Wednesday 1
I did a bit of a shopping run tonight. John Hurst from Europa told me that the overflow bottle is a bit on the small side and suggested that I could get a better one from Auto Zone. I found that they we going out of stock of this particular item and I had to visit a couple of stores to find one, but I am glad I did because it seems like a good product. While I was there I chased down some fuel fitting to connect up the fuel flow sensors. With the 914 I will need reverse flow sensors for the fuel totalizer which has added another $375.00 to the project..............ouch!
The next thing I had to track down was some welding cable to run back to my battery. Since I have changed to the 914 I have to move the battery to the back. I am hoping that I can get the cables through the tunnel okay.
Thursday 2
No building
Friday 3
No building
Saturday 4 ~ Sunday 5
Since I have changed engines I noticed that the bottom cowling didn't want to fit as nicely. After a bit of investigation I discovered that the front starboard exhaust pipe his the cowling. It wasn't by much, but enough to be a problem. I had a couple of choices, the softer engine mounts pull the engine back about 3 mm, another idea was to carefully cut 3 mm off each leg on the engine mounting frame and the last option that I could think of was to put a small bulge in the front of the cowling.
I really didn't like that idea much but it was what the factory recommended and I suspect that it will be hardly noticeable so I cut the offending section out and laid some cloth in place. If you look at the photograph closely you can see that I put some foam between the exhaust and the cowl to give me something to lay up over and to ensure I get the clearance I am looking for. I must admit it doesn't look too great that the moment but I am sure that I can blend it in nicely with some filler
With the gel coated cowlings I am not sure how much sanding and priming is required, however I rubbed it back and put in 3 coats of Smooth Prime with a roller. I looked in my can it seems like I have to buy a whole gallon to finish off this small task, there goes another $120.00
While I was at the Kemble air show I was a strobe light that had a really nice tear drop shaped cover so I decided to change mine over. The first thing I needed to do was to make sure that it worked with my power supply so I hooked it up and gave it a run. Sure enough it worked okay and as this thing sat flashing away on the tail it occurred to me that for the first time the aircraft was showing some signs of life. To get the new strobe light to fit I had to remove the nut plates in place and fill the hole I had made which was not an easy task once the fin cap had been glued in place.
I was feeling brave so I mounted the outer shell of the instrument panel thinking that it might not have to come out again. Silly me, once I had put it in I discovered that I had to run wires down to the back for the second fuel pump and for the electronic pressure sensor for the fuel gauge. Ah well, it was nice to dream
Tuesday 7
No building
Wednesday 10 ~ Sunday 12
Took a few days off and flew down to Dolphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Had a great break, logged 14 hours of flying and bought a whole bunch of 100LL
Monday 13
I sanded back 3/4 of the bottom cowling that had been smooth primed with 150 grit. Some of it went very slowly as the shape of the cowling is quite complex, (ugly actually) It was a nice sunny day out side so I could take it out the back. Sanding out side is much better, apart from the dust factor the light is much better.
Tuesday 14
I measured up and marked out the two doors in the top cowling this evening. I guess its one more of those little jobs that turn this thing into a 2000 hour plus project.
Wednesday 15
No building.
Thursday 16
This evening I cut out the two doors in the top cowling. I tried the cowling on the engine and every thing lined up as expected. The doors are supposed to be 120 by 120 which seem a little on the big side. I thing if I was doing it again I'd go with 100 by 120 I think it would look a little better.
Friday 17
Jenny and I did a lay up for the door flanges in the top cowl this evening. Nothing really special to say on this, just followed the manual
Saturday 18 & Sunday 19
The sun was shining outside again to I finished sanding the bottom cowling. I was hoping to get by with just one coat of smooth prime but alas it wasn't to be. I dragged out the spray paining gear and laid on one coat of smooth prime. It was cool out side and I was really expecting to get s few runs, but it went on perfectly.
Finished sanding the bottom cowl
I spent the rest of the weekend fitting up the inspection doors into the top cowling and getting the latches in place an working. One door seemed to go really nicely and didn't take a whole lot of time, but the other is turning out to be a bit of a pain.
Monday 20
I had one more go at re fitting the oil tank inspection door but its still not right.
Tuesday 21
I fooled around with the oil tank door and discovered that I really hadn't mounted the hinge up square so I filled the holes up on the door with some flox.
Wednesday 22
I had a friend over from Australia so I could not do a whole lot of building, however I did take advantage of the extra pair of hands to re drill the oil tank inspection door.
Thursday 23
Didn't spend a lot of time in the workshop, I put some filler around where I had cut out the inspection doors in the top cowling.
Friday 24
Saturday 25 & Sunday 26
I took the bottom cowling outside and did the final sand of the bottom cowling with 320 grit. There are a lot of tedious shapes that go pretty slowly and it ended up being a pretty time consuming jobs. I used the last of the smooth prime up and I managed to get three coats onto the top cover with the roller. I set that aside to dry overnight and sanded it back on Sunday with 150 grit. I would like to think that I am actually getting to the last of the sanding sometime real soon.
I was talking to John Hurst at Europa and he was trying to discourage me from using the EIS as my sole source of instrumentation. His suggestion was to have a tachometer and manifold pressure gauge, along with a cylinder head temperature. After some consideration I decided to take his advice (since he has over 1000 hours with the Europa and I have none), so I ordered some gauges from UMA.S
Monday 27
Tuesday 28
Removed the instrument panel and pulled in cables for the second fuel pump and the fuel tank measurement device.
Wednesday 29
Pulled in negative battery cable in the cable duct under the starboard door sill
Thursday 30
Fitted battery isolator switch.
Friday 31