Monday 2
I have recently changed roles at work and it hasn't left me with much time in the evenings, however I am still trying to do a little bit most days when I can. I dug out the Airmaster manual and took at look at what I needed to do for installing the prop. A visit to there WEB site revealed 3 service bulletins, one of which I didn't need to do. I decided to install the shear bushes into the propeller flange. These things are tight, real tight and the manual doesn't tell you but the propeller comes with a tool to install them. Its real important to use some anti seize compound otherwise they are going to be there forever.
Tuesday 3
I put the hub on tonight, and again it was tight. I called the factory and they confirmed that some of the earlier props where tight and latter they added a little more tolerance. I wish I had known this as I probably would have re worked the shear bushes with some wet and dry.
I know that when it comes time to remove the hub it is going to be really difficult.
Wednesday 4
My propeller is number 59, so it needed service bulletin 14 doing. It is to help prevent water getting into the base of the propeller and required the drilling of a hole in the base and filling up with silicone. Needless to say I was less than excited about drilling holes in it but it was a quick job. The longest part was finding some neutral cure silicone sealant at the hardware store.
Thursday 5
No building
Friday 6
No building
Saturday 7
My new EIS 4000 turned up yesterday so I set about installing it. Unfortunately none of the cabling is pin compatible with the EIS 2000 so I mostly had to remove all of the wiring and re do it. The 4000 will monitor all 4 heads and cylinders how ever I probably will still go with 2 EHT's and CHT's. Interestingly enough the engine has 4 ports for the EHT's, but only 2 for CHT's so unless I figure out an easy answer to that problem its going to stay at 2 for both.
The biggest advantage is that is has 6 auxiliary inputs instead of 2. One thing I am very keen to measure is fuel pressure and this is not simple exercise on a turbo charged engine. I know UMA instruments are currently testing a differential pressure transducer so I will wait off rather then "role my own"
The re wiring exercise gave me the opportunity to tidy things up a bit, but its still far from that I'd like it to be from a neatness aspect. One concern that I couldn't get a satisfactory resolution to was the ability to "quick disconnect" the wiring to allow for easy engine removal. I wasn't all that keen to introduce plugs and sockets under the cowling do to the high temperatures.
I managed to test the OAT, EHT, CHT, Oil temp, Oil pre and MAP sensor, leaving only the tachometer needing a check out at engine start time. I purchased the logging software from Grand Rapids so I added a serial cable that will be accessible. It works really well, it logs all the parameters out to a file every second. If I went to the trouble of adding a couple of pressure transducers for static and pitot pressure I could probably gather all of the flight data I needed measure the whole performance envelope of the aircraft!
I did a few other jobs like install the rudder hinges, run the wiring for the Airmaster constant speed propeller and make a couple of seat back wedges out of foam.
Wednesday 11
The circuit can be seen at www.kaon.co.nz/europa/fuelgaugev3.pdf
Tony will burn a pair of chips and post them to you. I seem to recall the
charge is $25.00. He can be contacted at tonyk@kaon.co.nz
It is quite simple to make and for those who don't like working with "Vero
board" construction can purchase a Pic Proto3 and PicProto18 from http://www.melabs.com/
These boards make the construction quite simple.
Thursday 12
I tested and installed the display board into the panel this evening. Its actually a bit tricky to test on is own so I had to program up a custom version of the device just to make sure I had wired it correctly.
Friday 13
Who would ever do any airplane building on a Friday the 13th?
Saturday 14
Another weekend of little tasks, who ever said 90 % done and 90% to go were so right. I put in some hoses to from under the carburetors, one for the coolant bottle and a vent hose for the oil tank.
I found that the audio cable for the portable CD / Satellite radio was terminated too short so I had to re do it. I also extended the cable to the TCU so I can connect it to my laptop without having to remove the panel.
I connected up the Hobbs meter, but it is not very elegant at the moment, I simply have it connected to the master. I intend to add another PIC based microprocessor based board in at a latter time to do various odd jobs, one of which will be to turn on the Hobbs meter at the appropriate time.
I got the doors out of storage and fitted them, they seem pretty tight and I hope that they “loosen up” over time. I haven’t finished the insides of the doors, that is going to be one of those “after its flying” jobs.
