There are certain things in life that once thought of as ridiculous, trivial or useless, becomes absolutely necessary.   Eventually, these “things” slowly weave their way into the tapestry of your life and become essential for ones very worldly existence. 

I never imagined a internet Cable Modem would be essential in my life.   Cell phones were  a burden.  Who wants to be at the beck and call anyone in a city, “Not… I”.  When email came along, who wanted to be at the beck and call of the world, “Not… I”.   Blogging…”must be for crazy people”.  Now I find I am really enjoying the craze of  blogging as I enter a new season in my life.   The “Not..I’s” have be the new normal and must haves.   Who knows, Facebook next?

I would like to introduce you to my new and very special friend, Irra.   I have not known Irra for a long time and never thought how quickly he would become so special in my life.  Now Irra has moved in with me and we couldn’t be happier together.    When my very close buddy Satellite Dish (Mr. D.) died, it took me quite a few months to get over his tragic loss.  Sadly he was killed by a new encryption code.  I had known Mr. D. for about 3 years and he was my first experience at going over to the ….well…. an “alternative lifestyle” of satellite radio.    Yes, I am finally coming out of the closet.  I am a Non-Local-Radio-Station listener.  I don’t even know what stations are available here in Charleston except for NPR.   I have given up the local yahoos for the more glamorous, exotic and interesting world life style.   

A few months after Mr. D died, I met Irra.  He started occasionally visiting just to say “Hi”.   Eventually, I found out he really needing a job since he’s been downsized.  I offered him some money, but he was too proud to take it.   When I found out he could really play music it became a match made in heaven.   Irra can play just any music you could imagine!   Every type of style, tempo, unusual, fantastic, world beat, pop, piano, jazz, nationality type  music you can imagine.  Man, he can play it all.   Amazingly, all he needs is a laptop and an amplifier.    I offered him a job and as hard as he works entertaining me I don’t have to pay him shit except for giving him a small place to stay and a steady diet of electricity.   He seems very content with this arrangement.   Irra has tried all kinds of free software and we both agree the software of the moment is iTunes… Its so easy a caveman (me) can use.    You can also use alternatives such as Pandora if you wish to build your own internet radio station.

Sometime he will get cranky after a long day but, after I give him a swift boot in the backside, he is ready to keep busy for another few hours of work.  I give Irra a couple of daily breaks mainly when I switch hit to the “real” radio for a dose of  “liberal” world news on NPR (Morning Edition, All Things Considered) or when I go to sleep.  Other than that, Irra’s butt is hard at work keeping me happy and content.  

Irra’s favorite iTunes radio station is located under iTunes: Radio: Ambient is  “Secret Agent! The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life.  For Spies and P.I.s too, [SOMAFM]”.   Yea, I know, it hard to believe eh?   SOMAFM (out of San Francisco, CA) is really, really good.   Calif alternative lifestyle anyone?    SOMA is the most interesting mix of soundtrack, electronica, middle eastern, upbeat music imaginable.  Throw in some James Bond 007 soundtrack quotes and you get the idea.  Kick ass music to keeping me slaving away in the shop on pPod.

Irra ‘s second favorite station is “InTuneWithTheSpirt” (American Indian music) again under Ambient.     While cooking dinner, Irra likes to plays some Spy music.  When dinner is served it is time for jazz or a little New Age for the evening.   He is such a good sport.

There are not many “MUST HAVES” in life are free for the taking.  Everything I have found I really want always seems be either expensive or REALLY expensive.    Internet radio is one of life’s truly free pleasures.   There is so much music out there ready for you to experience.   Why limit yourself to just the local yahoo radio stations.

I know you cant image your life with out a cell phone.  I can no longer imagine Irra not being part of mine. Move beyond where you are, where you are comfortable to everywhere you can never be.  Experience the no limitations lifestyle of world music.   Find your own Irra and put him/her to work pleasuring you.  It will be just be our little secret when you discover you too are seduced by the naught guilty pleasures of life’s “other side”.

 Try InteRnet RAadio.  You’ll like it.

The bad news is my yard has a 4 ft by 75 ft trench in it.  The good news is I now have a brand new line and I am a lot smarter now.    Geezee, I thought I knew just about everything about plumbing, only to be humbled one more time.   Education always comes at a price! 

