Thursday, November 29, 2018

Section: 50
Hours: 6

I installed the prop, mixture and throttle cables.

Stein provided a nice machined aluminum sub panel with labels for mounting the cables to the panel.

I spent most of the day under Woody's watchful eye routing and installing the cables.


Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Section: 49
Hours: 4

I installed the manifold pressure plumbing which is slightly different from the standard Van's installation because each of the PMags needs a connection. I ordered the additional lines from Aircraft Specialty.

The Aircraft Specialty kit includes a T-fitting for adding the line to supply the PMags.

I routed the line from the T-fitting towards the center and used a couple adel clamps to hold it in place. The end of this line has another T with barbed ends for the rubber hoses that go to the PMags.


Saturday, November 24, 2018

Section: 49
Hours: 6

I continued work on plumbing the engine.

Firewall to fuel pump hose.

Fuel pump to fuel transducer (red cube) and transducer mounting.

Oil cooler an fittings. The firewall forward kit provides aluminum an fittings but the oil cooler calls out for metal. I purchased the metal fittings from Spruce.

The plans specify the clocking for the fittings.

Here is the air inlet transition with sealant applied in the corners.

The oil cooler mounted on the engine mount shelf.


Sniffle tube assembly.


Friday, November 23, 2018

Section: 49
Hours: 4

I fabricated and installed the oil breather tube. I had to modify the aluminum tubing to run around the electrical shunts on the firewall.



Thursday, November 22, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 2

I installed the baffle on the other inlet today.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 6

The flox fillets on the lower cowl turned out nice.

I used the dremel and sand paper to finish shaping the flox and matched upper cowl to the lower cowl inlets.



Next I fitted and installed the inlet baffle.



Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 6

Today I shaped the flox fillets around the cowl inlets. You grind through the fiberglass of the cowl into the flox to create a rounded inlet.




Next I added a fillet to the lower cowl inlets. The plans specify to just glob the flox on and hold it in place with peel ply. Instead, I built a couple aluminum sheet metal dams to mold and hold the flox in place.

A little duct tape holds them in place. Here is the flox flowed in behind the dams. I think this will produce a little cleaner fillet.


Monday, November 19, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 6

Today I worked on shaping the lower cowl air inlet ports. The plans give detailed instructions on how to measure offsets and set up some aluminum strips for molding flox / epoxy around the inside of the inlets.




Friday, November 16, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 4

The cowl baffle seals come pre sized, punched and ready to install in the RV14 kit. I understand this is a big improvement over previous kits. They were easy to install.


Thursday, November 15, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 4

Today I installed the right air ramp cone. I aligned the front edge of the cone with the lower deck rather than the sidewall.


I also bent up the transition flange on the air filter frame.

Here is the assembly from below. I also painted the outside of the snorkel with aluminum paint- looks cool and may help with uv protection down the road. Not that it will normally be exposed to sun...

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 1

I sealed the outside and flange edges of the snorkel with resin. It has gotten cold in the garage so the snorkel is sitting on my desk inside while the resin cures.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 4

I finished up the alternate air door installation and smoothed out the flox fillet.


Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 4

Today I cut out the hole for the alternate air door in the snorkel.

I fitted the door assembly and built up a flox fillet around it.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Section: 47
Hours: 5

I finished up the snorkel flange and drilled holes to final size using the template (see previous post). Then I spent some time adjusting the fit between the snorkel and the air filter frame.


The snorkel slides into the air filter frame. The fit has to be adjusted by sanding the outside of the snorkel to match the inside of the filter frame. There is play in the fit and the filter frame can be moved up/down on the neck of the snorkel.

It is important to set the height of the top of the filter frame so that the rubber gasket from the lower cowling will fit over the top of the frame. I mounted the lower cowl and slid the snorkel neck into a position that I believe will allow room for the gasket. You need to allow about 1/4 inch.

I finished today bending the corner fillet for the filter frame. I scribed the bend lines from the template to the aluminum and bent it in the vise.