RV-7 N117TR
 

Started Jan 2005, currently working FWF and hope to fly this summer. Canopy and fiberglass done....for now.


Tonight's progress on the FAB top plate.

Nice progress!
 

But the amber ale in the background looks better! Yum!:D

Finally back at it after the holidays, riveted nut plates and filter retainers deburred etc. I bent the FAB top plate to match the air scoop using a cool angle finder app and drilled it to the fiberglass bottom. 3 hours and 20 min man I'm SLOW!

Cut air box to fit snorkel.




Spent 1.3 and bagged up my misc hardware that's been collecting on the bench. I may have to take a break from airplane building to make another batch of beer, had to buy some...

Fiberglassed the scoop back on and decided to try and make my own air bypass. The stock bypass has some bad reviews and you cannot reset without pulling the cowl. I taped up and waxed a piece 3x6x.063 scrap and glassed it to the bottom of the FAB. I added a couple of Popsicle sticks to the center so I could cut out the center for attaching the cable, I left the back open so in theory the .063 will slide right out once its cured. I'll find out tomorrow!

Waiting for the epoxy holding the foam in the scoop to dry so I can carve and glass it before work tomorrow.

Some of my ugliest fiberglass yet on my alternate alternate air, I told myself no one would ever see it.... I really hope no one does.

You would think with two little girls there would be a balloon in the house/garage somewhere but had to borrow the lettuce bag.

I just put one layer in the first night just in-case it didn't turn out I didn't want to sand multiple layers of glass. Next day it was great, the glass conformed Perfectly to the foam. I bought balloons (per Vans plans) and put 2 more layers of glass in but when I blew up the balloon it required too much pressure to expand and slowly squeezed the fiberglass out of the scoop. Back to the fridge to snag the last veggie bag, green onions. Maybe the "hot dog" shaped balloons would work better than veggie bags, probably smell better than onions too!

After filler...

Yes I am wearing socks with my flip flops, it's cold...


Thanks to Chris and Jed at SteinAir for their expertise and the enormous amount of time they spent on the phone to put together my wiring/sensor order!

Installing G3x engine sensors
 

Had to clean cylinder head ports with a tap to get the CHT sensors installed, also installed/safetyed oil temp and plug.


I have a little clearance issue on the Hall effect sensor for my single dual bendix mag, solution on the way.

After Matt's machine shop it fit great, now to figure out how to reinstall/time the mag.

Carb heat flange
 

I received my heat muff and flange from Robbinswings the other day, unfortunately I had already made the flapper door and there was no way it was going to fit. My carb must sit further foward on the sump than most. 8 hours later I've got my flange fitted...

Figuring out panel layout...
 

My youngest helping me with panel dimensions.

Panel
 

I decided to make the panel 3/4 inch longer to match the bottom of the air vents and give me more of a fudge factor for fitting the avionics and switches. Stock panel theoretically would fit everything. The nutplate between two lines is about 3/8 inch for overlap of panel face. The face itself is another 3/8 taller for the total 3/4 inch.
I'm trying to piece it together without buying to much extra metal, hopefully it won't look pieced together when I'm done.

I really need a bandsaw but at this point in the project I'm pretty handy with the die grinder and with my daughter holding the workpiece it came out very straight.

In the panel, next to work on the vent attachments.

I thought the edges of the holes were a little thin but it's more support than Van's plans so I'm going with it.

FAB to carb mounting plate, I used a homemade cork gasket between the plate and the carb as well as area washers to hopefully help keep it from cracking.

Still trying to come up with a decent seal between the cowl and the FAB, the plans way seems to be backwards to me but here's a version of it. Seems like I should attach and seal the fabric to the outside of the cowl scoop and have the fabric lay on the inside of FaB.

I'm not a fan of the fit, more of a flapper than a seal. Time to break out the die grinder and fiberglass

I had to step away from the FAB to cowl seal. Installed the exhaust minus muff and tailpipe supports. One crossover pipe was slightly egg shaped, Larry said it was normal and to just tap it (don't get mad at it) back into round with a rubber mallet, once the pipes expand a couple of times they will find their own fit.

EGT probes, #3 cylinder proved to be the tightest fit and dictated the distance (2 inches) to clear the pin and stay the required 2-4 inches from the head.

Installed and sealed baffles, safety wired several fittings and attempted to figure out routing to install red cube fuel flow without any luck.

I cutoff and reglassed the front of the FAB to make the inside flush with the outside of the cowl scoop.

I made a clamp and will glue and seal it for final fitting.

Tuck the fabric inside the cowl scoop and fit cowl and its close, just a tad more trimming to get it to lay flat.

The wife was less than enthused about bucking rivets, but she did a great job!


For fitting purposes I used Vans Va-138 fuel hose (gascolator to fuel pump) to go from the fuel pump to the transducer and from the transducer to the carb. TS Flightlines is fabbing up my hoses for me, as well as trimming 4 other hoses and adding a 90. I used Vans KB-090-T at the fuel pump, a 90 into the transducer, a 45 out of the transducer and a 90 on the carb. This routed the fuel line away from the exhaust very well. I didn't see anything in the red cube directions about 90 or 45 fittings, they wanted the wires up and the out line not to point down. The aluminum fittings are for fitting only, the steel ones are in the mail.

