Joshua's RV-9A Project

Worked on a laundry list of essentially small tasks, which filled up most of what turned out to be a fairly productive day.  I’m approaching the point where I need to order a bunch of stuff in order to continue installing things (like control cables, exhaust, FWF plumbing, and so on), but that’s likely to be delayed for a few months for finances, and it’s likely that if it’s delayed into May, it’ll be delayed until fall.  Oh well…perhaps the summer project will have to be tips, fairings, and wheelpants.

• Finished programming the VP CU and testing electrical continuity and switching to all the devices which are installed.  Even plugged one wing in to check out the taxi light, and the wig-wag.  The VP config program, along with the Ethernet connection, is pretty slick.
• Fabricated the attach point and pushrod for the flap position sensor; installed the sensor and adjusted the pushrod for appropriate travel.  Monkeyed around with the VP flap options, checking out the momentary feature which uses the pos’n sensor to run the flaps to pre-determined stops.
• Fabricated and installed doublers for the comm antennas, which tie into the seat ribs for extra stability.  Terminated the L antenna coax and installed both antennas.
• Terminated coax and installed the ADS-B antenna.
• Installed the aileron pushrod boots.

• Made up and installed a wire to tie the shields of the nav/strobe light cables to ground; per AeroLED’s recommendation, these are tied to airframe ground at the terminal block under the LH seat pan.
• Installed a tiewrap base to secure the pilot stick grip connector, and secured it.

• Bolted the throttle quadrant to the panel; both the quadrant and the panel now have added stability.  This is at least temporarily bolted in place, so I can get an accurate measurement for ordering control cables.
• Swapped out Adel clamps on the center heater control cable, now that I have the correct size on hand.
• Installed an Adel clamp on the parking brake bracket and adjusted the cable end to swing to the correct angles for open/closed.
• Used a pair of Adel clamps to stand-off the parking brake cable from the LH fuel vent line.
• Went on an Adel-clamping marathon FWF, establishing wire runs along the engine mount tubes and getting the sensor wires going in the appropriate directions.

• Installed and safetied the oil temp sensor bushing w/crush gasket, and the oil temp sensor.  Wired the sensor.
• Installed the fuel and oil pressure sensors on the sensor manifold, and wired both sensors.
• Wired the manifold pressure sensor.

• Wired both Pmags and secured the wires with heatshrink and Adel clamps.  Tested power to the Pmags; the LED’s lit up, so I’ll assume it’s good for now.  The install docs warn against doing much of anything without the ignition leads connected, so I didn’t put them in “run” position.  Tried to install EICad (the Pmag programming software) on my laptop, but the setup program fails; it may not like Windows 7.
• Installed new lockwashers where a couple Pmag mounting nuts had been loosened for access or installation, and torqued.

• Temporarily hooked up the power harness for the Reiff engine heater, and plugged it in for a test.  It gets warm pretty fast!  I know there isn’t much oil in the sump now to heat, but it had the engine case warm, and the cylinders warming, without much delay.
• With the antennas, terminal strips, pushrod boots, etc. in, I shouldn’t need to get under the seat pans for awhile, but it will be nice to sit in the plane to program avionics and check things like rudder pedal location…temporarily installed the seat pans with a reduced number of screws.  I’m planning to use stainless button head hex screws and washers on these, so this was a good test of that plan–worked perfectly.  I should pick up a set of ball-end hex drivers for doing these in the future.  (Note to self: seat pans are reversed, the right one should be on top at the overlap…will reverse when next removed.)
• With the seat pans in, put the seats in (still wrapped in plastic; I’ll also need to pick up some towels or something to protect the seats on ingress/egress).  Climbed in and had a sit for a minute…looks like the rudder pedals will need to be at the most fwd position, which surprises me since I’m not terribly long of leg.  Might also try the seatback in the aft hinge, but I was pretty comfortable at the angle they were at in the middle hinge.

• Tossed the charger on to top off the battery, as I’ve been running power for periods over the past few sessions of electrical install.

And a couple of “big picture” status shots for those who wonder what the plane actually looks like these days…

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2011 at 11:52 pm and is filed under Electrical, Engine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.