38 - Canopy & Window (finished); 42- Misc (attached foot steps); 47 - Cowl Baffle (closeout; oil door); 51 - FWF Misc. (various); Other (moved fuselage to hangar!)

First and foremost, I moved the fuselage to the hangar - specifically Parkers Towing and Transport moved the fuselage, and spent a good deal of time designing ramps for the main wheels for transport.  The Parkers are great people, and were very interested in all aspects of my RV-14A - most importantly, they took great care to secure and transport my bird.  I highly recommend them if you live in central Florida; they drove 50 miles each way for the transport, and now that they have transported two Van's aircraft (my buddy, Ken B's RV-14A and now mine), they are pros. 

The rest of the past 2 weeks involved a bunch of odds-and-ends, in an attempt to finish as much stuff in the workshop prior to moving the fuselage.  Specifically, I did the following: 

- finished attaching Koger sunshade; cleaned canopy and removed some of the inside protective plastic (for sunshade); painted baggage covers for steps

- tightened alternator pulley/belt and torqued and safety-wired bolt; attached boot to p-lead of magneto

- lower cowl closeout completed w/distal part of sniffle line attached to it; attached step attach covers in baggage area (used thin nylon #8 washers so paint doesn’t chip when screws tightened)

- greased nosegear Zerk fitting with blue marine grease (had to push out the Aeroshell 5, which is more hygroscopic); added 2000deg fireshield barrier to “red cube” fuel flow transducer, since so close to exhaust pipe; prepared oil cooler scat tubing

- painted baggage floor closeout and access panel from baggage area to tailcone; finished oil door; vacuumed tailcone, tied up loose wires in tailcone

- cleaned baggage area and tailcone with damp cloth; closed out baggage area and passthrough to tailcone; started installing aft window (siliconed screws in roll bar; loose attach of 22 of 29 screws in aft section of window)

- finished installing and prosealing the aft window

- cleaned garage, moved plane outside to attach canopy (with wife and daughter helping); realized aft edge of canopy was touching parts of the aft window, so sanded and scraped aft part of canopy to ensure adequate gap (4 iterations - pain in the ass, but it’s done)

- prepped plane and workshop for fuselage move (final prep)

- moved the fuselage to airport hangar using Parker’s Towing; cleaned hangar; cleaned workshop some more

Here's a pic of the first step of the move:

Painted and attached covers for the gear leg attachment areas:

Installed side canopy seals:

Finished installing Koger sunshade - neat little system!

I had forgotten to put a boot on the p-lead; here it is:

Bottom closeout, finished:

Holes in bottom cowl for bottom closeout:

Installed oil quick drain valve (thanks Ken B. for the suggestion!):

Installed heat shields - what an f-ing pain in the ass; yes, there are creases.  Yes, it really screws with my OCD that there are some wrinkles:

Attached oil cooler SCAT tubing:

Painted access panel and baggage floor closeout:

Added required "Experimental" sticker and temporarily attached access panel:

Installed oil door:

Another view (open):

Masked area for Proseal (to ensure leak-free aft window):

After prosealing aft window to upper fuselage skin:

Reattached canopy (thanks to help from wife and daughter) - it doesn't quite open in the garage ... time to move this puppy to the hangar then!

Pic of wife in front of bird, after she helped attached canopy.  From holding the canopy up, her arms were sore for days - lol?  

As I mentioned before, Parkers Towing and Transport moved my fuselage to the airport hangar - here are the ramps that the owner constructed, specifically for my move.  How awesome is that?!

My bird, loaded onto the wrecker at my home:

The bird, at the airport - it survived! Phew - what a relief to have made that trek unscathed:

The Parkers unloaded the fuselage right in the dead center of the hangar:

My bird has found her new home for the next 5-10 years (hopefully).  I haven't spent much time at the hangar since I was only storing wings there ... but, not 10 minutes after we unloaded, a nice couple drove up, introduced themselves, and said they have an RV-7A a few hangars away.  They introduced me to the local A&P/IA and CFI, who specializes in Van's aircraft - what a great community!  I can't wait to spend the next 4-5 months at the hangar finishing up the project - who knows whom else I'll meet?!