Painted! By Evoke Aviation

This post has been a long-time coming - N14YZ finally has a beautiful paint job by the master, Jonathan McCormick and his team at Evoke Aviation at the end of May, 2022.  A couple years ago he designed the paint scheme with input from me. I can highly recommend both the design firm (Evoke Aircraft Design) and his paint shop (Evoke Aviation) - they are the best in the business!  

As of today, my RV-14A has flown just over 105hrs and is going strong. She is simply a joy to fly: nimble, and precise in all flight regimes.  My bird cruises at over 160KTAS, burning around 9gph; her range is at least 700nm (~4.5 hrs) with a full hour fuel reserve. I don't fly with less than an hour of fuel in reserve.  

I received my repairman's certificate from the FAA earlier this year, and am in the middle of an extensive condition inspection (CI), which I am performing progressively over a couple months. The CI is the experimental version of an "annual" inspection in the certified aircraft world.  The FWF portion was completed with the help of my friend, Joe D., last week (e.g. compression test, borescoping the cylinders/valves, checking mag timing, etc.) and there are only the cabin and fuselage sections left to complete.  In total, the CI takes about 40 or so hrs; I like to spread out the work so I can use the plane once each section has been completed, instead of having the plane down for a couple weeks to complete it all at once. In reality, I'll be performing many of these tasks more than just during the CI - for example, if I rotate the spark plugs, I'll check the mag timing and borescope the cylinders.

Here are a few pictures, professionally taken by Jonathan McCormick at his home base in Gadsden, AL. Click on them for a larger image. I can't stop looking at them; the plane is this gorgeous in person, too. 

 

Transition training, Airworthiness Certificate, and ... First Flight!

Today, 4/13/21, was the big day - First Flight of my RV-14A, N14YZ!  It flew beautifully and the day was uneventful, but likely because of all the preparation and planning that went into it.  First, I'll have to thank my wife, who has put up with a 2 year and 9 month project and all the time and resources that it took to see this to completion.  She actually had a hand in thousands of back-riveted rivets, and is one of the reason some of the main skins look so nice.  Now it's HER turn for a project!  

A huge thanks goes to Ken B. who has not only been my Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor for my entire build including the first start and the first flight, but he has become a very close friend.  You meet some great people through aviation (especially the Van's community), and along with Ken, I have to thank my other new friends in the RV-14(A) world:  Glenn M., Mark A., Shane B., and Dan R.  All of us have or are building RV-14s - yet are at different stages of the journey - but we support (and chide) each other on almost a daily basis.  Thanks, "Gang of 5," for all your support!  

Below is an iMovie that I quickly spliced together from Ken B.'s footage.  It's my first time using iMovie, so it isn't going to win any Oscars (maybe a Golden Globe):

Before the Big Day, I traveled to Vernonia, OR, to take 3 days (6 lessons) of transition training in the company RV-14A with Mike Seager.  I HIGHLY recommend Mike - not only does he have the most hours in RVs of anyone dead or alive (~20,000; i.e. about 4 times as many as Van himself!), he is a really great person and the perfect instructor.  So calm, so cool, so collected - he's the Bob Ross of RVs (happy little Van's airplanes).  Mike's info is on the Vans website; he is booked 5 months out right now, so get in while the gettin's good!  Here is the airplane as I found her the day I arrived at Mike's beautiful grass strip (ICAO code 05S): 

Three days after I returned from Oregon, I had a wonderful visit from my Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR), Vic Syracuse, who flew down from just south of Atlanta, GA, to perform my Airworthiness Condition Inspection. Vic said that my build was essentially perfect, which was great to hear.  Vic is a wonderful person, and I highly recommend his books and his DAR services.  Here is the obligatory handshake holding the Airworthiness Certificate.  I'm on the left and yes, I need to lose weight (my next project):  

You viewed the video above, but here is the "RV Grin" that everyone talks about.  I still have mine and it is 8 hours after the First Flight as I write this blog post:

Yup, I did it:

And here's my super-supportive wife - and a silly pic of me:

For those of you who haven't finished (or haven't yet started) your RV build, know this:  I had no experience when I started, but I gained the necessary knowledge and experience as I progressed through this journey.  You can do it, too - it just takes motivation, an attention to detail, and a love for all things aviation ... and a few extra dollars lying around. :) 

Final touches, several more engine starts, taxiing around, and ... she's ready for the Airworthiness Condition Inspection!

The big day is getting closer, and I am pleased to say that my bird is now officially ready for her Airworthiness Condition Inspection, which is scheduled in a couple weeks!  All the paperwork has been completed, and everything I can think of has been done to the airplane to make her ready for flight.  I'm sure I'll fuss over her a ton, recheck everything, and pitter around over the ensuing days.  

