Week 195 - Engine install cont. Oil hoses and muffler

Hours to date: 1799.75

All but there to 1,800 hours. One of my initial estimates for completion ha!

The muffler is finally back. They screwed it up the first time round - got the angle of the end pipe all wrong. All sorted now, I'm happier with the quality of the welding here as it was TIG rather than MIG and done by another company.

After a bit of swearing and frustration I found that I needed to take the ECU cover off to get the engine cable attached. Just not enough room for my fat fingers when the cover is on to get in there and do it up.

Onto the oil hoses.

There are 9 to do in total. I did 5 on the Saturday and then the remaining 4 on Sunday. I ran out of firesleeve so I've ordered some more and a set of aviation snips to cut out the baffles for the cylinder cooling.

With the firesleeve - I follow Pete's practice of putting heatshrink on each end to seal the interior of the sleeve. If you don't do this the interior will suck up any oil or dirt and get contaminated.

Luckily my oil cooler mod has not presented any problems with the hoses coming form the firewall to the oil filter - they all fit okay and clear the muffler by miles.

I've made a start on one of the cylinder cooling baffles. Going very slow here to the get the right shape. Will wait till the snips arrive before completing this job. 

I will be making a sealed plenum, with a carbon top to these, rather than using the useless sealing baffles that is the traditional way. I have read a NASA study that found that sealing baffles are hopelessly inefficient - even on a brand new certified Piper they found losses of 55%. A proper sealed plenum increases efficiency and keeps a big difference in pressures which is how a pressure cowl works in the first place. High pressure above the cylinders and low pressure everywhere else. You have to be fussy about making the two areas completely air tight from one another otherwise the air will take the easy route and raise the pressure in the lower part destroying efficiency.

Muffler back from the welders. They got the angle spot on.

ECU all sorted now with both plugs in. P-clip to secure and protect them.

These two oil hoses were a fiddle. Access is very limited so I took off the air filter while I did this job.

As you can see things get intimate here with the alternator gear close by.

Oil lines on starboard side.

Ditto

Port side - didn't like the 90 degree hose fitting at right so...

I changed it to a 120 degrees. Much better now with good clearance to the muffler. Firesleeve to come on those 2 hoses and we're done.

Oil cooler lines coming off the firewall.

Another view of clearance over the muffler.

Front view.

Side view.

And finally the mod oil line from the oil/air separator to the exhaust (to be burnt up).

Trying out the port cooling baffle.

Rough cut to size.

Week 194 - Engine install and long range fuel

Hours to date: 1784.75

As promised I am updating on the lower side of the fuse.

I've put in the fuel lines and pump for a long range tank. I won't be building the tank itself for another 2 years or so but while the lower panel is not on is the best time to integrate the hoses as to do this later would be a real pain access wise.

I don't intend to use this tank in the UK so it won't be an LAA mod. It will be for long range flights outside of the UK. The tank should hold at least 35 litres and give another 230 nm range. Working on a conservative 115 kts cruise and 17 litres per hour fuel burn this would give a total range of 707 nm. More than enough to cross the Atlantic (in hops). Yes folks one of the flights I plan to do in several years will be the pilgrimage to Oshkosh.

Back onto the engine.

So I'd painted the mount and when putting it back onto the firewall noticed it had been distorted by the welding. As you can imagine the air was blue in the garage for a while... It was out on the other side at the top to the previous fix. So I ended up having to yet again mod a firewall hole. I used a waxed bolt to keep the hole open and then squirted flock into the remaining space. This worked a treat and has given a good result.

As you'll see below I'm now getting on with the engine install. I'll stop writing now and let the pictures do the talking.

Getting nut plates sorted for the under fuse panel.

Long range tank - will go behind pilots seat.

Tee junction into return line to Port tank.

Non return valve just before that.

Fuel transfer pump, filter and quick release.

Overview of underside. and fuel line.

Contraption I made for doing up things on the firewall - access is limited due to my cell mod.

Ali guide for stainless ECU cover to come - this will be in 2 parts that overlap to seal the wiring hole.

Upholstery in situ. Looking pretty swish methinks!

Another contraption. This one is for holding the prop flange still while undoing the central bolt.

Engine mount out by 6mm after welding. F*@K!!!!!!!!

Bonding in Capacitor mounting posts and brackets.

Fixing the hole. Waxed bolt and flock squirted into the hole with a syringe.

Capacitor in place. Just got to do the wiring now and paint the rough bits.

Oil pressure line - engine end.

Oil pressure line all done - will be secured to another hose later.

Fuel lines all done and protected with Firesleeve.

Battery cables and other some other wiring done.

Week 193 - Painting

Hours to date: 1765.0

I had to wait another week for the welding to be done - but it's all painted now.

Would you believe I could not find a match for the grey that was on the engine mount so I had to sand the whole thing down and have gone for a silver, which looks quite smart.

As you can see I've made use of the fittings on the Oil/Air separator by using P-clips to secure the wiring.

I've done a fair bit of work on the underside and will update on that in my next post.

Looking forward to getting the engine back on this week.

Rectifier/Regulator cooling shroud and Oil/Air Separator both installed.

Firewall ready for the engine now.

Engine mount painted in silver.

Upholstery

I picked up the seat on Monday.

Overall I'm happy with the end result - a few little things are not exactly to my liking but the lower seat is great which is the main thing.

I'll have to give it a try out when I have the fuselage flipped back over (currently it's upside down).

Excuse the crappy photos they were taken with my iPhone.

Week 191 - Firewall, Fuel senders, Capacitor mount

Hours to date: 1749.5

The firewall is all but done now - except for the Oil/Air separator.

Behind the firewall I've done all the hoses - fuel and oil and made up the fuel hoses partly on the engine side.

The capacitor mount is now done - just got to bond in the composite screw posts that will hold it in place.

I finally got around to completing the fuel senders. The thing that was slowing me down was the confliction with the O-ring channel - I asked Pete about this and he says that he just cuts a thread into the plate for the top two bolts and has them flush on the inside. So that's what I did too. Just have to install and wire up these now - then calibrate when the fuel is in the tanks.

I've started back on some wiring too - the fuel pumps are now wired up.

Hopefully I will get the engine mount and other things back from the welders this week - then they can be painted and I can get the engine back on for good.

In the meantime I am working on the lower fuselage panel - which requires a little bit of fitting. When it is sorted I will put some nut plates on the brackets I bonded on earlier and sort out the nut plates for the oil cooler ducts.

Firewall all but done.

Laying up the capacitor mounting strap.

Fuel senders all done.

Top two bolts are flush to avoid the O-ring channel.

Capacitor mount before trimming. 6 layers of carbon used here.

On the capacitor

I'll be using these little brackets front and back to stop it moving.

Fuel hoses and ground lead from Battery all done.

Fuel pumps all wired up.

Propeller arrival

A nice surprise this morning as my Hercules prop arrived.

All good except that they forgot to put the crush plate in the package, so I'll have to contact them and get one sent over.

Arrives in big tube - 6' 4" tall.

After taking out of the tube.

Unwrapped.

With spinner and back plate for comparison.

This shows the washout nicely.

It's matt black on the back face. Gloss black and orange on the front.