12 hours into electrical system architecture and taxes:confused:

Finally made my mind up and time to move on, aeroelectric diagram Z-13/8. It gives me a lot more options for backup power as i add an autopilot and other flight instruments later. I'm planning on installing the aft firewall stuff now and defer the dynamo and associated stuff till later.
Double checked dimensions for the screws/nutplates on the bottom rail and still have clearance for the switches .



Leveled the plane...the tiltmeter app was pretty handy for the next part.


I laid out the holes for attaching the panel and drilled an angle along the bottom rail. I had to coax the angle to a 100* in order for the top plate to be flat, leveled back and drilled the another angle to the subpanel. The whole assembly is twice as big as I need it so I can mount the GSU 73 in several places and cut down later.

I've got another idea for the GSU 73 mounting table, but I need to borrow a brake. I finally decided on a location for the hinged fuse tray.

My usual bending brake (bench top and clamps and various plates) wasnt giving acceptable results with the small bend on .063. My local heating and air (thank you Adamson Bros) has an 8 foot brake they let me use. I can't wait to get equipment like that!

Drilled to the lower panel

Drilled to the subpanel.

The tiltmeter app is pretty handy, but probably a little too accurate. I keep trying to readjust to the 10th degree.

I don't want to add support angles or cut the floor plate down until I actually have the GSU 73 in hand.

Subpanel cutout and reinforced. Wish I had the radios and didn't have to guess. (looks tweaked but it's square)

I made a couple of reinforcement angles to stiffen the bottom of the subpanel and GSU 73 floor.

Switches drilled and temporarily installed cables and a couple of switches to check the fit.

Not exactly sure what your plan is with the floor pan but I have had to work UNDER the panel of my -7A and would suggest cutting a large access hole in the bottom of that pan. That way you can remove the avionics from the front of the panel and then while UNDER the panel you can reach up to access whatever....wires, pitot tube, etc.

Perhaps you already had this plan though...

Thanks for the advice, I'm actually hoping to not work under the panel. I plan on having the G3X screens wired a little long so I can remove them from the front, pull them out and unhook the connectors. The face of the panel will also be removable on both sides of the radio stack. The radio stack will stay in place as well as the lower panel with all of the switches and push pull cables.
I made the floor plate huge to give me several options on mounting the GSU 73, Once I get the actual Garmin pieces in a couple of months I plan on trimming it to fit the final location. It's only like 5 inches square but with the connectors from the screens sticking back several inches it will be kinda tight!

Finalized my hinged fuse tray, the front latch is just a hinge.






Hinge on the subpanel.

Starter and Alternator wiring
 

I ran the starter wire with the alt wire on the right side of the engine, I still need to get some more adel clamps to finish them. I tried to leave a service loop at each connection.

I would rather sand fiberglass than fit adel clamps! I used some slightly Lionger an-4 bolts for the adel clamps on the sump, Americas Aircraft Engines said the hardware is interchangeable on experimentals.

ANL and Shunt location

Older cowling pics
 

Had to use the "inside" garage to get the epoxy to flow for pinholes.

Initial layout of my hinge covers.

After I reinforced my oil door with a couple of extra layers of fiberglass, my flush latch camlocks were no longer flush. It took me a couple of weeks but I found these laying around to fill the void.

Installed Facet fuel pump, need to borrow flaring tool and get some more tubing to finish the fuel lines. Riveted and pro sealed the naca vents

I got my LED light strip and dimmer in the mail today.

Throttle cable is too short, back in the mail to Van's for the 46.5 inch.

I've found these do-hickys very handy for adel clamps...

Making more decisions on various wiring runs, the panel will remain hinged for now.
Back side: I'm surprised how small of a service loop it actually takes to rotate the panel with the wires run this way.

Front of the panel: there is less than an inch of motion between the adel on the fuse panel and the adel on the sub panel, we'll see if the panel remains moveable after the wire bundles grow.

I think I'm going to run the grounds through the center of the sub panel and down the bottom side of the forward rib to the forest of tabs on the firewall recess. Disregard the forest of tab orientation and location, it just kinda happened that way.

I positioned the exhaust tailpipes, I left the balljoint loose so I could twist them into position. I got the required 25 degrees down from the belly, but the best clearance from the cowl to heat muff is only 1/2-5/8 inch. I will look into some heat sheilds. The tailpipes do slightly angle towards each other.

I finally fit the tailpipe hangers on the right side, but as others has posted the rubber slips on the tube (I cleaned both ss and rubber inside and out with acetone) with 3-5 lbs of downforce. I roughened up the tubes with a file, added a slight flare with my new flaring tool and doubled the hose clamps.


I had to fit the hanger between the throttle cable and starter cable, the left side is just inside my fuel line to the carb. I really want to come up with something better, but it can wait till after I'm flying.

Exhaust hangers done.

First two switches wired, master/Alt and Ebus/Aux Alt

Relay wired per Aeroelectric Ebus feeders

My EFII ignition came today! I mailed my flywheel to Protek about a month and a half ago, they put in the 3 magnets for the flywheel pickup.

Here's a shot of the flywheel pickup.

Installed via the existing case bolts, no drilling or positioning required.

The alternator braket bolt must be installed first.

I mounted the ECU on to the angle brace on the center rib (slider) and added an angle to the left rib.


Downside is the wiring harness and connectors are pretty large.

Pic of the coil mounted on the firewall. It came with a nice mag blockoff plate and coil mount, but I've got the single mag accessory case. I was going to mount it on the lower accessory pad but the firewall was easier.

Stiffener on the back of the firewall.

Heat sink for the essential bus diode.