I performed several more starts to set the low pitch on the prop to obtain 2650rpm at max throttle, which took only two tries since I read that others had to turn the set screw "in" (clockwise) at least 1.5 turns - mine took exactly 2.5 turns.  I also taxied around and checked the brakes - I'm not used to taxiing a castering nosewheel, so it took a couple turns before I got used to the feeling.  I'm looking forward to transition training in the factory RV-14A, since this beast is very different from the Cessnas I'm used to flying.  Hopefully, the next post will include a picture with my DAR and an aircraft airworthiness certificate.  As usual, below and past the break are details from the last two weeks:

- final-drilled #19 holes, deburred, drilled #40 for nutplates; countersunk holes; riveted nutplates; checked prop clearance of gap filler and spinner (and adjusted as necessary); safety-wired 4 bolts that attach forward spinner bulkhead to prop hub

- finished spinner - riveted gap fillers to rear spinner bulkhead (involved removing rear bulkhead to gain access, and retorquing those nuts); sanded aft edge to be flush with bulkhead; checked gaps again and adjusted; safety-wired main wheel pants brackets; torque-striped painted as many nuts/bolts as I could find that were torqued but weren’t striped

- finally fixed the flaps switch!  required reversing the flap molex pins at each stick; thanks Ken B. and Glenn M. for making me do this; checked function of autopilot in heading mode (works - goes side to side when the HDG bug is turned); painted seat pans

- worked on the emp. fairing (improved fit, blind-drilled using magnets, up-sized #27, drilled nutplate rivet holes in VS and HS, countersunk #27 holes in fairing)

- deburred holes of emp. fairing, riveted nutplates, attached gap fairings, outlined areas to trim on emp. fairing

- performed second and third run-up; static RPM is now 2650-2660rpm (IAW Hartzell manual, increased fine pitch to reduce top prop. speed); started cleaning plane 

- Sanded edges of emp fairing, installed and floxed all “high” areas for better fit; filled fuel tanks with an additional 20gal (approx. 38 gal remaining on board now)

- Removed emp fairing, sanded edges, epoxied inside parts that touch metal; Finished ELT installation, performed ELT self-test, performed yearly ELT function test (between top of the hour and 5min past the hour); installed Canopy Hinge covers; installed database updates

- Taxi and brake test and mag ground check (Hobbs: 0.5h; Tach 0.3h); added W&B to G3X; applied 3M 2000+ degree fire barrier to firewall pass-throughs;  attached crotch seatbelt straps; finished initial Condition Inspection and wrote the certification statement in my logbook.  The airplane is ready for the Airworthiness Condition Inspection (although I’m sure I’ll still fuss over it)

Emp. fairing, floxed on the airframe:

FIRST ENGINE START!!; 24 - Wing Tip (finished); 12 - Emp. fairings (almost finished); 44 - Spinner & Prop (almost finished); Other (lots of misc. finished)

Big milestone:  FIRST ENGINE START!  Thanks to Ken B. and Glenn M., who were with me for 5 hrs that morning to do a number of tasks prior to the first start.  After we had Sal Capra from On-Site Weight and Balance perform the W&B, we performed a fuel flow test for both tanks (~45gph) to confirm fuel flow and rid the lines of any debris, and we pre-oiled the engine by removing the top plugs and running the starter 3-4 times for 10sec each until oil pressure registered on the G3X.  I then reinstalled the plugs, we chocked the tires, and I started her up - looks like about 3 blades until she caught (see video, below) ... and the engine ran very smoothly, and the prop cycled well at ~1800rpm.  The next day, CE Avionics performed the IFR certification for the transponder and pitot/static system.  There aren't too many tasks left until the Airworthiness Condition inspection!

As always, here is a detailed list of tasks that were completed during the past ~3.5 weeks (also click "read more" for additional pics):

- finished trimming, drilling etc. left tip lens; started AeroLEDs Sunspot LX Nav light (red for left side)

- a few different sections, so I’ll put that under “other” - installed BSR landing light lenses; installed wing tips and finished wiring lights; started working on rudder bottom fairing (up to attaching the nutplates)

- installed VS fairing; floxed rear AeroLED light doubler for bottom rudder fairing; worked on left elevator fairing

- installed left elevator fairing, worked on right elevator fairing; installed tail light and lower rudder fairing; checked Nav/strobe lights (worked!); played with G3X a lot to calibrate ADAHRS, setup autopilot, and figure out trim system and how it integrates (or not) with autopilot servos.  I need to calibrate magnetometer first

- finished right elevator fairing; started working on HS tip fairings (cut, sanded, drilled #40, made 2 bi-layer fiberglass patches)

- floxed/epoxied patches to HS tip fairings; started working on metal rear emp. fairings

- floxed and glassed inside of patches for both HS tip fairings; figuring out p-mag; leveled pitch on G5; started emp fairing

- Worked on HS tip fairings (sanded and micro-epoxied); figured out p-mag setup mode (has to be “off”, i.e. p-lead grounded); figured out mounting location for VIRB camera

- worked on flaps, which won’t detent (i.e. press once and it goes from -3 to 0deg, twice to 15deg, thrice to 30deg); called SteinAir and worked with Tim D. 

