Summer/Autumn/Winter 2015/Spring 2016 - Painting the cowls and wheel and leg spats

For various reasons (laziness?)  the last 12 months have passed with little or no progress on the aircraft. I did get some painting done: the cowls were top-coated and the leg and wheel spats primed and top coated. The spinner was re-painted in a nice bright red.

This gets all the big painting jobs done, my least favourite activity, so with the arrival of some decent weather, the time has come to get the aircraft finished.

24th April 2015 - Priming the cowl

The last few days have been an endless round of spray, sand, fill, re-sand, respray but finally the cowls are ready for top-coating - not perfect but perfectly acceptable. Hopefully the top-coat will go on OK without too many embedded insects!

15th April 2015 - Finishing painting and re-installing the engine

The extra paint arrived this morning so I could complete the painting of the engine. Then I started to re-install the ancillaries doing as much as possible before re-mounting the engine to make access easy.
The engine hoist was then positioned to allow the engine to be bolted back onto the mount. Parallel mount engines are so much easier than dynafocal!
Once back on the airframe the baffles were re-installed and the rest of the plumbing started. I've still got the exhausts and carburettor to go back but things are looking good so far.
That is one more line in the final to-do list ticked off - only took 3 days of solid work!

14th April 2015 - Painting the engine

Massoud at MK Aero Support kindly loaned me his engine hoist so once the engine was disconnected from all the plumbing I could remove it and start the process of masking, cleaning, and spraying. It is amazing how many things there are to disconnect and remove:
Baffles
Magnetos
Vacuum pump
Carburettor
EGT sender
CHT sender
Carburettor temperature sender
Starter motor
Alternator
Primer lines
Exhaust system
Flywheel
Propeller extension
RPM sender
Oil pressure takeoff
Earth strap
Fuel overflow
Fuel inlet
Fuel pump outlet
Engine breather
Heater scat tube
Multiple cables fastened to the sump attach bolts
and finally - the engine mount bolts

With the engine removed I could touch up the accumulated scratches and chips on the engine mount paint. The engine itself is substantially finished but 2 rattle cans is not enough so further progress is on hold waiting for an extra can.

10th April 2015 - It is officially spring, let work on G-CIJY recommence

Finally some warm dry weather to get going again on the build.

First job was to refit the propeller and do an engine run to check the compressions. The Odyssey PC680 battery showed no signs of deterioration despite being left untouched  for 5 months. The same couldn't be said of the left magneto which needed the points drying before it felt like starting the engine. However, once it was cleaned and re-timed the engine started immediately and ran smoothly.
I borrowed a calibrated differential compression tester from my local aircraft engineering company and with the engine warm checked the compressions:

1. 73/80
2. 73/70
3. 75/80
4. 74/80

For an engine that hasn't been run in anger for over 8 years those are definitely OK with no evidence of any serious problem. I did de-glaze the cylinders before installing them so I expect these figures should improve further as the engine is run over the next 50 or so hours.

I also used the engine runs to tweak the vacuum regulator. This put the vacuum nicely into the green arc so the DI and AI should work well. It also proved that the vacuum pump is operating properly.

Next the transponder was re-installed after repair and this time its Mode S code could be configured as the aircraft is now registered with the CAA!

G-CIJY may not be the most interesting call sign but by choosing an in-sequence registration it saved a significant chunk of money compared to a "personalised" registration.

Much of the remaining work on the aircraft is now in the category "finishing" and the next job is to remove the engine, touch up the mount, paint the engine, and refit it ready for flight.

15th November 2014 - Rain stops play

It has been a slow week as it hasn't stopped raining for more than a few hours at a time. However, I have got a little bit done. The new oil temperature sender was received and fitted so the engine could be ground run again.
The ground runs showed that, now the left magneto was working nicely,  the right magneto was probably also in need of some TLC. My engineers looked at it and established the points were badly pitted and needed replacement. With this done and the magneto re-timed the engine ran much better but #4 cylinder was still showing little compression when hand turning the propeller even with the engine warm, so I pulled the cylinder and had it looked at.
The bore, piston and rings all looked good. The exhaust valve was checked, usually the cause of valve leakage, but it was like new so all that was left was the inlet port. Once the inlet valve was removed, it was evident that both the valve and valve seat were covered with carbon. It looks like the cylinder has been run previously with inadequate valve clearance on the inlet valve. The valve was gently lapped and both it and the seat cleaned up nicely with no evidence of wear or damage. The cylinder was refitted and the head bolts torqued using my engineers borrowed socket extension. This has a curved shape and very thin ring to fit round the cylinders and allow the torque wrench to be applied - 25-ft pounds for the 3/8" bolts on the O-235 engine. All the valve clearances were checked and adjusted where required - a tight 5 thou clearance with the engine cold.
Then the engine was re-run and on checking afterwards the compression on cylinder #4 was much improved. This week, weather permitting, I hope to do a further engine run and then do a proper compression check with the differential tester.
I received the transponder back from Funkewerk this week. It had a display fault and although it was unused it was out of warranty - how many homebuilders suffer from things going out of warranty before they are ever used? Such are the timescales of homebuilding!
However, the service from Funkewerk was excellent, I received the transponder back within two weeks of sending it to Germany with a new release certificate and nothing to pay.
If the weather doesn't improve then the next job will be to upholster the seats - something that I can do inside in the warm.

3rd November 2014 - Seat belts and centre console

I only managed to get a bit of work done today before heavy rain brought an end to proceedings. I modified the panel at the bottom of the right hand door and eased the holes where the seat-backs fit over the fuselage structure and managed to get the seat-backs to fit slightly closer to the sides of the fuselage. Together these changes have made just enough room for the centre console to slide over the flap lever and between the seats. I only needed about 3/16" and the alternative was completely remaking the console. Before the console was screwed into position the lap-belts were fed through it and bolted to the central mounting point. The shoulder belts were then attached to the cables coming through the bulkhead at the back of the luggage compartment. The only things now left to complete the interior of the aircraft are  to screw into place the rear windows, make a "boot" for the bottom of the control column, and upholster the seat cushions.