd right wing uprights. Started on left. It was a bit tricky to hold everything against the cabin floor skin to clamp & drill. It helped by drilling a top and 'mid' hole first. Drilled #40, then opened up to #20.
Hours: 2
I got home yesterday, and my replacement side skin & gear uprights had arrived.
I worked (slowly!) on getting the new skin cut and drilled in the correct position against the already-drilled gear support. Drilled & clecod the new uprights.
Now I'm back on track.
Hours: 2.5
I heard back from ZAC on my skin/gear support problem. It looks like I could probably get around it with some empty holes and extra rivets, but a new skin is only $45, and the gear uprights are $5. I decided to go with replacement parts. I didn't want such a critical part to be less than perfect.
Hours: 0
Drilled & clecod both gear supports to the gear channel. Fitted gear upright extrusions and gussets. I wasn't quite happy with the placement of one gear support, and I may move it slightly before all the holes are drilled.
Hours: 4
Pre-drilled the steel landing gear supports using the drill press. At this point, I only drilled the rivet holes between the gear bolts to #40.
Hours: 1
Marked and cut slots and holes for rear channel on fuselage. This was a little time consuming taking skins off & back on.
I had to drill out a rivet on each side of the rear floor to fit the rear channel down.
Zenith suggest 225mm as the distance for the rear channel, but then appear to use the wing jig to measure in the plans. I used the wing jig to measure, and the distance was almost 225mm.
Drilled a center line hole in the floor and the channel, then drill the remaining holes from underneath, lying on my back. Ugh!
My friend Larry helped me with the bending of the brake pedal hinges, using a solid aluminum rod to hammer the hinge around (rather than the hollow pedal). They turned out great in a matter of minutes.
Hours: 3
Built the wing jig and riveted it. This took a while (2.5 hours). I built it before I cut the fuselage side skins, so I could correctly measure the spar angle on the side skin. The documentation on this wasn't great, but the zenith list had lots of good information.
Clamped on the side skins. Cut slots for spar and for the gear channel.
Fitted the rear bulkheads (middle isn't drilled at this point to longerons). L angle and fairlead fitted.
Hours: 6
Setup fuselage to correct levels (3 degrees on cabin floor, upper skins/longerons level, firewall at 77 degrees.
Drilled and bolted upper longerons to upper engine mount supports, which are bolted to the firewall. The upperl longerons are clamped at the other end (with a bulkhead clamped in place for support).
Fitted wing spar centre section. This is set at 81 degrees. Drilled out all holes to A5. This was a messy part - backdrilling from underneath. My hair and clothes are full of aluminum!
Hours: 4
I unloaded the rest of the kit crate (gear, canopy, skins), and broke down the crate.
Made some low saw horses from the wood in the crate. The guide says 580mm height for these (presumably so the gear will fit underneath. I made mine lower, so I could reach inside easier. When it gets to gear time, I'll raise the fuselage with some 2x4's or something.
Put fuselage on new supports. Its not leveled out yet at the right angles.
Hours: 4
Drilled out all the remaining rivet holes in the cable floor (at this point) to their respective rivet sizes. I left some no-rivet zones.
Clamped and centered the firewall. Drilled & cleco'd it to the floor. It was fairly easy with just the sides well clamped to get the first hole drilled, the go outward from the centre line.
After a lot of checking, measuring and double checking for square, I drilled the gear channel to the cabin floor. Added the upper front longerons (clamped in place), and temporarily, the upper engine mounts. There were a lot of washers available in the kit still at this point to pad out the engine mounts with washers so as not to 'use' the nylock nut while things aren't final.
Spend a large part of the afternoon figuring out what to do for stands to support the fuselage. I temporarily moved the airplane (back in 2 pieces) off the bench/crate. Now I'm emptying my old faithful wing crate (aka workbench!) so I can break it down. I'll put the stands where the crate was.
Hours: 6
Got a reply from Zenith. The photo guide has an old picture. The support channel is shorter (like mine) in the newer kits, and has an extra brake support channel that sits under it.
Marked, drilled & clecod the support channels, lower front longerons and floor stiffener.
Installed rudder pedals, pedal bearings, brake master cylinders.
Drilled stainless hinge to pedals using my drill press.
Hours: 4.5
Riveted the rear fuselage together (to reclaim my cleco's!). I left the fairleads, HT attach brackets cleco'd.
Started working on the cabin floor. Marked rivet lines for longerons, heel support, brake support channel etc. Drilled heel support & cleco'd.
The guide says "Trim the brake support channel to fit". Mine is 640mm long and it fits without trimming - in fact its well clear of the edge. I emailed Zenith about this.
Hours: 4
Deburred, primed and riveted the firewall.
