Interior Reassembly (2)

 2 hours

This was quick and easy and got a lot of parts off my shelves!  With the seat totally done, I went ahead and installed the cockpit side panels, stick boot, and seats.

I had to cut some extra clearance into the side panels for the big wire bundle, and the canopy switch on the other side.

I had to take the stick grip off to get the boot on, but besides that all the upholstery just velcros to the seat.

My little dude found it comfy enough so I think it's good to go.

Wheel Pants (7)

 7 hours

I wasn't really looking forward to messing with these fiberglass wheel pants, but they weren't too bad overall I guess.  They mount with one screw into the end of the axle on the outboard side, and four into the little rectangular plate on the inboard side.  I noticed the ends of each axle were drilled but not tapped, so I started by tapping those two holes.  Then I took a closer look at the mounting plates that I built way back when I put the wheels and brakes on.  I pretty much blindly followed the plans when I made them, not really thinking ahead how they'd be used.  They're supposed to be parallel to the ground, but mine were at some random angle.

I thought about trying to use them that way, but the bottom corner would hang down below the fiberglass, including the nut plate, so that wouldn't work.  I ended up just removing each one and flipping it over, drilled a new hole to pin it to the caliper in a level position, and then reinstalled them.  Then they were level, but the plates blocked the brake bleeder on each side.

I removed them again and cut a notch so I could get a wrench on the bleed screw.  Now I can actually start on the wheel pants!

The plans call for a hole on each side, 11" back from the front, and 2.5" up from the bottom.  I drilled those, and then updrilled the hole on the inboard side with a 1-3/4" hole saw, and finally cut a notch to match the big hole.

That was enough to get the fairing over the wheel with the brake line removed, so I installed it that way, lined it up the best I could, and then located and drilled the four holes to align with the nut plates.  Those four holes were the trickiest part.  I used a small flashlight to light them up from inside, and then I could sort of see where they were from the outside.  A couple of the holes didn't turn out great, so later I will probably repair them and drill them again.

Anyway, the last step was to create enough clearance to be able to get the fairing on around the axle and brake line.  It took a few iterations but I just kept cutting little angles and removing material until I could install it.  I'm glad I hadn't filled the brake lines yet because it was very helpful to be able to remove them from the calipers!

Seat Installation (2)

 2 hours

Everything that lives under the seat is installed now, so I went ahead and riveted the seat on!

Seatbelts (1)

 1 hour

The seatbelts were the last things that needed to go in before I could rivet the seat on.  They went in fine, except I forgot to drill out the inboard mounting holes to their final size whenever I put the whole fuselage structure together, so I had to cut a little access hole in two seat ribs to drill those holes to 5/16" for the seatbelts.  Then they went right in!

VHF Antenna (2.5)

 2.5 hours

The only tricky part of installing this antenna was figuring out where to put it, and how to route a coax cable to it from the radio, which is on the right side of the baggage area.

I used a Comant CI-122 antenna, and planned to mount it on the floor.  I wanted to put it as far forward as possible for ground clearance, but I found that if I put it forward of the main spar tunnel, it would be a lot more complicated to get the cable to it, and there'd also be nowhere to put it where it couldn't be kicked by someone in the cockpit.  I decided to put it just aft of the spar tunnel, and just to the right of center near the pitch servo.  That kept it out of the way of the controls, and I think I'll be able to reach it through one of the autopilot servo access panels if I ever need to remove it.  I used some rubber grommets wherever the cable passed through anything.

By the way, this is the last wire on the whole plane (I think)!!

Autopilot Servos (2.5)

 2.5 hours

With the floor on, now I can finish up the autopilot servos.  I had it mostly figured out from before, but it just took a little messing around to find the right hardware that would allow everything to move through its full range without binding anywhere.

The only potential issue I ran into was that the roll servo pushrod would run into the top of the hole in the rib that I ran it through, at full stick deflection.

I thought I might have to change some stuff, but I checked with the seat on, and the stick still hits either side of the hole in the seat way before the pushrod touches anything.  I had already checked with Sonex earlier, and the ailerons themselves will limit the stick travel before it hits the seat, so I know nothing here is going to mess with the aileron travel.

Also, now that I know that, I was able to shorten my roll servo arm a little bit.  I just drilled some more holes in my custom arm and then cut off the long end a bit to remove the extra holes I'd never use.  2.5" was the length I ended up using.

Riveting Floor (5)

 5 hours

I couldn't think of any more reasons not to rivet the floors on for good, so on they went!

I did the aft floor first, and then the forward floor.  Probably half of this time was spent on the ~20 bolts and nuts that held the corners together.  Since I was working by myself I had to do one at a time, taping a wrench on the nut on the inside and then installing the screw from below.  I also ran out of both CCP-44 and -46 rivets, so I had to order some more and wait for them to come in.  Aside from that everything went together pretty easily!

Brake Lines (1)

 1 hour

Now I'm really just about ready to rivet the floors.  I cleco'd the forward floor on, and the next (last?) task I have left is to run the brake lines from the master cylinder to the two calipers.  I need the floor in place to do this, but I just don't want to rivet it yet in case I run into any big issues.

Anyway, I ran the lines pretty much how the plans depicted, through the floor and down the gear legs to the calipers.  Not much to show really, but it's done now!  I am going to wait to fill and bleed the brakes for a while in case I need to disconnect any of the lines in the future.

Fuel Tank Leak Test (0.5)

 0.5 hours

I am just about out of reasons not to rivet the floors on!  Before I do though, I want to make sure the new fuel supply line that I built is all good.  I needed a way to check the whole fuel system for leaks.

I found a perfect gadget in the plumbing section at Home Depot, this fitting with a 0-15 psi pressure gauge and a shroeder valve on the end.  I bought that, and a couple of NPT bushings so that I could attach it to the end of my fuel line that connects to the carburetor.

I clamped a piece of hose on the vent line to seal that end off too.

I pumped up the system to just a couple of psi, and soon noticed it wasn't holding pressure for very long.  I sprayed some soapy water on all of the many joints, and eventually found the culprit at the Oops fitting on the tank.

I tried loosening and tightening the Oops fitting a few times but never really got it to seal.  I thought the o-ring was the problem, but eventually realized the air was just escaping through the threads between the fitting and the nut.  I removed the nut completely and added some EZ Turn fuel lube to the threads, reinstalled the nut, and it sealed right up!

Firewall Hardware (2.5)

 2.5 hours

Nothing too exciting here but I wanted to go back over the firewall and replace all the nylon (AN365) lock nuts with either all metal (AN363) nuts or nut plates.  I put nut plates on a handful of things I thought I could reasonably expect to ever to need to remove and replace, such as the ignition coils, voltage regulator (to adjust, hopefully not replace), and the coolant pump for the turbo.