Category Archives: Engine

Electrics, Ian Daniels, Painting, Registration, Sensors, Wiring

Tuesday 16th July 2019

16/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Gerry Cinnamon, Doves, George Ezra

Getting close to finishing now so some small outstanding jobs to do including wiring starter solenoid protection, a stuck starter indicator connection and external level button on each stick top hat. I also trial fitted the registration and polished the fuselage ready to apply it.

I received the registration vinyls on Friday so today I need to ready the fuselage for them to be applied. Just a case to working out the best placing for them. Along the line of paintwork line or along the rivet line? that’s the question!

I’ve bought a polishing machine to make the job easier with some G6 cutting liquid cutting compound. It takes a bit of getting used to using it but it makes a good job it. The paintwork needs to be de-greased before I can apply the registration letters.

When I sent the aircraft for spraying they noticed that one rivet hadn’t been squeezed on the trailing edge of the wing. So Ian brought his rivet squeezers in with a special head for this type of rivet.

A little more wiring to do. A diode is placed from the starter solenoid to earth to kill any spikes caused from the contacts releasing when starting the engine. Also I’ve wired up a contact on the Dynon screens to that will show a ‘stuck starter’ situation. I was a little worried that a higher voltage may find it’s way back to the EFIS so I’ve protected the connection with a diode to prevent spikes and a 1 amp fuse.

Glare Shield, Waterpump

Friday 12th July 2019

12/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: 10cc, Gerry Rafferty.

I’m expecting the registration to arrive today and some G6 cutting liquid. I’ve also designed and ordered the stainless steel identification plate which will hopefully be with me on Monday or Tuesday.

Today’s the day to refit the water pump, it’s had plenty of time to cure so fingers crossed that it’s sealed properly this time. I’ll also finish fitting the glare shield.

Also Bristell have been in touch to say that they have a pair of rear windows in the correct colour so I need to pick them up at some point soon…

I’ve cleaned up the gasket ready for the refit.

After running a thin bead of Wellseal around the pump mating surface it’s bolted back on and the bolts are torqued up.

The water system has been refilled and I’ll leave it for the weekend to see if the reseal has been successful.

Next is to finish fitting the glare shield. It’s a tricky job as there is only a very narrow band to secure it too but it has to be done ‘blind’. I’ve decided the best way to do this is to position the glare shield and use a very small drill to drill a pilot hole and just mark the fuselage skin. Removing the glare shield reveals if I’ve drilled in the correct position. If so I can open it up and fit the Rivnut.

Seven screws are used to secure the glare shield and I’m considering using a couple more to secure the shield to the instrument panel. That’s a job for Monday.

Carburettor, Registration, Seatbelts, Seats, Waterpump

Wednesday 10th July 2019

10/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Lightening Seeds, The Beautiful South, Gerry Rafferty

Feel like I’m going backward as I need to do some remedial work to the water pump and replace the carburettor floats. But I have a few other things that I’ll do today which will get me back on track. I will o order the registration vinyls (that I have left far too late) and I’ll also be fitting the seatbelts.

The order that I’ve been waiting for was an 18mm x 1 fine pitch die to cut a little more thread on each water pump pipe. Fairly easy to do but I make to make sure that the die went on perfectly straight otherwise it might start cutting a new thread!

All done and sealed with Loctite. I’m going to leave it in position for a couple of days to fully cure before touching the pipes. Hopefully this will ensure I won’t have a repeat of the leak.

Now onto the floats. I spoke to CFS aero who are the importers for Rotax engines and they sent me a full set of new floats to replace those that were in my carbs. This is really a precautionary measure as I don’t know if the floats fitted are defective or not but I didn’t want to find out on the first flight!

To get to the float chambers I have to undo some of the work that I’ve done previously. First off are the carb drip trays…

…revealing the float bowl retaining clip. This is prised off to allow the bowl to be removed.

The flaots sit in the bowl and rise and fall on pins to retain them. Brings back memories when I used to play about with motorcycles when I was younger.

When refitting must make sure that I don’t damage this mechanism and ensure that the seal is seated correctly.

Then a refit of the carb drip trays before repeating the procedure on the other carb.