- worked on flaps, which still aren’t working correctly; rewired POS-12 sensor connection with d-sub pins; figured out wiring with Tim D.; no dice - still won’t work

- HS tip fairings (sanded the micro-balloons and painted with filler primer); figured out flaps, sorta (had to reverse wire for flap motor; detents work, but have to press up for flaps down and vice versa - may rewire later, or just keep as-is and get used to it - NOTE: - Ken B. and Glenn M. told me I can't leave it like this, so I will reverse the switch wires; micro-molex pin extractor is being sent from SteinAir); mounted VIRB camera; confirmed traffic ADS-B works (pulled bird out of hangar)

- finished and installed the HS tip fairings; timed Emag and Slick mag (thanks, Joe D., for the help!); redid safety wire for one pair of prop bolts; added hole and redid safety wire for remote oil filter; recalibrated flaps; attached left baggage side carpet

- installed seat harnesses (mostly); redid 8ga cable from bup alternator to ANL fuse; put dollop of silicone adhesive to tip of ELT ant (to secure to rear window

- prepped for W&B; W&B (Sal Capra); first oil pressure (run starter w/o top plugs for ~30-40 sec); fuel; fuel test (approx. 45gph each side); first start!; magnetometer calibration

- IFR certs. completed by CE Avionics (Transponder, Alt, pitot/static); fixed a few items brought up by Ken B., Glenn M., and Joe D.; fixed G3X settings for RPM and fuel pressure

- removed seats, seat pans, control sticks; finished wire-tying all avionics wires under the seats; started spinner (drilled #30 holes, drilled #40 holes for spacers)

Here is the video of the first engine start (thanks, Ken B., for taking the vid!):

41 - Wing Attach (finished); OP52A - AeroLEDs Sunspot LX (finished); Other (lots o' stuff); 24 - Wing tip (mostly finished)

It's been a month since I last posted, but I have been working as diligently as possible on the bird.  I had a little (well, it was yuuuge) snafu at work that I have been spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with, so working on the plane has been good therapy.  I hope to finish in a couple months, and there are still tons of items on my to-do list.  Nevertheless, I accomplished quite a bit during the past month:

- Attached fuel lines between wing and fuselage; continued working on left lower wing root fairing

- worked on wing root fairing fit (left upper and lower) to clear fuselage by at least 0.040”; riveted root fairing stiffeners to upper left root fairing

- finished most of the wing root fairings, except for lower right; attached OAT probe; wired OAT probe (spliced to pigtail at wing root)

- finished lower right wing root fairing; RTV-attached UHMW spacers to both wing roots (using instead of proseal; will keep an eye on it when removing upper root fairings; rigged ailerons (the control stick moves like buttah); attached flaps and started rigging flaps (need to file a bit off the edge of the right flap) 

- removed lower cowl and two landing light lenses; started working on landing light brackets; attached magnetometer; other misc. stuff

- worked some on landing light brackets (mostly painting); final-attached and checked canopy switch; routed and attached Pitot and AOA tubes to G3X and G5; tidied wires under panel some more; attached brake modification (thanks, Mark A. and Shane B.!) which affords a spring-return to not accidentally drag brakes

- finished attaching and wiring landing lights (AeroLED Sunspot LX); the two adel clamps were a pain, since they were on the inboard side

- fueled left tank with 20gal (no leaks so far), and started to calibrate fuel sender in G3X; added canopy latch warning from Van’s; played with G3X settings; installed and painted canopy guide pins

- drained left fuel tank, filled right tank with 20gal, calibrated both fuel senders; programmed G3X limits and calibrated aileron trim and flaps; tried to calibrate elevator trim servo, but couldn’t get a voltage reading (I’ll redo micromolex connector with D-sub pins, as recommended by Ken B.); painted seatbacks

- added 7qt of oil to engine (Aeroshell 100 mineral oil); worked on tail light wires; drained 20gal of fuel from right tank (no leaks so far!); attached seatback interior to metal painted seatbacks

- attached wingwalk pads to both wing roots, so I stop scuffing the aluminum (or slip); finished tail light wires, and tucked under rudder so I can do the fiberglass; started playing with brake bleeder, but the container won’t prime - needs new seals, or I need to buy a new pressure vessel