Monday 16
No building
Tuesday 17
Friday 20
I did the final assembly of the instrument panel tonight (yeah right!). As you can see from the photographs below things are pretty tight inside. This is one aspect of the project I really regret not re doing. As you can see from the outside of the panel I have room left, but the internal volume is not enough, and is also needs to be about 30 mm deeper. There are a couple of after market full width panels now available but I was too miserable to spend the money…..
It seems to take about 2 hours to assemble both sides, but I suspect now I know where it gets hung up I will be able to do it quicker. I know it will be out again in the near future; one task will be to set up fuel pressure sensing when the differential sensors from UMA become available.
Saturday 21 ~ Sunday 22
Today was the big day; I took the Europa to the hanger. As you can see there is plenty of snow around and I had to dig out a path so I could get the car and trailer around to the back of the house. It seems strange after all of these years of building to go down to the workshop and not see the fuselage.
I moved wings into the workshop so I can do the final assembly. It’s a nice feeling to be putting together the flaps and outrigger mechanism with lock nots, hopefully not to be taken apart again for some time. I took part of Sunday off and went flying in the Comanche, but I did manage to get the port wing assembled.
I checked the aileron and I was surprised how much it was out of balance. I remember when I constructed it taking out lead, and I wish I hadn’t because I had to put in 130 grams of lead shot into each weight to bring it back into balance.
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Monday 23
I must had had my brain in neutral when I made the ailerons because for some reason I must have balanced them un painted. I have no idea why I did this or what I was thinking. The manual says to balance them pointing down at 45 degrees un painted and then after they are painted to remove some lead. Well I found my self in the situation where I had to add more lead to a finished aileron.
I hollowed out the area behind the lead weight with my Dremmel and filled it up with lead shot. Fortunately I was able to get enough lead in there to bring them into balance. I then injected in some resin and let it set.
Tuesday 24
No building, EAA Chapter 18 meeting tonight.
Wednesday 25
I fitted up the port aileron tonight. It was interesting because I did the nut up on the push rod and found that it would not swing any more. I found that it was rubbing on the nose of the aileron and it never became apparent before because I had never done it up tight. To get it right I had o do about 4 "on again / off again" cycles.
Thursday 26
I did the last of the little jobs like drilling the fairings and installing the outrigger arm on the port wing this evening and got the second wing out ready to start assembly.
Friday 27
I installed starboard flap this evening, along with the outrigger mechanism. Its funny how the second one goes much faster. I also drilled the outrigger fairings ready for installation at a latter stage.
Saturday 28
I installed the second aileron in the morning which again took much longer than it should. The lesson here is to make absolutely sure you have all of the clearances you need before having the darn things installed. My friend Marty came by and we took wings to the airport and installed on the aircraft. They took a fair while to get on and I sure hope that they get better over time. Marty said be sure and call him when I want to do it again, he will be sure to out of town.
I put on the outrigger wheels and called it a day.
Sunday 29
I installed the rudder and added coolant some coolant to get ready for aircraft weighing. I borrowed some scales from my EAA chapter and it was surprisingly easy to get them on the scales. I bought some very expensive digital bathroom scales with a claimed accuracy of .5 of a pound to measure the weight on the tail wheel. The weight came in at just a tad under 860 pounds which is 10 pounds more than the average 914 Europa so I am fairly pleased with that. Its not a bad number given how much paint and primer went into it.
I ran the weight and balance numbers and they came out right in the middle of the envelope, I couldn't ask for more.
Well the time came where I could see a reason not to start the aircraft. I put in 10 gallons of 93 octane and I discovered the first issue. The hose on the filler neck wasn't tight enough so it put a puddle of stinky auto gas in the back of the aircraft. I fixed that little mess and then cranked it over for a while. I didn't seem to get anywhere so I disconnected the fuel hose to the carburetors and ran the fuel pump until the hose was primed. I gave it a few more cranks and it sprung into life. It was a nice fleeing, my helpers with CO2 extinguishers in hand receded back into the hanger and taxied the aircraft for a while. What a nice feeling.
The hanger owner decided to fire up the grill and we all celebrated over a nice meal and a bottle of Aussie red.