The Small Time Consuming Stuff

Some work on the instrument panel.

I am still rearranging the panel. GRT announced at Oshkosh that it is coming out with larger 8.5 inch displays. I got a template from them and they (just) fit, so I upgraded. I called Dynon and their D10 can accommodate the 10 degree radio stack tilt in our panel. I still haven't decided whether to put the GRT engine monitor in the panel or on the firewall. The MFD's can display all of that information. I will probably noodle around with this for a while longer as I am putting off doing the panel until it gets too cold to do any more glass work in the garage.



These are covers for the fuel level senders and for that bit of fuel line that goes through the baggage compartment to the transverse bulkhead. I made styrofoam molds, then duct taped them in place on the inside of the fuselage to make the flanges. I will paint them with matching paint and silicone or velcro them in after the leather is applied to the sidewalls.



Time to install the oil filler door in the cowling. At Oshkosh, you will see many variations on this ranging from pristine to very rough. Some people use a 10-32 screw to hold it shut and a bunch of others to attach it. Andy Milling has gone for a no rivet structural adhesive approach. I took the middle ground and used flush 3/32 rivets to attach the hinge and the Hartwell latch.



Here is a view of the open oil door. Everything works smoothly and now its time to fill in over the flush rivets.



After doing the fill work, it looks very nice. The only thing left is to shim it with some aluminum stock and structural adhesive so it closes flush. I got that done tonight, but forgot to get a picture. I 'm happy with the finished product.





Time to get the spinner ready to mount on the prop.

A minor gripe here. Aerocomposites charges $1,000 for the spinner kit, but leaves it to you to cut the holes for the blades, make the backer plates and to nutplate everything. Since it is a one piece carbon fiber cone that has been spin balanced, I was very nervous about cutting into it. I don't know how easy it would be to patch if I made a mistake. I used a jigsaw with a fine blade for the circles and a diamond wheel on my Dremel for the straight cuts and filed for the final finish. It turned out perfectly.




And then there were the nutplates. 20 holes means 40 holes for nutplates and 40 holes to countersink and 40 rivets. Man, that took some time.