Deburred, primed rear fuselage section. Ready for rivets :-)
Hours: 4
Disassembled and deburred the firewall. Primed parts.
Partially disassembled, deburred and primed fuselage rear section. I'll cleco this back before doing the other side. This should save me some space, since delicate flat skins take up a lot of worktop room!
Hours: 2.5
Made good progress on the firewall. Fitted all firewall parts, nose gear upper bearing etc. I drilled the bungee pin at 290mm as per the drawing update. After pre-drilling the doublers per the photo guide, I realised that the centre hole was actually now 5mm off! I drilled another pilot hole in the doublers, since the 5/8 inch hole would cover the incorrect hole.
Cut out the steering rod slots in the firewall.
All holes drilled out to the final size.
Hours: 8
Continued on the firewall with diagonal stiffeners & L angles drilled & cleco'd.
Hours: 2
Started on the firewall. Had some assistance from my friend Roy who built a 601HDS. We spent more time talking about the whole project than working on the firewall, but I got some great tips.
Hours: 2
Trimmed and fitted gear channel and seat back by back drilling through bottom skin, then moving into the correct place & clecoing.
Hours: 2
Drilled & clecod top longerons to top plate and to side skin (from the front HT bracket backwards. Cut holes for rudder cables.
Cut fairlead and fairings, drilled and cleco'd. (NOTE: The fairings need to be back-drilled - and there isn't much room. It might have been better to mark and drill these before putting the side skins on the bottom rear fuselage, or at least doing one before the second side skin is put in place).
Drilled & cleco'd rudder top hinge. This isn't mentioned at all in the photo guide! (things are getting more sketchy all the time now). As a result, I'd already drilled the holes in the end of the top rear longerons. Fortunately, these holes worked fine in the rudder top hinge. I'd suggest putting the hinge in place just after fitting the top plate L angles.
Hours: 5
Pre drilled the HT attachment brackets with #40 holes (I clamped them together and did this on the drill press). Marked, drilled, cleco'd brackets to the rear.
Hours: 2
Fitted top plate, longeron,top L-Angles, diagonal L-angles and checked it was plumb and square. Drilled, clecod to side skins and HT frames.
Hours: 6
Finished drilling holes through skin to bottom longerons. Drilled out to A4 where required.
Marked, drilled and clecod 10 of the side gussets (I left the lower pair at the front on each side, since it doesn't appear I should do these until the forward upper longerons are installed). Each gusset was tack-riveted.
Cut the access hole in the rear top plate with a fly-cutter and snips. Cleaned it up with the dremel.
Hours: 3
Started on the rear fuselage side skins. Cut, drilled and clecod the L angles to each side. Clamped each to the bottom rear fuselage. Used boxes to support the forward end of the sides. Drilled and clecod to the longerons and the 2 rear HT frames.
Hours: 5
Deburred, primed and riveted the rear fuselage bottom.
Hours: 8
Driled and clecod rear HT frames to lower rudder brackets.
Hours: 2
Installed lower longerons, trimmed stiffeners. Installed one of the splices. Drilled & cleco'd. Joggled end of Z's
Hours: 4
Started work on the fuselage bottom skin etc. Its great to get back to work on it after the move.
Rear HT frames jigged, drilled, cleco'd. Bottom skin stiffeners drilled & cleco'd.
Hours: 3
My Gear, Controls and Canopy sub kits arrived today. Now I have all the pieces of the airframe kit. The crate was about 7 x 3 x 1.5', and about 250lbs.
Started Inventory of the crate. Turned the crate into a storage shelf/bench, since I didn't have time to build anything.
Hours: 2
Tonight I completed the left wing, clecod the skin on and riveted it all up! Pitot tube has been temporarily placed in the baggage locker - I will connect it up when I rivet the tube on, then rivet the baggage side wall in place. That will be much further down the line.
We are moving over the next month or so, so I'll just order the canopy, controls, wheels when we get to our new abode.
Hours: 5
Finished the left wing locker, including the Dzus fasteners (which seem to stick quite a bit). Riveted locker parts in place.
Riveted tie-down ring. Test fitted & drilled aileron. Installed aileron bellcrank.
The wing is ready to close!
Hours: 2.5
Crimped and added L angle to left baggage locker door. Cut out wing skin for door. Drilled and cleco'd door, piano hinge, dzus strips etc etc. Primed and deburred everything.
Outboard side panel is ready, but I am leaving it until after assembly of the pitot.
Hours: 3
Fitted the landing and taxi lights into the assembly. Cut the bushings to 11mm as shown in the plans, even though it looks like they should be more like 15mm. Once assembled, the lights looked great. Drilled & clecoed to the wing.