- bled brakes after fixing container; re-did elevator trim wiring again, this time with d-sub pins (thanks for suggestion, Ken B.!) - successful calibration

- Completed much of the right wing tip up to installing the nutplates; also started installing Archer tip antenna (for VOR/ILS)

- finished right wing tip, including nav light lens and wired nav lights (started)

- started left wing tip, finished Archer tip antenna (floxed/micro’d to inside of wing tip), finished nav lights

- finished 2/3 of left wing tip up to installing nutplates and installing wing tip rib

- sanded trailing edge of left wing tip, sanded nav light area; cut and trimmed left tip lens to size (what a pain)  

There are approx. 50 pictures that follow, but unfortunately they are not in order - I'll still annotate each.  Here are the seat backs, after priming and painting:

12 - Emp. Fairings (Rudder and VS fairings); 41 - Wing Attachment (wings are ATTACHED!!!); Other (lots o' stuff)

Although I haven't updated this blog for a month, a LOT of major milestones were achieved.  First and foremost, my buddies, Ken B., Shane B., Mark A., and Glenn M. (all RV-14 or RV-14A builders) descended upon my hangar last week to help me install the wings.  Ken B. helped me a few days prior install most of the tail feathers.  Together, it really looks like an airplane - I couldn't be more pleased with the progress ... and also that I got to hang out with my RV friends one more time.  Wish they all lived a lot closer.  A bunch of other smaller projects were completed - I'm at the 90% done, 90% to go phase, which means that every time I complete one task, two more get added to the list.  Here are what I accomplished this past month (not a lot of pics, but a lot was done):

- cleaned garage, organized for next part of project, drained compressor; painted 3 closeout panels for interior

- installed shelves in hangar, moved more stuff to hangar

- worked on VS and rudder fairings - made 2-ply backing for VS fairing as well

- trimmed backing for VS fairing; floxed to VS fairing

- sanded VS fairing; temporarily installed rudder to VS to check fit of rudder and to check fit of VS fairing.  Needed to flox and sand the aft part of the fairing to clear rudder forward counterweight section.  Added flox today

- cleaned garage some more, moved last big stuff to hangar with wife - hopefully last Uhaul trip for this project!

- moved more stuff to hangar - about 90% complete (the move, anyway); organized hangar and new tool chest/tools

- finished moving stuff to hangar and organized hangar - she’s ready to go!

- worked on empennage attach - elevators attached temporarily to work out spacing, massaged leading edges to get +30deg/-25deg clearance with no binding/rubbing

- final-drilled elevator horns - measure 10x, final-tighten the rod end bearing jam nuts (!), measure 100x, then drill 2 holes.  Sounds simple, but many a builder has screwed up this part, had to weld the holes shut, and try again.  Thanks to Ken B. for telling me to clamp the wooden block for the lower hole extremely tight! 

- installed HS, elevators, and VS to fuselage with Ken B.! 

- Final-torque 4 of 5 elevator bolts; attached pushrod to elevator horns; filed elevator stops to get at least +25deg/-20deg of travel; attached flap pushrods to wings; drilled 4 holes and installed snap bushings for OAT probe

- hung rudder and attached rudder cables; finished rigging elevator pushrods, including ensuring control sticks don’t interfere with anything on the panel

- finished wiring elevator trim tab and checked function and deflections; started final-installing pitot/AOA (had to bend around control rod) 

- Attached wings with Ken B., Shane B., Mark A., and Glenn M. - great to see my RV-14(A) buddies again, and thanks for all your help! 

- finished installing pitot/AOA tubes in the wing, and routed them behind the panel; routed RG-400 for Archer Nav antenna from wing to behind panel

- Installed grounds from wing to fuselage; connected pitot heat to molex connector; worked on flaps

Attaching the top rudder fairing:

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:

Avionics (canopy wiring); 38 - Canopy & Window (seals and Koger sunshade); 42 - Miscellanea (foot steps)

I didn't accomplish that much during the past 2 weeks, largely because I diverted some time to register the bird with the FAA, and start getting current again with a local flight school (and I completed a written exam, which took me about 6 hrs!).  Formal retraining starts this week.  Back to the bird:  I'm at the "90% done, 90% to go" stage, and formulated a long punchlist of stuff I want to accomplish before I move the fuselage to the hangar in a few weeks, as well as what is needed to finalize the plane prior to its airworthiness inspection. Here is a short list of tasks I completed these past weeks:

- attached head unit for ELT; completed SB-00027 (nosegear cutout and beefy washer); cut and attached LED glareshield light strip (1 extra segment, per Ken B.); started wiring canopy wires to the male molex pins on canopy molex connector