All done and back to home it was before my intervention.

Next on the agenda is to fit the seatbelts. Three bolts and nyloc nuts are used to secure them.

The top hole in the retaining mount is opened up to 11mm before the bolts can be fitted.

The top retaining strap is fitted first and tightened to pinch the fitting and then just eased off slightly to allow for some movement in operation.

The bolts with a ‘shoulder’ are then fitted to to the left and right seatbelt retaining brackets.

The top strap is too long to use as is so the seatbelt webbing needs to be modified by cutting and running through the retaining adjusters.

To stop the webbing flying in service I’ve sealed the ends with superglue. This may work ok but if it fails after some use I’ll seal with heat instead but this seemed a good solution.

With both side now done is was time to try out on a ‘real’ pilot so Pilot Pooh was given first go…

Registration, Waterpump, Wiring

Monday 8th July 2019

08/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Palio Nutini

A short day today as I was hoping that the M18 x 1 die would be delivered today so I could do the work in the afternoon. Unfortunately for some reason it was delayed so will have to wait in for it tomorrow now. The leak has caused me a couple of days delay so far which is a little frustrating.

With the water pump dismantled I need to use a M18 x 1 die to cut further down the pipe to provide a better seal than achieved on the first fit. This is a revised method that has worked for others that have had this problem according to Bristell.

The wires connecting the lights, strobes, trim motor and pitot in the wings need to be protected so a piece of flexible conduit is used.

The elevator trim and lights connectors are secured to prevent them from moving in service.

The artwork for the registration has been prepared and I’m obtaining a couple of quotes before ordering.

General, Karen, Propellor, Water System, Waterpump

Saturday 6th July 2019

06/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Karen was in charge of music so played tracks like ‘I can fix you’ and ‘All right now’ Very funny Karen!

As I was packing up last night I noticed a wet patch under the front tyre. When I investigated I found a very small leak from two of the modified water pump pipes. Unfortunately there was no way round it, the pump will have to be removed, the pipes removed and resealed. A call to Tony Palmer revealed that there had been other cases of leaking and was put down to a loose fitting pipe. The solution is to cut the thread slightly further down the pipe so it’s a tight fit when at the correct angle. Karen came along to give me a hand.

The slight leak. Can’t ignore it, if it leaks with no pressure in the system it’ll certainly leak a lot more when the engine is running.

…so I can remove the pump. I’ve removed the pipes from the water pump, cleaned the thread but now have to order an 18mm die. I’ll use the die to cut a slightly longer thread.

As I can’t do anymore on the water pump I though i’d Loctite the12 set screws, 4 on each blade and…

… add some Torque Seal on the set screws to allow any movement to be identified.
I know have to wait for the Die to come before I can finish off the water pump.

Propellor, Water System

Thursday 4th July 2019

04/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Reverend And The Makers

The main job today is to fit the propellor blades. Luckily the Aeroshell Grease that was supposed to have been delivered next Monday was delivered a couple of days ago so I can get on with it. Once fitted I can purge the oil system and add the antifreeze.

I had a call with CFS Aero who have now acknowledged that it would be a good idea to change the floats before I first fly the aircraft as Rotax have had a problem with sinking floats that leads to flooding of the engine and the possibility of engine failure. They will be sent in the post in the next couple of days. They have also confirmed that Halford OAT antifreeze is ok to fill the coolant system.

Once the protective seal has been removed it reveals the pitch change mechanism. It’s been greased after manufacture but needs a further coating as per a service bulletin.

I think I may have ordered the wrong size tin of grease 🙂 It was at a bargain price which was cheaper than smaller tins.
The hub is liberally coated with grease before being installed.

…the set screws are unscrewed to leave around 4mm showing.

A special ‘C’ spanner is fitted on the set screws which is used to tighten to the specified torque setting using a torque wrench.

Job done, looks quite good. A quick test of the pitch system confirms it’s working as expected. Now for the oil system purging and filling the coolant system which has taken a lot more than the 1 1/2 litres that Rotax advertise to fill the system so I’ll need to get some more tomorrow.

