Today was a fun day.  I changed the EGT probes from the original Grand Rapids supplied ones to a weld on boss type.  I HATE hose clamps.  Would you buy a Lexus if it had stuff  hanging all over the place hose clamps…. Yuck!  Had to go.

The Hewitt Industries type is made of Monel instead of some other material (inconel and SS).  They are guaranteed for life and the Monel WILL NOT deteriorate over time ( and I run mogas whenever I can).  Good stuff.  Beside did I say they didn’t have hose clamps?

This is how it looked when I started…

After removing the camps the area needed to be buffed up prior to welding.

Whenever you weld SS, you should back purge the pipe so the inert Argon gas is on both sides of the welded area (since it has a big hole).  Not doing so causes a oxygen rich weld on the other side and weakens the bond.  Covering the ends of the pipe with tin foil is a good trick to pug it up.  Insert the purge tube in the other end and its good to go.

Welded… not bad for an armature.

Looks beautiful with out a hose clamp….  The Lexus look.

Well the plane is moving again!  This time to my most excellent workshop (actually it is my garage).    When I built this part of the house I fully anticipated building/working on a planes so I made the shop extra large 30×30 ft.  At one time I had two canards in (a Varieze and a LongEZ fuselage).   It has a 11 ft ceiling and is free span (I used a big I-beam for the center support).  Most importantly for the summer in the south is that it has a super big ass air conditioner, TV, Stereo and a frig.  What a great place to go to work.

These are two buddies.  Tony Cole (left) Nick Annon (the big bruiser) .    I like Tony because we get along famously, laugh a lot and he is from the British mother land (funny being he is now living in a former colonies and enjoying it).   He is building a LongEZ and I just love his English accent.    Tony left for a few weeks right after the move to work on his house back in England.   He goes back once a year, so you know where my first trip abroad is going to be.  

Nick is fun.   Kind of hard not to love a big, puppy dog….     Nick and Nick.  Brains and brawn.

Looks sleek in the shop!

Anyone for a Zima?

Today was spend on designing the instrument panel.   Talk about stuffing 5 gallons of sh*t in a 1 gallon bucket!   If you just look at the indiviual components, it looks absoultely impossible to fit everything into the space I have to work with.  There is something to be said about computer modeling!

 Fortunately the GRT has inputs for alarms hich will eliminate all warning lights on the dash.

I cant wait to start cutting out the panel…