- finished canopy wiring, adhered wires with RTV silicone (note - the LED light strip’s tape does not adhere well - may need to RTV silicone that as well - or use Pliobond, which I ordered)

- attached static line to GSU25 and G5; attached 1/8” NPT straight fittings to pitot/AOA on GSU25 and pitot on G5

- attached some seals to canopy front, some of which used Pliobond to stick better; reattached LED light strip

- attached forward seal to canopy

- attached foot steps (powder coated black a few months ago)

- attached side canopy seals; attached Koger sunshade    

Started the cutout for part of the recent service bulletin (SB-00027):   

Avionics (lots of shizzle)

I completed a lot of avionics-related tasks during the past ~two weeks, including powering on the panel for the first time!  Thanks to Sean M., I have a temporary ground power unit hooked to the aircraft, supplying about 14V (need to have between 13-15V to charge the LiFePO4 IBBS), and I can spend a couple hours at a time playing with the settings instead of only 10-15min with the ship's battery. Specifically, I did the following the past two weeks:

- finished tidying all wire bundles FWF; routed and terminated all grounds (34 in total) to “forest of tabs”

- wired voltage regulator for backup alternator; wired a few other loose wires; attached battery; attached two Comant COM antennae; attached (temporarily) transponder blade antenna

- routed RG400 and connected BNC male connectors to all 4 ends of the coax that goes to the Comant antennae

- fabricated and painted shelf for GPS antennae; routed RG400 for the main GPS antenna (from GTN750xi); ordered RG400 and female BNC to connect G3X "el cheapo" antenna

- tidied some of the avionics wires; routed main & G3X GPS antennae RG400 wires and mounted both antennae to shelf above baggage compartment; installed GTR20 (remote Com2) and voltage regulator for backup alternator to rails (fabricated previously); installed trickle charger harness to battery

- connected transponder and attached right avionics shelf; figured out LED strip light connections; troubleshot rocker switch backlighting issue (3 switches weren’t lit; bad wire crimp for two); wired G3X GPS antenna; wired GTN750xi Nav to Archer antenna (temp. install)

- attached power supply to airplane to test avionics without draining battery, and to charge the IBBS and G5 (since they supposedly need >=13.8V to charge - correction: 13-15V) ; Comms worked well in receive mode - used headset and separate handheld transceiver on 123.45MHz; programmed avionics (started)

- installed most components of the ELT (except head unit, since waiting for battery)

- attached labels to push/pull control knobs; attached canopy avionics wires to molex connector; routed and attached 2 wires to canopy open/closed switch; cut and attached glareshield edge trim; started planning SB for nosegear washer and cutout; cut LED light strip to size (plus one segment, according to Ken B.) 

The next set of pics are the final tidying of FWF wires, hoses, cables, etc:

47 - Cowl Baffle (finished); 50 - Control Cables (prop cable); 51 - FWF Misc. (route mag harnesses); Avionics (FWF wire terminations)

A lot of miscellaneous tasks were accomplished during the past couple of weeks, the most noticeable of which was wiring the various FWF sensors to the avionics, as well as finishing the damned cowl baffle. They both are looking good though.  Oh, and I had a visit from my buddy, Ken B., who gave me an initial Pope's blessing for the FWF - before we do the first engine run-ups, he'll go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.  For now, most everything was good, and a couple things were fixed.  Specifics for the past week are listed below:

- attached magneto/emag cooling tubes; sealed baffles with lots of red RTV

- formed and attached clamping strips to bottom cowl air inlets; epoxy-floxed between cowl and strips

- sanded bottom cowl outboard and inboard air inlets to curve to match the baffle’s width; added epoxy/flox to top cowl to eventually sand down to match bottom cowl (outboard edges of air inlets)

- sanded top and bottom cowl outboard inlets to match each other; attached inlet seals (except one screw - need a longer screw); attached foam block to top cowl with red RTV; mostly done with the cowl baffle section!

- installed prop bracket & cable; partially attached sniffle valve and tubes/hoses; ; finished installing alt. air cable

- Route, adel-clamp, and attach spark plug harnesses (from Slick magneto and P-mag)

- Ken B. visited to check out my FWF and avionics install to date - great to catch up, and I appreciated the advice!

- installed CHT and EGT probes; messed with routing wiring for EGT and CHT (K-type wires); inventoried misc. hardware and supplies that I bought from Ken. B.

