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):