Section: smoke oil
Hours: 4

I installed the plastic 90 degree fittings to the smoke pump and routed the rubber tubing under the pilot seat, along the lower longeron and up the firewall to the t-fitting. The power wire is routed from the panel through the central tunnel to the pump. I added a ground wire to the bulkhead under the floor. Both wires are terminated with spade connectors for easy removal.

I drilled holes in the bottom of the seat bench and the side wall bulkhead with the 90 degree drill and then enlarged the holes using the dremel tool. I placed the brass flow control valve in the hole at the bottom of the seat bench. It will be easily reachable during flight here but out of the way. I fabricated an aluminum sleeve for where the hose goes through the sidewall bulkhead. Here you can see it before I pressed it into the bulkhead hole. This will protect the hose from the sharp edge of the bulkhead hole.

Here you can see the sleeve pressed into the bulkhead hole. I used a similar sleeve where the hose goes through the cabin floor from the pump.

Here is the hose run from the longeron up to the firewall fitting. The hose is held in place by the fitting and the longeron and is out of the way of the rudder pedal (even when the rudder pedal is pressed to the firewall).

A simple hose run goes from the tank to the pump.

Section: smoke oil
Hours: 6

The instructions for the smoke oil say you get best results if you install the injectors in the longest exhaust pipes which are on cylinders 1 and 4 if you are using the Van's provided exhaust system. I drilled 1/4 inch holes in the exhausts about 1 inch below the temperature probes. You must line up the injectors so the flats on the probe nut parallel the pipe so the injector slot is aligned properly. The hardest part of the job was adding multiple adel clamps to support the lines.

I made a 90 degree clip to attach an adel clamp for supporting the line going to #4. The clip attaches under the lower adel clamp for the brake line.

 I added several adel clamps behind the engine to support the line going to #1.

Section: smoke tank
Hours: 5

I watched the video on how to fabricate the stainless steel firewall forward smoke oil hoses. You can view it on YouTube here: Aeroquip 666 Hose Ends

I used a cutoff disk on the dermal to cut through the braided outer sheath and then cut the teflon inner hose with a straight razor. Otherwise I followed the directions from the video to fabricate the hoses. Here is a hose with connectors on both ends connected to the oil injector nozzle and hose clamp.

I drilled a pilot hole and the used the step drill to enlarge a hole in the firewall for the t-fitting. I placed the t-fitting near the brake fitting. That way I can keep the hose run inside the fuselage near the side wall and out of the way of the rudder pedals.

Section: smoke tank
Hours: 8

I spent a lot of time working out how to install the pump and plumbing for the smoke tank. I had several goals:

1) I would like the smoke system to be removable to free space and weight when touring.
2) The pump should be out of the way and not interfere with normal baggage loading.
3) The plumbing should be as simple as possible and not incumber access to (already) installed wiring, pitot/static lines and control links.
4) The flow control valve needs to be pilot accessible but out of the way.

The most direct route for the oil line is down the central wiring tunnel, but the tunnel is already pretty filled up with wiring. After much head scratching I decided to run the rubber hose under the pilot seat and along the lower longeron to the firewall. The easiest place to put the pump then became the area behind the pilot seat.

Here is a cardboard mockup of a mounting bracket I tried out:

In the end I decided it would be easier to add some nut plates and bolt the pump directly to the cabin floor. The rear 2 bolts tie into a sub floor bulkhead and the forward 2 bolts are in the middle of a floor section. Hopefully they will provide enough structural support.

The pump bolts in place with just 4 bolts and nut plates so it should be easy to remove. It fits nicely behind the seat and is off of the main baggage floor.

Section: smoke tank
Hours: 5

Today I worked out how to mount the smoke oil tank. The tank is designed to nicely fit in the space behind the passenger seat and comes with flanges. I'm not sure if I will want to have the tank permanently installed so I added nut plates to the bolt mount positions. I equally spaced 4 bolts at the top of the tank where it abuts the cross cabin seat back bar. On the floor, I located the bolts as close as possible to the underlying floor support ribs.

Putting in the nut plates under the baggage floor was one of those jobs I wish I had done before riveting down the floor. Unfortunately I didn't know how the tank would mount when I was doing that work. I couldn't squeeze my hand and arm far enough in to get to the two nut plates closest to the side of the cabin. After trying to use different tweezers, sticks and wires to get the nut plates into place I came up with the idea of using a magnet. The magnet held the nut plate to the baggage floor while I maneuvered it into place. I was able to insert clecos and then used pull rivets to permanently affix the nut plates.

Section: 24
Hours 5

The rib that is inserted in the fiberglass wing tips must be reversed to make the hinge pins accessible. Also, the top flange has to be modified to accommodate the overlap with the hinge. I cut off a section of the flange and riveted on an offset flange as shown below.

Here are the 1/8 inch spacers and the new flange angle. I dimpled the rib and counter sank the top spacer. The new flange angle is also offset by the thickness of the hinge from the rest of the rib flange.

Section: smoke tank
Hours: 1

I am looking forward to formation flying with the RV-14. Of course you need a smoke oil system if you are serious about formation flying. I ordered a smoke oil tank from Merv at smoke system helper I figured it would take several weeks to build and ship out, but it appeared on my door step today less than a week after ordering it! The kit seems very complete including plumbing and wiring supplies.