The way I view this experience is that the old pipe would eventually need to be changed, I needed a sewer clean out near the street (according to the new code), and it is better to have it done now at cheaper labor prices than in the future at higher prices.   

 After the pipe was installed the city came to clean out their portion of the system.  Two nice ladies ran the clean-out truck!

 Bottom line is the bright yellow box is gone and everything is back up.   Lost almost a week of production on the plane, but that’s OK.   Life is good once again!  

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

I had a fun day today!  I found my sewer is no longer working so obviously working on pPod was not going to happen.  I tried running a snake though it and at 98′ out hit a blockage I couldn’t get through.  Not a good thing. 

When I re-plumbed the house, I connected the new PVC hose piping to the existing “Orangeburg” pipe.  Funny stuff, this pipe.  Apparently after WW2, there was understandable shortage of metal for making piping hense the need for something to do the job.   Orangeburg pipe is made out of paper/asbestos coated with asphalt and was used from 1949-1970.  It had an ASTM specification and I guess was thought highly of.  Unfortunately, is it now known to have a life of about 50 years, and I would estimate mine is 40+ years old.   Time to go.  Spent the day calling contractors, getting estimates, and having my own personal port-a-potty delivered to my front door.  Woo hooo,  this is MUCH better than camping out at Oshkosh!    I think most people have a very negative opinion of port-a-john’s that come from only experiencing them at concerts or large events, but IF you are the ONLY one using it, there is no waiting in line it  is nice and clean with fresh paper while not totally pleasant, it is very nice alternative to a tree and a hand full of leaves.  The only negatives I can think of is the getting up in the middle of the night thing and having a BRIGHT yellow box sitting in my driveway.  If I had a big party at the house, I would definitely rent one.

Kind of funny, living with out sewer.  It reminds me of visits to my grandparents farm house in Missouri.  Out house, composting, chickens, gardening,  throwing the kitchen water in the yard.  I loved the smells, the great Italian food of my grandmother, riding tractors and watching grandpa milk the cow.   The positive aspect of camping out in my house  is I dont have to pump the water from a well in the yard.  At least I dont have to take a bath in a big steel tub in the middle of the yard (doesn’t everyone’s parents have a pictures of that hidden away?)   I  have now graduated from a steel tub to an exercise pool.   A little bigger tub but the same intent and final result.    

Overall, just a small change in life styles for a week or so.  I just consider it practice for the big ass hurricane which will eventually hit Charleston.  No water, electricity, sewer or phones….throw it at me baby, I am practiced and ready!

Hopefully, I’ll rejoin the mindlessly happy flusher of the world by next week..

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Yesterday was spent mainly working on the fuel system (it is done!), and reworking the foam for the canopy door removal.  I put a chase in it for wiring, but the micro got into the opening and froze wires.  Today, I had to dig out some foam to fix the issue….  

I unpacked the new O2 bottle.  It is amazingly light.  It has twice the amount of O2 in it than my bottle and weights 1/2 lbs less.  Amazing…  3.2 lbs weight filled.

I also worked on the heat ducting to direct hot air from the heater to the back seat area for the GIB.  The pilot will able to adjust the amount of heat with a damper.  The foam cores will be glassed tomorrow.

On a slightly different note, Miss Windows, has not been happy lately.   Seven is getting much more hot and bothered late, (only with me, thank you).   She always seems to get hot when she’s working hard, and cant seem to cool off.   Then she starts to scream at me, shrill land loud and wont SHUT UP.  She stays all spun up raising hell till I shut her down…

Finally, I had enough.  I have tried cleaning, replacing fans, different coolers (but nothing seems to fit a Dell 4700).   The noise problem with Dell 4700’s is well know and documented.   Basically it is a bad mother board design and cleaning is not an issue. When the CPU gets hot the fan speed goes to max, and it will never slow back down. The fan air tunnel amplifies the sound to the level of either that of a space shuttle taking off, or a F-18 taking off with afterburners. I tried purchasing new coolers, but none would fit the Dell MB.  I ended up purchasing a Thermaltake Spin Q cooler pn: CL-P0466 by chance.