Finished wing tip with crimped angle and wing tip sheet cut to fit. Drilled, cleco'd, primed and deburred everything ready for rivet.
Wired up landing and taxi lights, along with strobe and position light. Landing & Taxi light are grounded to the airframe (at the bolt on the strobe PSU). I put the wire in the drill and spun it up into a nice bundle then routed it through grommets in the wings, and around the back of the baggage locker.
Started putting the baggage locker parts in place. One side wall will be left off so I can access the pitot tube. This will let me install it later (when it goes on the airplane).
Hours: 8
Finished deburring the top wing ribs and skin. Scrubbed and primed ribs and skin and baggage parts.
Cut hole in nose skin for landing/taxi lights.
Started making light assembly. I drilled the corner light holes with the back and front plates of both lights clamped together - this made things a bit easier.
Hours: 3.5
Fabricated the left wing locker sides and rear. Drilled & cleco'd together. Disassembled and deburred.
Deburred the top skin and top ribs also. Deburred 1,000,000 holes tonight (well, it feels like I did).
Hours: 4
Fitted fuel drain, fingersreen and coupler with Permatex thread sealant. Connected fuel tank ground to spar. Cut fuel filler hole. Fitted fuel tank, fuel hose, fuel sender wiring. Drilled and deburred finger screen access cover.
Installed aileron trim cable with grommets. Installed strobe power supply on spar tip. Tested lights with a 9v drill battery - lots of flashing!
Hours: 5.5
Drilled out remaining A5 holes in top skin. Marked and cut top wing tip and root. Flipped wing.
Marked and cut bottom wing tip and wing root.
Cut finger screen access hole. Fabricated cover. This will be riveted on with A4 rivets through the nose ribs.
Started angle on wing tip. Crimped upper and lower angles. Drilled and clecod lower wingtip angle.
Fitted nav/strobe light to fiberglass wingtip, and riveted.
Hours: 5
Completed fuel sender installation. Loctited all screws. Cork strip added, and tank test fitted.
Drilled out top skin to A5. Ready for lots of deburring!
Wing root and tip (top) are marked.
Hours: 2.5
Tonight I had some assistance from Matt, and Roberto who dropped in.
Drilled holes for fuel vent and drain in leading edge skin. Test fitted the fuel tank.
To mark the positions of the nose ribs, the top of the ribs were 'buttered' (well maragarine!), then the leading edge skin was closed and strapped down. The skin was opened up again, and the butter showed the positions of the nose. Ribs!
The leading edge skin was pre drilled (toward the top and bottom hole of each rib), then the skin was closed again. Once all was in alignment, the holes were pre drilled, then drilled out to A4 on the ribs.
Hours: 4
Today I couldn't do much on the wing skin as I had no helper to assist me in flipping the wing over. Not to waste any time, I cut the hole in left tank for the fuel sender. "customized" fuel sender float arm. Shortened fuel sender washer, bolts and nut to make a slimline fit that should go under the wing skin. Loctite'd the assembly and fitted it to the tank temporarily. Will permanently fit it once the tank has been test mounted in the wing.
Hours: 1.5
Marked rib stations on leading edge skin. Deburred & riveted nose ribs.
Put leading edge skin on ribs, moved offset, pre drilled #40 holes. Cleco'd leading edge skin in place, drilled out holes. Drilled all holes on rear bottom skin.
Removed skins. Deburred all holes. Primed skin and ribs. Fiited skins again.
Fitted tie down ring (and removed), cut aileron bellcrank access hole.
Fitted pitot tube assembly (and removed for now).
Riveted rear bottom skin and bottom of leading edge skin.
Phew! Industrious day!
Hours: 9.5
Drilled and cleco'd left rear top skin and left rear bottom skin.This is much quicker on the second wing, when you've 'been there, done that'!
Hours: 3.5
Deburred, primed and riveted left wing spar, rear channel and ribs.
Hours: 4
Riveted stiffeners to ribs and spar tip.
Drilled and cleco'd rear ribs. Rear channel stations layed out, pre-drilled. Rear ribs and doubler all drilled and cleco'd to rear channel.
Hours: 2.5
Drilled, Cleco'd, deburred and primed nose ribs in left wing spar.
Deburred and primed stiffeners.
Hours: 1.5
Drilled & clecod spar tip. Fabricated aileron belcrank support, and drilled and cleco'd.
Started on stiffeners for rear ribs 1-4.
Hours: 2.5
Fitted final Dzus fastener for baggage lid. Fitted aileron bellcrank. Deburred, primed and riveted rear top skin, leading edge skin and wingtip. Tested lights.
Right wing is now complete. Woo-hoo!
