Today’s efforts were totally concentrated on finishing the install of the hardware for the fuel injection system so I can send the fuel servo back to Air Flow on Monday with the order for tubing.

 I needed to mount the purge valve, the fuel totalizer (Flow Scan) and the distribution spider.  Getting the push pull cable for the purge valve was a challenge because I had to go through 3 iterations of the mounting bracket to clear everything.  I also had to weld on a support for the fuel spider on the cowl.    I am getting better at Al welding, and now I wish I had modified the cowl myself .  A lot of money was spent at the machine shop and I have the feeling they might have overcharged me. I feel bad about it now…. bummer.

The fuel distribution block support was welded on the back of the sump and is insulated with a phenloic separator.

Here some views of the sump.  I found out I can use 1/4″ SS fuel lines between the components since they are all fixed to the same mount.  It make for a nice clean install.

I was concerned about the hot sump affecting the Pmag coil which is mounted on it.  So I took some scrap phenolic material and manufactured some washers for extra insulation.

Pmag mounted on the sump.  I am beat…done for the day!

Today’s work was high lighted by a visit from Jack and the pickup of the oil sump.  I ended up not putting much time in the plane because of the visit with Jack and us picking up the sump and having lunch.   Still, it was a good day.

Jack is working on a new rotary lock for the canopy.  It is very nice and is going to be very easy to install and adjust (in the X and Y directions).  We have been talking a lot about the product working out the bugs.   Jack has made a number of different design trying to work out the bugs and improving the installation methodology. 

A closer look at the product.  Pat’s plane will be the first installation in an EZ.

This is Jimmy Williams who owns the machine shop.  He did the welding and fabrication of some of the parts on the sump.  Don’t ask what it cost…. I need a new profession at a machine shop.  I would make more money.

I took the pan home and F**K the lever arm for the mixture hits the engine mount.  I was afraid of that!

If I hadn’t drilled the holes in to lighten the mount, I would have been good.  I ended up welding a plate to the mount to strengthen it before cutting it out to clear the mount.  .

A little more trimming and Walla it fits and is very strong.  I then installed the pan to check on lever arm movement.

Everything worked out as planed.  The push/pull cable move slightly less than 3 3/8″ to archive full movement of the throttle arms.  PERFECT!   I put the cowls on and the cable will clear the cowl bottom.  The fuel regulator clears the cowl by 1/4″. 

 Now I have to solve the problem of where to put the purge valve and distribution spider.  By next week I should be able to send everything back to Air Flow Performance for mods and then do a final install of the fuel injection system.   The fuel injection system is DEFINITELY the most challenging part of this project. 

The firewall is close… I can use a 6″ dia by 2 in filter on the unit.  I will then be 1/2 in from the firewall. 

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…

Summary of the next few days of work.  Boring stuff, researching parts and looking through catalogs.

1. Ordered a bunch of electric parts and the RAM mounts.

2. Went to the machine shop to check on the sump….  not done.  Not even started.  I threatened to take to another shop and the owner promised to get started on it immediately.

3. Got the paint on the plane coded so I could get it mixed.  The gray is matched exactly to the gray interior vinyl and will be used on the instrument panel.  Blue and white match the exiting colors.

4. Worked on ACAD panel design.

5. Worked on the electrical system.  Some of the parts I wanted to use would not fit in the panel.  So I had to search again for smaller switches.

I ordered the copper paint today for making the ground plane for the transponder and ADS-B antennas.  I also did some research and testing of camlocks sizes to order for the cowl. 

 This is a series of tests.   The parameters are the camlock is screwed flush shown.  Then I put different thicknesses to see which size stud is necessary for Pats cowls and doors.

Click on the thumbnails to view

The pictures shows the position of the positioning screw at various thicknesses of flanges.  These pictures is shown using  a

Dash 2 stud.

Dash 3 Stud

Dash 4 Stud

The following is what is needed for putting on the cowl with camlocks.  SK245-4 floating adjustable receptacles,  Studs (dash 3 or 4), Grommets 4002-NS (were you want to remove the studs such as at the front the cowl) and SK-018S Grommets (with retaining rings) for studs you wish to leave in the cowl  (used for about .100″ thick cowl).    I have decide to use dash 3 studs for almost all location except for 4 where the cowl is extra thick. 

I

The fuel valve is now installed.

Fuel pump and filter is installed.  I wanted to make it easy to clean the filter, so all Pat has to do is loosen the fittings and remove two bolts on the engine firewall side and it will drop out. 

I also started routing the tubing for the oil heat.  The heavy walled 1/2″ tubing is a bitch to bend..  I want to use as much tubing as possible to minimize hoses and keep everything clean looking and simple.  I should have the remaining fuel and oil lines routed tomorrow. On Tuesday, I’ll get all the hoses made (fuel and oil). 

Secrets of Men

• Learn to work the toilet seat.  You’re a big girl.  If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down.  You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
• Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
• Shopping is NOT a sport.  And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
• Crying is blackmail.
• Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work!  Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
• Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
• Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
• A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.
• If you won’t dress like the Victoria’s Secret girls, don’t expect us to act like soap opera guys.
• If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.
• If something we said could be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
• You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done.  Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
• Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
• Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.
• ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
• If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
• If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
• If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
• When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
• Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.
• You have enough clothes.
• You have too many shoes.
• Sunday = sports. It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides.  Let it be.
• I am in shape. Round is a shape.

Flying

 Remembering first rays of the sun in the morning, lighting the clouds from below,
Or observing the world from above, slowly changing from day to night,  

You can not imagine what I have seen.

The tantalizing cool blue water of the Keys,
The ground, white like snow, with flowering dogwoods in the Atlanta spring, 
The sparkling emerald green of fish farms in Mississippi,
The outline of the hazy Smokey Mountains from a mile high.

The thrill of flying above a beach with strangers waving hello.

You can not imagine what I have seen.

The pleasure of leaving the dreary, rainy surface and discovering a gloriously clear blue sky lies above a sea of soft white clouds,
The beauty of a clouds outlined in the brightest silver,
Clouds streaming beams of light, gently touching the earth, the fingers of God.
The gental softness of clouds as you dip your wings in them,
or flying between angry layers of clouds fleeing a hurricane.

Single rainbows, double rainbows, circular rainbows with a silhouette of my plane in the center.

Blood red sunsets that last for just a few short minutes and are gone forever in a blink of an eye.

Year around, cities and towns are dressed for Christmas at night,
The thrill, the beauty, the terror of helpless racing toward lightening at night,
Shooting stars as they fall from heaven.

As the earth slowly revolves under my floating eyes,

I thank God for giving me wings to fly and allowing me to see what he only shares with a few.

Nick Ugolini
Mar 2003

LIFE’S JOURNEY

Your life’s journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose.

 The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you set out to do, to achieve this or that, which of course implies future.

But if your destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future take up so much of your attention that they become more important to you than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.

 It has nothing to do with future but everything to do with the quality of your consciousness at this moment.  

• The outer purpose belongs to the horizontal dimension of space and time
• The inner purpose concerns the deepening of your being in the vertical dimension of the timeless now.

 Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey has only one: the step you are taking right now.

 As you become more deeply aware of this one step, you realize that it already contains within itself all the other steps as well as the destination.

Nick Ugolini