1. I removed the cooler from CPU.
2. I hand sanded the CPU with 1200 grit on a glass plate.  Found the cooler not to be flat. It was bowed up around the edges so the center was not making contact.
3. The plastic tray which holds the old cooler down had two tangs? on the inside part which I cut and filed so the new coolers arm slots would fit into them.
4. There was too much clearance (CPU not tight against the cooler), so I cut little strips of Aluminum to put on top of the cooler to allow the hold down arm to push the stuff together.      
5. Put the paste on cpu, assembled the parts and WooHoo there is enough clearance in the case for everything.

I did all this and THAT’S when I found out there was no MB connection for the power to the fan…..  In desperation  I took a chance and found a small pwr supply connector (red, black, white), took 3 pieces of safety wire stuck in the connector and hooked them up to the fan connector, (red, black, yellow). IT WORKED and didn’t fry the system.

Now Seven is a whole new gal… Quite, fast and sleek again!  No more getting hot and getting hot and bothered anymore.  The noise is gone but the passion for her is still there.

 A few interesting notes for today.  I wanted to make a way to center and align fuse blocks on to the covers.  I found you can just wax the holes, put some flox in them and clamp them to the panel.    After curing the block will now be held in perfect alignment relative to the slots.

After milling the slots (a major PITA) I felt there had to be a better way.  I took some Shape Lock molded the openings in the fuse block,

Glassed (3 layers) and vacuumed everything down to the table,

When cured, removed the shape lock, sanded the high spots, and ended up with a perfect match for the slots.  MUCH quicker than milling slots (especially for a 20 fuse base).  I learned that I needed to coat the shape lock with mold release as it was tough to get the glass to release.  Overall, I am very happy with the first try.

This technique would make it easy to make covers for the fuse blocks to protect the wires and to have a place to attach lables to identy the fuses.

Jack came over with his new rotary lock design to eliminate the canopy access door.

Yesterday, I glassed the door shut and removed the hard ware.  Installation was extremely easy.  A couple of holes in the longeron’s and it bolted right into the airplane.  I’ll take some foam and fill the old door opening and extend the shaft to the outer fuselage to allow a exterior key to be used.

Also worked on the back trim panels and some map pockets.

7.3 hrs worked today

Windows Release 7

I am now using Window 7 RC  (Release Candidate) on my computer.  I really like it.  A lot more civilized than XP.  I started out many, MANY years ago on Zenith computers which didn’t even have hard drives.  They used 7″ floppy disks.  Ouch!  We were so happy to get an upgrade to a IBM with 5 megs of super duper hard drive memory.  No floppy boot ups, no nice menus, no mouse, no standardized print drivers, no internet.  Talk about primitive!  Boot the computer up and you received a simple C:> prompt.   Type “C:>format” and guess what, hard drive is completely erased.  I cant tell you how many times I had to rebuild my 5 meg hard drive.  A great time to learn the basic fundamentals of computers.

Windows 3.1 came out and it was really primitive too. I’ve used Windows 98, 2000 and finally Mr. XP.  When XP came out I promptly picked up and early edition to be on the cutting edge.  It was CRAP, finally erased my HD and regressed to 98.  Ah, the comfort zone again.  After a few years XP found a warm home on my computer after Microsoft worked the bugs.

Over the years, Mr. XP and I have had a contentious life together.  Kind of like me and my cat Cosmo.  Arrogant, unpredictable, skittish, flakey and some of the time just plain weird.  XP seems to be the happiest right after I install him.  After a few months he just starts to slow down.  Longer boot ups and shutdowns.  XP is really a high maintenance kind of guy.

I have heard  many bad thing about Vista given my experience with early upgrades from 98 to XP the best approach appeared to be just wait and see.  Vista turned out to be  crap too.   The follow on to Vista is Window 7.   Apparently it is the 7 the release of an operating system and Microsoft is just going to use a numbers for the versioning now.

In January Microsoft releases the Windows 7 (beta) free for testing.  Having a spare hard drive I just wanted to see if it would work on my computer.  The beta edition was crap too.  Went back to my old friend XP (just swapped the HD out).    A few month ago Microsoft released Windows 7 (Release Candidate).   It is very almost exactly like what will be relapse to the general public and all the bugs were fixed.