Canopy, Centre Console, Engine, Fuel System, Internal Trim

Wednesday 3rd July 2019

03/07/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Reverend And The Makers

Short day today so just a couple of items. The first thing for today was setting the trim speed so it falls within the acceptable stop to stop time limits for the LAA followed by fitting the fuel pipe between the wing tanks and fuselage and finishing off by driving the holes for the LEMO plugs for the Bose headsets and fitting the rear trim panel. Also called CFS to see if my floats for the Rotax engine need changing as there has been a fault that’s been affecting them for 5 years now. You’d think they’d have sorted it out by now eh?

The starboard wing has a single pipe that runs from the fuel tank in the wing to the fuselage. It’s quite a tight fit so need to make sure it doesn’t kink and it’ll need protecting with some sheathing.

The Port wing fuel tank has two pipes one for supply and one for return. When starting the engine it’s important to select the Port fuel tank as any surplus fuel is returned to that tank. If it’s already full it will overflow. Must make sure you don’t get the supply and return mixed up!

The feed and return pipes from the fuselage. The bottom one is the return.

I’ve already fitted the centre canopy release mechanism so all that is required is to drill and shape the two holes for the LEMO headset sockets. They fit from underneath so they can be fitted with the sockets already attached.

Last job of the day is to fit the rear trim panel. I decided to make the panel removable so Rivnuts and screws are used to secure.

Carb Heat, Electrics, Flaps, Heater, System, Tailplane, Water System, Wiring

Monday 1st July 2019

01/07/2019 Trevor Mills 2 Comments

Music: Reverend And The Makers, Ian Brown and Razorlight.

A few smaller jobs to do today including the last bit of wiring, wire locking the tailplane, adding a vent pipe to the coolant bottle and adjusting the flap operating arms.

The ACS ignition switch requires 5 wires, Left and Right magnetos, battery, starter solenoid and ground. It uses 4mm ring connectors that are secured with screws and shake proof washers.

*The carb heat and heater controls require a positive stop to make sure you don’t pull the cable too far. I’ve used* a ‘chocolate block’ with the insulation cut off…

…slid it on the cable and secured it with the 2 screws.

The same was done for the heater control.

I’ve added a breather in the coolant bootle and run the pipe down the firewall and out under the fuselage.

Four bolts secure the tailplane and once torqued to the correct setting are wire locked to ensure they don’t undo.

The wire locking is carried through from the top bolt and finished off around the bottom bolt.

The flaps require adjusting to be flush with the trailing edge of the wing…

The control rod arms have adjusters at either end and are adjusted equally before locking up.

Electrics, Magneto, System, Wiring

Tuesday 25th June 2019

25/06/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Turin Brakes

Amazingly more wiring today! Next on the list is the trim system. Once that’s complete I’ve arranged to get some help to fit the tailplane and then finishing off with making a start on wiring the ignition switch.

Most of the Dynon connectors consist of a loom of wires but they’re not normally terminated so require the pins to be crimped on with a 4 jaw crimping tool.

Partially populated but a lot more wires to add.

Fitting the tailplane requires 2 people. It locates on 2 pins that ensures the correct placement. All paint and debris needs to be removed and then greased before attempting to fit the tailplane No pictures of the process as it was quite tricky to fit.

Job done. The tailplane is secured by 4 bolts that are torqued and up before being wire locked.

Next a start on the magneto switch wiring. The two connectors have two holes that are wired and run to the ignition switch.

The wiring of there were very difficult and didn’t go to as I expected. The instructions give the impression that the pins can be slipped into the plug whilst they are still connected but this wasn’t the case. They needed to be separated first before the pins could be inserted. Took about an hour to sort this out.

The engine wiring is now complete and look quire neat.

Aerials, Autopilot, Electrics, Engine Controls, Instrument Panel, Panel, Radio, Sensors, System, Wiring

Thursday 20th June 2019

20/06/2019 Trevor Mills Leave a comment

Music: Gerry Rafferty and Daily Mix.

A lot to do today, as every day! When the delivery arrived I found that some of what I had ordered was out of stock. It’s not a big problem as there are lots of other jobs to do. So I’ll wire up the power side of the system and label, install and test the radio and transponder coax cable.