Today was full of awwww shits….  now that the wiring is done, it is time to go back to working on the engine.  I need mod the oil cooler ducts and get some oil/fuel hose made up.  Shortly after starting some unforeseen miss matches showed up.

With the top cowl on I dont have enough clearance on the oil dipstick!  Shit the door wont close…

I ended up cutting the dip stick down to shorten it 3/4″

I also found the cowl hits on the front of #4 cylinder….shit.  I didnt want to cut up the baffling (dont have the time) or remake the #4 cylinder box, so I just bumped put the cowl.  Did want to do it but I had no choice. 

 After cutting the cowl out, I made a foam shape and glassed it in.  

I also needed to make a new duct for the oil cooler since I changed the intlet and outlets.  This is the shape of the old duct.

You can see how the tubes no longer match up.

I felt it necessary to come up with a inlet tube which uses NO SCAT tubing, and still allows the easy removal of the lower cowl.

The cooler was encapsulated in foam and then carved it to the right shape.  It is then covered in duct tape (black and red) to get ready for the glassing.  This is the part of fiberglass work I really enjoy because it is very artistic. 

 Better get to glassing!

Today Ken Laundry called me to discuss the oil heat system.  He was questioning the flow of the oil and the external vernitherm valve.   After opening my own website and reviewing the piping layout I realized that I had piped pPod wrong….  Oops!    It was piped where the hottest oil would first flow through the cabin then the external cooler, instead of the external oil cooler and THEN the cabin.   This would result in much hotter cabin heater temperatures.   It would have worked fine as piped but the goal is to keep the cabin heater as constant and as cool a temperature as possible.

After verifying mistake in the shop, I commenced to re-pipe the oil outlet of the engine.   Fortunately, it only required some piping which I had on hand and most of my work day.    Since it was I who  messed up I would never charge my customer for the cost of the rework.     The  import thing is that the system is properly installed. 

I spent a hour or two glassing  the back side of the NACA duct.    Not a great day, but it was successful on all accounts…..

Today was spent getting ready for glassing.  I installed all the hoses I purchased last week which felt like a real step forward!  Had to order some Adel clamps to install the hose system.    This is the oil line.  It could have been made with a singel hose, but I prefer to minimize the use of hoses and replace as much as possible with hard tubing.  It will last the life of the plane and less chance of leakage.

The fuel hose requires a covering of fire stop for safety reasons.

Really like the cheap little tool you can buy which allows you to use safety wire to make hose clamps instead of ….hose clamps.  I hate SCAT tubing and think hose clamps are ugly.   In this case they were not needed anyway, so why use them.

I have to make some support plates for the RAM mounts in the front seat.  I dislike wires showing unless absolutely necessary.  When you see a plane with lots of wires showing it is an example of poor planning.   Something was added after the plane was flying so the wires could not be submerged or hidden.    In pPod’s case, all components are known so there shouldn’t be later add-ons.   A hole was drilled in the RAM mount to allow the passage of the wires for the GPS.  The base will be heavily glassed into the the plan to all it to support any weight component (such as a Garmin 496 or 696 GPS) which can be attached to the mount.

I tried tunneling through the foam to pull the wires though (to hide them), but gave up after a while in frustration so a slot was cut and the foam hollowed out.   When done, it will be glassed over for an invisible repair.    Isn’t fiberglass great stuff!

I won a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for having a Windows 7 Launch Party at guess where….my house!!  It is a strange way Microsoft is introducing the new operating system.  So next week on the Oct 23, I have invited a bunch of friendsover to see the new operating system and have some burgers and beer.  Should be fun!  I have already received my party package complete with streamers, napkins, cards, and a bunch of other shit and my free software.  Actually, I am so enthusiastic with the software, it wouldn’t have taken much for me to have a party to show off the features anyway.  

Because of the party, I decided my computer desk need to be refinished.  I was a bit embarrassed with my grungy desk and it needed a new look if I was going to have guests over checking out the new software.  The refinishing came out great, but my computer was disassemble and posting wasn’t possible.   This will be a quick catch up on this week’s activities.

The instrument panel is now cut out.  I hope to start cutting instrument openings next week.

The submerged NACA scoop came out really nice.  All work was done from the inside of the plane so no repainting was necessary .

The inside part of the NACA.

I made a duct from the NACA to the eyeball vent which will be installed on the the arm rest cover.  It has a little bit of a weird shape to clear the aileron torque tube.  I also will install a pilot controlled door in the the vent duct to allow for pressurization of the cabin when flying in rain or when extra ventilation is needed.

This is how the vent will look in the back seat. 

I was going to use a piece of Alum to make a control handle for the overboard oil heat door, but after I made it I found it weighted in at 15 grams. 

I then remembered I am using the same style knobs for all interior electrics controls and can also use it for the heat door.  The knob only weight 8 gms for a savings of 7 gms over the Alum part and it works just as well.  It will give me a more consistent look for the interior.  I will recycle the alum part for an exterior canopy latch.

The purge valve dump push/pull system is completed.   I have started checking out options for the wiring install.

While working on the heating system installing screw plates  which will hold everything together, I found the nose lift cover I made would not come out with the duct system installed. 

This is intolerable as I would hate to have to take the heating system appart just to service the nose lift.  I ended up splitting the cover to make servicing easier.  It is now been cut and re-glassed.  Tomorrow, I’ll install the nut plates to hold it together.

I also took appart the control linkage system in order to install the new NACA duct system for cabin presurization and ventilation.  I had to get access to the area so the tubes had to go….

I plan to try and install the entire NACA duct from the inside of the plane to eliminate the filling and re-contouring of the outside of the plane.  This is going to be a challenge!  The ice pick is a locator which indicates where to mark and cut the outside of the plane.

Total time worked today 2.6 hrs.

Heat valve being floxed to the interior wall

Just a little more to do on the heat duct and then I’ll be working on the nose lift cover.

Heat duct system