After reinstalling the RC on the HD, I found Seven (like Voyager’s Seven as I affectionately call her) is very well behaved.  Seven  is sleek, sexy and just seems to be, well for a lack of a better term, sophisticated.  The total opposite to the klutzy, cantankerous XP.  I really enjoy the look, feel, and nice menus and screen savers.  All my numerous drivers just seemed to magically load on their own.   Programs work quickly and nicely.  Boot up and shut down is very quick on my old computer and after using her for a few months, she is not slowing down at all.   I am in love….but she (RC) is terminal and going to die next spring when Microsoft shuts her down.  Amazon had a pre-release sale for $49 for Home Professional which I jumped on (it is now $119).   What a deal.   I would highly recommend Seven to you, she is sweet, intelligent and you’ll love putting your hands all over her keyboard, but you’ll have to get your own gal.  She is mine.

My OCD  kicked in today.   I really wanted to spend some time with the PPod and Bob stopped by.  We spent the day talking, went to get my SS brake lines for Tweety, picked up some real MOGAS for Tweety ($1.30/gal cheaper than AVGAS),  had lunch at the Olive Garden.  Right after he left Jack made a visit to just chat…  I did get the chance to spend about an hour glassing….  I was a little stressed and anxious but I am trying to get deal with it…….

Not much to report today.  I worked on Tweety to complete the annual inspection.  I decided to replace the nylaflow tubing with 1/8″ SS tubing.  I was tired of the leaky nature of nylaflow.  You can see the fire stop tubing is just covered with oil and it is time to stop the mess.  After replacing the brake lines on PPod (Pats Project) and seeing how easy it is to work with SS I just wanted to get rid of the plastic crap in my plane.  I also ran into a slight problem rebuilding the Matco master cylinders which required me to order some replacement parts from Matco. They will be here on Thursday.   I am leaving on Sunday for OSH so I have to get the plane done soon! 

I have always been concerned with back seat stick getting jammed and thus losing the ability to control the plane.  When I came up with the idea of a removable rear stick with a safety cover over it, I found I wanted to put one in my plane.  Using some blue wing foam, I made a block,  put it in place on the plane and hollowed it out where the stick attaches.   I tried covering the mold with metal foil tape as an experiment to make it reusable.  Normally I would use duct tape, but I want to use a couple of more times to make covers for PPod and the Toad (Toan’s plane). 

I did get a chance to glass the inside of the arm rest. 

The access door is now closed up with foam.  I ran a wire chase out of AL tubing to be sure I dont cut into them when I install the rotary lock. 

I picked up the oil pan today.  It looks great!  Started mounting the fuel injection system on the pan.  Called Airflow, they have the fuel regulator and should complete modifications this week.  When I get it back I can mount all the hardware for the fuel injection, mount the pan and get all the hoses made and installed.  At that time the engine compartment will be completed!   Getting close.

I contacted Grand Rapids and talked to them about the probes issue.  Apparently I as right a resistor that needs to be changed to adjust the capacitance for them to work.  I finished one of them up, and am sending it to GRT where Todd will adjust the circuit and test it to make sure it works.  This is terrific news as now I’ll be able to put in fuel probes for Pat.   This is also great news for the LongEZ community as there has never been a good solution for installation of fuel probes in our planes. 

I’ll make another one after I get the modified electronics back at which time I’ll document the procedure for fabricating one.

I started on the cabin panels and installation of the heat system.  The blower will go in the nose of the plane along with a oil cooler.

I then made a duct system to direct the cool air through the heater.

This is the base mount for the fan.  After glassing it, I used the Low-Vac procedure to make sure it conforms to my desired shape.

I also glassed the back head rest for the plane which will cover the battery and Engine info system.   Basically, this picture will be the concept for the back headrest area.  You wont be able to see the battery and wiring when the headrest cover is in place.

I also installed some tabs so I can mount a cover to hide the stick mechanism.   I have no idea why anyone would want to leave the mechanism exposed.   If you want a light plane, go on a diet, lose a pound and put a cover over the stuff….

What a long day….  Time to rest.