First Flight!!!

Finally!  I had to be patient and wait for a good weather day, since it's been either 25+ knots windy, 100+ degrees F, or usually both pretty much every day around here.  I finally had some favorable conditions just after sunrise on June 12th, so I went ahead and got off the ground.  The plane flew well!  All the issues I noticed were engine related, which is pretty much what I expected.  

I'm still not getting the full 40 in-Hg manifold pressure, and therefore not the full 3400 rpm at max power (it maxed out at 2900 rpm).  I had enough power to get off the ground in about 1000', but I could tell it was struggling and the CHTs quickly got too hot during the climb.  I ended up only climbing to 1000 AGL and then just cruised around to try and keep things cool, which was mostly unsuccessful.  CHT #3 was the hottest, and I could barely keep it under the redline of 450, so I decided to land after about 20 minutes and address the boost thing before doing any more.

Other than the main issues of the boost pressure and CHT's, I only noticed minor issues like a couple of small oil leaks, but nothing too concerning.

I had no witnesses, so these are the only two pictures I got!

Luckily I had the GoPro running though, so here are some clips of the takeoff and landing.

The engine quit on the landing roll, but I was able to coast to the next taxiway and then start back up to taxi back!

Overall, I have some issues to address but I think it was a successful first flight!

Replacement Wing (36)

 36 hours

Well it took a few months but I got my replacement left wing!  I did an insurance claim and just ordered a whole quick-build left wing box assembly from Sonex.  It was expensive and took a while to get, but I wouldn't have been able to build a new wing that fast anyway with everything else I have going on this Spring.

Anyway, part of the challenge was just getting the wing from the factory to me.  They had some issues with their normal freight carrier, so in the interest of time I got Sonex to ship the wing in a PODS container, which was a lot more expensive than normal but the other option was to just wait an indefinite amount of time and I needed to get on with it!

So what I replaced was just the wing box.  The flap and aileron were good, as well as the pushrods, wiring, landing light, and wingtip light.  Below is a list of all the tasks that I did, and how many hours they each took.  This was kind of my to-do list, and then I just wrote down how long each thing took as I went.

• Remove both wings - 1.5

• Remove flap, aileron, and pushrods - 0.5

• Drill out and remove wingtip rib - 0.5

• Remove landing light & parts - 0.5

• Disconnect & remove wiring from leading edge - 0.5

• Match new wing to right wing and drill 2x main spar holes - 3

• Run wiring through leading edge conduit - 1

• Install wire connectors - 0.5

• Install inspection cover w/ nutplates - .5

• Install flap hinge - 1

• Install flap - 0.5

• Install aileron hinge - 1

• Rivet trailing edge - 1.5

• Install long aileron pushrod - 0.5

• Install both wings on fuselage w/ 2x main spar pins - 3.5

• Rig and drill aft spar hole to carry-through - 0.5

• Connect and adjust flap pushrods - 1

• Install aileron & short pushrod - 0.5

• Connect and adjust aileron pushrods - 2

• Install inspection covers - 5 minutes

• Put interior back together - 0.5

• Fit wingtip light to wingtip rib - 1

• Cut hole in leading edge for landing light - 2

• Install landing light & connect wires - 3

• Trim & install wingtip rib - 3.5

• Trim and install wing walk doubler with gasket - 3

• Install grip tape on wing walk - 0.5

• Fix & install gear leg fairings - 1

• Drain fuel

• Redo weight & balance - 1

Once I got the new wing to the hangar I just took a week off of work and cranked it all out! Here are some pictures.

Picking up the wing from the PODS depot.

I just rented a trailer to bring it back.

In the hangar!

To drill the holes in the new main spar, I bolted the new left wing to the existing right wing through the same three 1/4" holes used for mating the spars normally.  Then I used the 3/8" drill guide to drill through the right wing and then through the left wing, then updrilled that to 1/2".  Then I knew that the new left spar matched the right spar, which matches the fuselage.

Running the wires through the leading edge was kind of a pain but doable.

Riveting the trailing edge and the flap and aileron hinges.

I found it really hard to get the main spar holes to line up in the fuselage well enough to get the pins inserted.  I don't think this has much to do with the new wing, it was super hard when we installed the wings the last time too.  This time I went and got some 1/2" rod and ground down the end to make a sort of tapered pin to help with alignment.

It was easy to forget about the wiring connections at the wing roots.  If I don't tuck the wires inside the wing nicely then they get pinched and the wing won't go all the way in.

After much wrangling the wings are on again!

Working on fitting the new wingtip.

I had a much easier time now on my third wingtip than I did before.  I didn't spend too excessively much time trying to make the fiberglass match up perfectly to the profile of the leading edge skin.  I know now it'll never really be perfect and I can just fill the little gaps with SuperFil anyway and then it'll look just fine.

I contemplated skipping the landing light for now and trying to retrofit it later, but I decided that having the wingtip off will make it a lot easier to do now.

I didn't have the template that came with the landing light kit, but I was able to just trace the hole on the old left wing to make myself a new template to cut out.

This was really the only thing that really failed during this whole wing replacement.  In the process of fitting the landing light and installing and removing the lens a bunch of times I broke the lens in half.  For now I just excessively taped it back together, and I'll make a new one later.

Fitting the wing walk doubler with a 3/16" gap for the wing root gasket.

Once I got everything installed I drained all the fuel out and weighed the plane again...  I'm glad I did because I found a huge error with my previous measurement.  I think the tires were flexing the scales and they weren't reading the full weight.  The previous result was kind of unbelievably light so this is probably much more correct.  The empty weight now is 725 lbs!

Differential Toe Brakes (15)

15 Hours

While I wait for my new wing to show up, I'm going to do something about the stock brake setup.  The factory's stance is you don't need differential brakes with the directly linked tailwheel, but after my experience I no longer agree!  I also want to move the brakes to my feet so I don't have to divide my left hand's attention between the brakes and throttle on the ground anymore.

My plan was to mostly copy the setup shown in this forum post.

Here's a look at the stock rudder pedals and the hand brake with single master cylinder.

Some dimensions for reference.

I started by copying the post above and getting some steel pedals cut out and welded together.  I paid a guy at a scrapyard to make these and they're alright but they definitely don't look as nice as what I'm copying!  After some grinding and painting though they looked fine.

I bought two of these Matco MCMC-5A master cylinders and a PVPV-D parking brake valve, some straight and 90-degree fittings, and like 20 more feet of plastic brake line.  From there I was pretty much on my own!

I did a lot of head scratching and mocking-up of parts to try and decide how and exactly where to mount the master cylinders.

This is close to the final answer.  For the pivot I used a 1/4" rod that was threaded on the ends.  I used a slim nut on each inboard side because there isn't much space between the rudder pedals, and I cut the outboard ends to length eventually so they wouldn't stick out too far.  I also used some bronze bushings that I already had laying around.

Next I pondered where to place the parking brake valve.  Initially I thought I'd mount it on the firewall or perhaps the floor, and then use a push-pull cable to actuate it.  I realized I could put it on the left sidewall though, near where the original brake handle was, and then I could reach it from the seat without any extra cables or parts.  It's still low enough that the build in reservoirs on top of the master cylinders are the highest point in the system!

I used my hangar neighbor's pressure bleeder to fill the brakes from the calipers, which was a little messy but otherwise extremely easy.  All done!!