Friday, March 20, 2020

Section: 44

Hours: 4

Added safety wire to the prop nuts.



Saturday, March 14, 2020

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.


Thursday, March 12, 2020

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.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

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.

Monday, March 2, 2020

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.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Section: avionics
Hours: 5

I recently purchased a pitot static toggle valve and a female straight connector from SteinAir. This valve is placed inline of the static line and can be opened in the case that the static ports become blocked (icing, insects, etc). I decided to install the valve on the cable riser panel between the tunnel on the floor and the control panel. I had easy access to the static line there and it will be accessible in an emergency but out of the way otherwise.


I finished the installation by adding a red switch cover to prevent accident switch activation. It also shows at a glance the switch is in the proper position. I made the switch label by printing on a special ink jet transparent label paper. After printing I cut the label to size, removed it from the backing sheet and applied it to the panel.