- worked on wiring under panel; routed and wired CHT and EGT probes

- wired a couple FWF sensors (fuel pressure, oil pressure)

- wired master solenoid, starter solenoid, oil pressure switch, oil temp, main amp shunt (primary alternator), aux amp shunt (backup alternator), started tidying all wire bundles FWF

Using binder clips to pre-bend the stuff rubber seals:

47 - Cowl Baffle (attached 4 main baffles); Other (ANL fuses; shunts)

Not as much progress during the last two weeks as I had hoped, but much of this time was spent thinking and reading about the next steps with the firewall-forward wiring - mostly how and where to attach and wire the ANL fuses and shunts. There are many different ways of tackling this with 2 alternators and 1 main battery. Some folks use 1 shunt after fuses and tie in both alternators, and sometimes the battery, to measure current for all 3.  While this would work, in conjunction with a voltmeter (built into the G3X), I had SteinAir specifically wire two sets of shunt wires so I could monitor both alternators separately. Also, I had a little issue with the oil filler tube - it came cross-threaded, and thus couldn't be installed straight. No worries - a couple emails to Lycoming and I received a new oil filler tube with no problems (and this one installed relatively easily).  Specifically, these items were accomplished:

- attached ANL fuse holders and shunts to firewall (w/wife helping); attached all 8AWG cables/ring terminals from alternator to ANL fuses to shunts to unswitched side of starter contactor.  Shunts will measure current flowing from primary and secondary alternators

- deburred, drilled, and riveted cylinder baffles and left aft baffle

- deburred, drilled and riveted right aft baffle and cylinder #3 bridge; attached aft and forward center brackets to engine; applied RTV sealant to left and right aft baffles

- installed both aft baffles to engine (mostly - some nuts/screws need to be final-tightened later)

- assembled left and right forward baffles and air ramps, qqand added strips of red RTV where they touch the engine (will need to cure for 1-2 days before installing on engine)

- installed oil filler tube (w/safety wire); installed front left and right baffles and tightened all screws/nuts

A little out of order, but here is the final wiring for the ANL fuses and shunts (pic below).  One fuse per alternator, and one shunt per alternator, so I can read the current for either on the G3X EFIS.  No need to read battery current - if I'm at the stage whereby I need to know how much current I'm drawing from the battery, then both my primary and secondary alternators have failed (unlikely), and I will be landing ASAP.  Moreover, the EFIS screens have an IBBS (integrated backup battery system), and the G5 backup system has it's own 1 hr internal battery, so the chances of running out of juice are essentially nil. If all else fails, the engine will still run without any external power, and I can communicate via a handheld radio that I carry.  I am a belt, suspenders, another belt, and a few more suspenders kind of guy:   

48 - Exhaust (finished install); 49 - Fuel & Oil System (installed most hoses/lines); 50 - Control Cables (installed throttle and mixture)

 Lots of little odds-and-ends were accomplished during the past two weeks - I can certainly understand the phrase "90% done, 90% to go!"  On one hand, I feel like this plane should be flying in a month - on the other hand, every time I think that, I find 10 more tasks I need to accomplish.  Oh well - I can't believe I'm still having as much fun today as I did in July 2018 when I started this project!  I also wish the building part will never end (BUT, I want to fly again soon, so not really).  Time to start scheduling my eye exam, get my Basic Med signoff, get current with a CFI, and put my name on a waiting list for transition training.  Here are the details for the past 2 weeks: 

- installed one more scat hose

- installed penultimate scat hose for heating air vents; played around with wiring and hoses for rest of avionics and engine install (complex!)

- installed Airwolf remote oil filter; installed a few more FWF oil/fuel lines and other misc. stuff

- installed oil pressure sensors and oil pressure switch (had to disassemble manifold bar on firewall to do so); installed a couple oil lines; deburred and primed parts of oil cooler; installed breather tube

- oil cooler mount and other related items were installed or prepped

- Finished installing oil cooler; installed p-mag manifold pressure tube, routed and temporarily attached Aircraft Specialty manifold pressure lines (not tight yet); wired p-mag control plug/harness and installed to p-mag (difficult as shit to reach in there)

- installed hoses to oil cooler; dabbed more red RTV to seal holes in oil cooler shroud; routed some avionics wires (temp.); accidentally knocked identifying shrink tubing off of CHT1 and CHT3, and had to disconnect several avionics bundles and unscrew left shelf, strip wires, do a conductivity test, and then relabel wires and reassemble everything (PITA!); final-torqued and installed manifold pressure lines; installed wires to manifold pressure sensor

- enlarged holes and installed control cable bracket; routed and partially installed throttle, mixture, prop, and alt air cables; rerouted some avionics wires (esp. the big wire bundles/connectors, which needed to go aft of the horizontal rudder pedal bar)

- installed cabin heat cables to right and left heat vents; continued installing throttle cable and cable guide; 

- installed the throttle bracket/cable and mixture bracket/cable

- rerouted some of the avionics wires to go through the center firewall passthrough; drilled holes for ANL fuses and shunts on firewall; installed “forest of tabs”

Scat hose connected between the two heat muffs:

Other (avionics install., cont.); 43 - Engine Install (sensors); 45 - Cowling (inlet ramps); 48 - Exhaust (exhaust pipes and scat tubes)

During the last ~2 weeks I bounced around a bit, depending on what needed to be accomplished (and to afford time for curing/drying/cogitating/omphaloskepsis).  Nothing earth-shattering, except to mention that ALL the remote boxes have either been installed or holes have been drilled for their eventual installation. Having so many remote boxes made it quite a challenge to locate everything behind the panel - but they will all fit.  Specifically, I accomplished the following:  

- drilled a few holes to attach Garmin boxes; lots of planning; modified left avionics shelf for GAD29 and IBBS attachment

- installed GEA24, GAD27, GAD29, IBBS and left avionics panel

- installed CO detector, identified and routed many loose wires through firewall passthroughs; took off upper and lower cowl, and locked remaining camlocs 

- uninstalled GAD29, IBBS, and 4 connections to GEA24; drilled 4 holes for main power bus connector and attached connector; reattached aforementioned items

- sanded inlet ramps, epoxy/flox/micro of aft edges (will smooth out so baffle rubber will close neatly around the prior gap)

- sanded epoxy/micro on upper cowl; bondo-filled all holes holes and sanded (3x repeated); coated all sanded areas with light layer of epoxy

- installed fuel pressure sensor and manifold pressure sensor; completed a few odds-and-ends

- started installing the exhaust pipes - installed the hanger for tailpipe, and placed and loosely attached the aft and forward exhaust pipes (used nickel anti-seize paste at slip joints)

- finished installing exhaust system; torqued flange nuts 16 lb-ft; drilled out 2 LP4-3 rivets from right heat vent and installed cover w/red RTV

- prepared and installed heat muff assemblies; prepared scat hoses for vents (cut, trimmed, RTV’d the length of each hose); organized hardware

- Installed vent t-splitter that directs hot air to left/right cabin floor vents; installed a few scat hoses, while leaving others off for access (for fuel line penetrating cabin - prosealed the fitting to the firewall, but will need to final-torque nut and fuel line later)

View behind the panel - damn, that's a lot of wires!  Avionics shelf was fabricated (next pics) to hold the IBBS battery (black rectangular box in the center) and GAD29 (underneath shelf; not shown):

45 - Cowling (finished camloc installation); Other (avionics panel install)

Recently, I passed a milestone: 1500 hours working on this project over the last 2 years and 1 month ... and it still excites me every time I go into the workshop!  This was a big couple of weeks - first, I finished the camloc installation, which was a pain in the ass, but they look great and hold the cowling very well.  Second, and perhaps most important, I started installing the avionics panel!  Lots and lots of wires and gizmos behind the panel, but the panel itself is a beaut and I am glad I went with the larger GTN750xi instead of the smaller GTN or the even smaller GNX/GNC boxes.  Real estate matters, esp. flying IFR.  Specifics are as follows:

- installed camloc flanges on the sides and lower part of fuselage

- epoxied the inside of both cowlings (did this early in the camloc install process, so I don’t have to uninstall all of the camloc grommets later)

- added two more camloc flanges to upper cowl (the ones that are aligned with the side flanges of the lower cowl)

- added two camlocs to upper cowl; positioned and trimmed aft edge of lower cowl (needed 1/8” or so trimming for most of it); had to grind off some of the corners to make the cowl fit well (and bend the camloc flanges back a bit in the lower corners); wife helped hold aft section of lower cowl

- installed side camlocs on lower cowl; drilled holes for bottom camlocs on lower cowl; trimmed lower aft edge of lower cowl; installed two wires (one to alternator and one to starter) 

- installed camloc retainers on bottom of aft lower flanges (4 per side); cut upper flange of lower cowl and sanded to trim line (near-final; only needs a few touch-ups)

- spacing and drilling flanges for the horizontal sections of the lower cowl; countersunk all holes in lower cowl for flange rivets; countersunk flanges to accept retainers

- riveted flanges to lower cowl; drilled holes and installed grommets in upper cowl; fabricated screw mechanism for grommets that are close to engine mount bolts; installed retainers in lower cowl; essentially completed rest of Camloc install (except for locking the remaining retainers); drilled #19 holes in forward part of cowls

- Delivery, uncrating and partial unpacking of SteinAir panel!

