So most of this landed on Instagram rather than here and YouTube, but here’s the skinny: I created an oil door. More than that, I modified the original oil door in a few ways: A hidden, or blind, hinge from Aircraft Spruce, a reinforced hatch to prevent flex and with it: in-flight openings, and an […]
I owe some pictures of the final product, but I have made progress toward the fitting and attaching of the cowl. Skybolts are great product, and I feel took some frustration out of the more difficult areas of attaching the cowl. That said, they’re a lot of work. I’m happy, mostly, with how this section […]
The last several days (weeks?) have been spent trying to tackle the cowling. An immense amount of work here. Fitting, trimming, fitting, sanding, fitting, cussing. It’s a tough section and I feel, at times, it may just best me. I’ve temporarily installed the prop and spinner, if not to check fitment that to at least […]
After much tooling around with the CNC router (puns!), I was able to get a finished part. Unfortunately I have to leave the baffles for a bit before I can take them any further, which means the part won’t be fully incorporated until later.
I’ve been dragging my feet on punching some holes in the firewall. Today, I organized some cables with some Adel clamps, and initially mounted the alternator regulator, which belongs on the cold side (cabin side) of the firewall. At the same time, some manifold pressure/oil pressure hoses were battened down. There’s still more wire organization […]
I’ve purchased a new tool. At least I like to use the word “tool” as opposed to “toy,” which is likely more accurate. I feel like this could help the project in a few ways, but currently I’m trying to machine an actuator arm or lever arm for the new oil cooling door shaft I’ve […]
Addressing the tapered cooling fins requires a lot of math, a little bit of template making, and some help from Send Cut Send. I’ve cut the old cylindrical lower baffles off, and begun test fitting various designs of conical baffles that should seal up around the tapered cooling fins. After drawing them up on-screen, I’ve […]
It seems I’ve misplaced my cut for the oil door, pushing it too far inboard. At the same time, I don’t see how I could have aligned it more outboard. Because of the prefabricated dimensions of some parts, the actual door is now misaligned with my cut, and therefore cannot function. I’ll be forced to […]
I don’t know how much detail I’ll add here, as there will be ample documentation in the videos, but initial fitting of the oil cooler, oil cooler mount, oil cooler plenum, and oil cooler door has begun. Most of this was purchased or provided by ShowPlanes, who were great at talking me through the needs […]
Baffling is something, based on build logs, I anticipate to be working on for a while. That said, so far progress has been swift, with much of the rear baffling already fit. Slight modifications were made to some of the parts to account for variations between the Lycoming castings and the Continental that I’m working […]