RivetBangers.com

I sound like a Planet Fatness commercial! (I love that commercial.) The boxes of stuff are getting emptier again!

Lately my building strategy is to put a bunch of stuff on the bench and see how much of it I can install in one night while preparing for the arrival of the engine.

Tonight I came home from school, made some dinner and called Thomas from G3ignition. I am getting my mags early from Mattituck so that I can modify them and send them back to Mattituck so they can run them in the test cell.

See http://www.g3ignition.com/index.html for more info. Thomas is a great guy and super helpful!

I am soooooooooo looking forward to getting this engine! After I got back from the gym it was firewall punching time. I installed pass-through(s) for wiring, the sensor manifold, a ground block, control cable eyeballs and platenuts.

I also did the copper buswork for the relays. That was actually ALOTTA fun!

The temp in the garage was perfect without any heat and I should have stayed out there longer, but mornings come awful early...

I will post up some firewall pics when I get some more stuff in place.

If you are doing a -7 with fuel injection, these pics should be of interest to you!

CJ

When your ready to hang your engine, let me know. I can bring my engine hoist over and give you a hand with it.

Get 'er done Captn!!! You promised to tow me to Alaska.

captain_john wrote:Tonight I came home from school, made some dinner and called Thomas from G3ignition. I am getting my mags early from Mattituck so that I can modify them and send them back to Mattituck so they can run them in the test cell.

Let me know how it goes. I've got to do the same. Although it may be awhile before I can modify my mags. I've got to stay focused on fiberglass tasks until the hangar gets too cold to do epoxy. At least I can finish the FWF stuff when it's cold.

bob

Dave, Thanks! I might just take you up on that! Also, Do you have the Camloc tools? I am getting close to needing them soon. If so, could you bring them over too?

Vlad, I am not sure your Russian built airplane could handle the speeds that I would be traveling at!



We will need to check your Vmax and see of it is going to be ok!



Bob, My mags are on the bench right now. Mahlon was kind enough to send them along and Thomas is mailing me his modification package now. Speedpants (my A&P IA friend on this website) is kind enough to come pay me a visit and do the mod(s) with me. His price is right. He works for Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum!

CJ

I believe I have the tools in a bag in the bottom of my tool box.
I'll look for them and put them aside for you.

BTW, Vladimir...

How was the Bahamian trip!?!

The pic is AWESOME!!!

Tell us about the story!

CJ

Another productive day here!

Wyatt really wants this plane DONE so he supervised diligently all day!



It looks like I have all the penetrations made in the firewall that I can make at this time done.



I am really proud of the buswork I did here between the relays and overcurrent protection.



Sooo, I started working on closing up the firewall recess.

The only problem is the floor stiffeners weren't the correct distance apart in order for the F-738-C to fit correctly. I took a page out of Chappy's book and fitted it with some 1/16" angles.





I had this fuel pump already mounted as per the plans provided by Andair but I like this setup better. It is just less "clunky" and it may very well be lighter to boot!

All in all, it was a productive day in the shop. I am kinda bummed that I didn't make it to the gym though. Maybe I will go tomorrow morning instead?

How does it look?

CJ

Oh yeah, here is the Andair fuel pump. It is so much smaller than the Airflow performance one it makes me wonder what I can do with all the space I will have leftover in the fuel pump box.



I have heard that some people put cup holders there. That is an idea. I am considering installing my headset and MP3 input jack(s) there.

I dunnoooo...

CJ

Hey Johnyboy looks good.

By the way looking at your firewall picture what are those 2 pieces of metal located between the lower engine truss bolts. Oh about 5.5 inches wide or so. Looks like there riveted to the firewall and firewall angles? I did'nt do that am I missing something?

Never mind I figured it out. Kind of an opticle dillusion.

Looking good Captn, verrry good! I noticed you used different penetration eyes on FW. They are much better then anodized blue srew-in aluminum. Don't ask me how I know. I did 100 hours inspection recently and found out that nut in engine compartment was loose and hanging on throttle cable. Will dig for a pic. If I knew Machineman's thingies before I assembled I would ask him to make me a couple.


Bahama sweet Bahama Mama!!! I want to go back! Writing a bit on a Russian web resource about it will drop a linky after finish. Ted shot a video he had a camera on his wingtip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGg3W4_f ... tu.be&hd=1[/code][/url]

Kevin, Thanks!

Those are slices of .063" so I can mount my camlocks. I am putting them on the bottom (because so many people end up losing hinge eyes down there) and across the top.

I also installed my side cowling hinges now so they won't be in the way later after the engine mount is bolted into place. It is just waaaayyy easier to do them now.

Vlad, The video is awesome! I can't wait to go myself! Tell me, how did you navigate? Did your iPad work well?

You are right! Machineman's treasures are the secret to my success! He is a tremendous resource!

When are you coming back to KPYM? I have a shirt here of yours. It says something in Russian. It is all laundered and waiting for you!

CJ

captain_john wrote:Oh yeah, here is the Andair fuel pump. It is so much smaller than the Airflow performance one it makes me wonder what I can do with all the space I will have leftover in the fuel pump box.



I have heard that some people put cup holders there. That is an idea. I am considering installing my headset and MP3 input jack(s) there.

I dunnoooo...

CJ

CJ,

You can cut the pump box down... like this:

Bruce, That's a verrrry niiice!

I have already assembled and painted mine at full height soooo... I dunno. We can tinker with these things to no end and never fly them too! I think I have already proven that, having started this trip back in 2004! hahaha

In case people are wondering WHY I bothered to trim off the sides of the cover plate (seems that I neglected to mention it) the reason is... I didn't think ahead!

Here is the story... don't make more work for yourself if you haven't drilled your floor stiffeners yet!

Van tells you to simply draw a line down the floor stiffener and match drill it to the skin. Well, if that line is a little off (like mine was) the cover plate WILL NOT FIT CORRECTLY!!!

If that is the case, you GOTTA do this to make things correct.

I hope this helps others.

CJ

That looks really nice boys. Quite a nice setup there!

Spike

Well, it has been a busy couple of days here at the Captain's skunkworks shop.

Speedpants made it over yesterday and we whipped through the landing gear, engine mount, wheels, tires and brakes!



It is amazing the amount of work you can get done when you don't mess around!!! Speedpants is an A&P IA.

...and if that weren't enough, we also modified my magnetos for Thomas' G3ignition in our spare time!

Mattituck tells me that the engine should be ready in 2 more months. At this rate, I might not have anything else left to do!!!

CJ

Awesome John...

There is always some to do . keep working . don't slow down now .

Looking Good Johnny!
Running out of stuff to do
Don't you worry there is plenty more...

Got them Wheel Pants Trimmed and fitted yet?