- finished unpacking panel

- trimmed, clecoed and floxed inlet ramps onto upper cowl; installed upper cowl on fuselage; prepped oil door and drilled holes (1/4”) to install camlocs

- installed panel onto panel frame on fuselage (with wife and daughter); enlarged hole for canopy release; drilled and deburred 6 holes for Nav’s mounting bracket; placed all wires in respective areas; installed circuit breaker panel (needed to modify support by bending forward flanges aft 90deg); drained water in air compressor

- Installed Nav and audio panel; planned placement of other boxes behind panel

- installed transponder on shelf on right side (shelf had to be altered to fit, and 4 brackets were constructed from 0.025” aluminum, bent into angles); started remote comm install; checked placement of vent cables and how they impinge on avionics shelves; retied right cable bundle

Installed left side flanges (Camlocs):

Wings transported to airport; Finish kit arrived!; 38 - Canopy & Window (latch assembly; canopy hinges, skin)

Our county and state were fortunate enough to not have had a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, until a few days ago. Because I had anticipated this draconian move, I expedited the construction of wing transport cradles and moving the wings to our new hangar.  If I had to do it over, I wouldn't make the roller wing cradle (constructed about a year ago) - I'd just construct these two transport cradles, since they are a lot more useful.  A fellow RV-14A builder pointed out that, with the wings separated, one can also work on both the top and bottom of each wing (thanks Mark A.!).  The day before I moved the wings, my Finish Kit arrived - as usual, it was an approximately 8 hr inventory process (yes, I take my time). Only one bolt was missing in the entire kit - and I counted everything!  Kudos to Van's.  Specifically, these tasks were accomplished during the past ~2 weeks:

- Designed and constructed transport cradles (2) for wings - each has handles on both ends, so the wing can be placed in cradle and then loaded into a U-haul
- Put finalizing touches on everything to take with wings to hangar; finalized method to secure wing cradles in U-haul
- Rented U-haul (20’), transported cradles to hangar - Thanks to Gary W. (neighbor) and Steve R. (lineman) for lifting on either end of the trip!
- Inventoried finish kit
- Prepped canopy latch assembly
- Separated stiffener angles, latch links, bellcrank angles; riveted canopy hinge assemblies; separated forward canopy rails and support flanges
- Assembled canopy latch pushrod assembly; deburred and dimpled canopy skin

One transport cradle (without the carpeted sling) is shown below. These are very easy to construct, and take exactly five 8' 2x4s, with no leftover wood remaining. Here are the cuts for each 8' 2x4:

1&2) each longitudinal piece is a full 8' board (no cuts)
3) the four vertical pieces that hold the carpet are each 18" tall (shown on the right of this pic). The ~23.5" leftover piece will be cut in half to make the two small handles shown on the left side of this pic, which will help carry the inboard end of the wing.
4) the two vertical pieces on the left and the 3 horizontal pieces on the bottom are all 16" cuts (5 total).  The remaining ~15.5" piece will be used as the top horizontal piece/cap, shown on the left. The horizontal cap will support the inboard spar.
5) the two long handles shown on the right, which will support the outboard end of the wing, are 48" long (i.e. cut an 8' 2x4 in half).

Everything gets screwed together with 3" hardware/construction screws (#9; Torx head) - I highly recommend drilling an 1/8" pilot hole at least 2" deep, and then use an impact wrench to drive the screws. I did not glue the pieces together. The longitudinal spacing of the vertical pieces that hold the carpet was approximately 17.5" ... but that was based on the piece of "scrap" carpet that I got from Lowes.  It happened to be about 18.5" wide and I wanted a little overlap. I estimate the smallest carpet width should be 16", and the largest carpet width should be 20", so space the vertical members accordingly.  (more pics/instructions are after the break)

33 - Rudder & Brake Sys (rudder trim and pedal extensions); 35 - Upper Fwd Fuse (subpanel, panel frame); Avionics (fabricated avionics shelves)

Lots of little tasks done in three separate sections, including figuring out how the massive amount of remote avionics boxes and other avionics components will be mounted between the panel and subpanel.  Thanks a bunch to Ken B., whose subpanels I have mimicked - his new website can be found at:   rv-14a.com.   Final major painting of the interior was completed as well (last bits will be the roll bar and associated structure).  Specifically, the following were accomplished since the last post:

- fabricated release pins; assembled release mechanism; installed forward top skin doublers (AD2-2 rivets); trimmed cowl shims
- broke edges of top forward skin; dimpled #40 and #30 holes in skin; countersunk #30 holes in forward parts of longerons; dimpled shims and firewall flanges
- attached Aerosport Products rudder pedal extensions
- fabricating two shelves for avionics that fit under the avionics bay
- fabricated two 2” angle aluminum brackets in the map box - drilled for AN3-3A bolts
- painted panel frame, subpanel, panel standoffs, circuit breaker channel, and canopy rails
- temporarily attached rudder trim arms (only to find out I’ll need to attach them later, permanently, after the rudder cables are attached to the rudder)
- prosealed forward top skin to subpanel and firewall

Fabricated release pins: