The Barn Find Build

[Eric Page]

Well, today started out worse than yesterday. I locked myself out of my house, then spent an hour at my neighbor's house while I waited for my 85 y/o father to drive down here in a blizzard with the key. As soon as I got inside again I remembered that I pay Subaru for their Starlink service, so I could have used my neighbor's computer to unlock my car remotely, then put up my garage door.

Oh, and to add injury to insult, I slipped on ice and fell on my *** as soon as I walked out my neighbor's front door, so now I'm sore. I should probably just go back to bed.

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Anyway, how does my 6th attempt at safety wiring look?

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[PapuaPilot]

Anyway, how does my 6th attempt at safety wiring look?

Nice job on the safety wiring Eric. Take the rest of the day off. BTW my plane ain't for sale.

[Eric Page]

Thanks, Phil. I couldn't quite take the day off, but I did go after some low hanging fruit.

I installed four more nut plates, then put in the forward floor board, rudder pedals and brake master cylinder brackets.

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I also got the large pulleys installed in the rudder torque tube arms, but didn't get a photo. That was another opportunity to say complimentary things about the first builder, as the stainless cable retaining straps were just beautifully made [/irony]. Fortunately, I was able to flatten them out and re-bend them to a usable shape.

Speaking of which, I have a question. Is there a reason Kitfox used clevis bolts for those pulleys instead of just using drilled AN4 bolts? There's plenty of clearance for hex heads between the arms, so I don't understand the choice. It would be dead easy to get the required 30-40 in-lb torque if the bolt had a hex head, but it's a Royal B**** to do while holding the bolt with a flat blade screwdriver. It's probably not critical since the return springs serve as cotter pins, but it ain't easy.

[Eric Page]

No progress at all today. Power went out at 4:25am in the midst of a once-a-decade snowstorm and didn't come back on until 6:25pm. My good friend and neighbor let me plug a 100' extension cord into his generator so I could keep my fridge and freezer running, but I couldn't keep the garage warm and had no lights. The garage should be warm again by morning, so I'll get back at it!

[109JB]

No progress at all today. Power went out at 4:25am in the midst of a once-a-decade snowstorm and didn't come back on until 6:25pm. My good friend and neighbor let me plug a 100' extension cord into his generator so I could keep my fridge and freezer running, but I couldn't keep the garage warm and had no lights. The garage should be warm again by morning, so I'll get back at it!

Best thing I ever did was install an automatic standby generator. The one I have runs everything in the house and barn with the exception of maybe my huge air compressor and welder. Main thing for me is the sump pumps. Without power the basement would flood in about 4 hours.

[Eric Page]

Good progress made today. I started with the four small pulleys behind the seats. I don't understand the choice of pulleys needing AN5 bolts, but whatever...

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Next I wanted to start routing the rudder cables, but quickly realized that I needed to finish some other things. First of those was installing the adjustment handle detent brackets. To do that I had to get the mounting holes for the center console drilled. I didn't get any pictures of that, but I will say that having a 12" long 3/16" drill bit was a life saver. I don't know how I would have done it without that.

With that done, I carefully positioned and clamped the detent brackets, then removed the console, drilled to #40 and clecoed the brackets in place.

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With the brackets clecoed, I reinstalled the console and tested function of the handles. They were dropping into all of the detents except the most forward on both sides, so I did a little filing on those slots until the lock pins dropped in smoothly and didn't bind against thumb button pressure. With the fit dialed in, I removed the console again, up-drilled to #30, deburred, did a little Alodine touch-up on the filed and drilled areas, countersunk the console top, bonded and pulled the rivets.

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I was disappointed to see that the forward mounting tabs for the center console weren't aligned, so one screw is a bit higher than the other and the console has a slight twist in it (probably why the forward detent was binding). I wish I had noticed that earlier, so I could have put a spacer behind the right side for drilling and installed it with a washer to take up the extra space. My consolation is that it'll be hidden by the instrument panel.

I'm not thrilled with the button head screws called out in the manual, so I'm planning to replace at least the aft two with countersunk flat heads instead.

Next I read through the cable installation procedure and began pulling together all of the parts I was going to need. I found that the cable links had been coated with the same thick, flaky primer that was used elsewhere. It's hard to see in this photo, but it was loose in places and rust had started underneath the primer in several places.

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To remedy this, I went after them with a Scotch-Brite stripping disc and some sanding, which left me with shiny steel parts.

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I cleaned them with acetone, set up a couple pieces of scrap angle as a makeshift stand, then shot the links with etching primer.

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While the primer flashed off, I did what has to be the most infuriating job so far: installing the rudder pedal return springs. These things fought me all the way. I think it took 45 min to install four springs, and I exhausted my vocabulary of epithets. What a pain!

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Finally, I gave the cable links a shot of black paint on one side. I'm keeping the garage warm overnight so it'll cure properly, then I'll shoot the other side first thing tomorrow.

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I'm finding it somewhat frustrating that even though I went through the inventory sheets and re-ordered all of the hardware, I'm coming up short on some things. I must have missed an entire page, as I don't have any of the bolts to install the brake cylinders, or to attach the cable bushings to the rudder pedal adjustment levers. So, another week wait for a Spruce delivery before I can move forward on the controls. Good thing there's plenty of other stuff to do...

[Eric Page]

Today I continued working on the wingtip attachment strips. I dug out every small clamp I own, trimmed the strips to final length and clamped them in place. I didn't want to risk punching through with a drill and damaging the opposite cap strip, so I just made a divot in the aluminum at each existing hole location. Each strip is numbered for its position and labeled "A" for aft and "F" for forward.

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Next I removed the strips and finished drilling each hole through at the drill press.

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With the holes drilled and deburred, I could cleco them in place on the #10 rib. First the right wing, then the left. I felt a bit like an RV builder with all those clecoes in use at once.

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Can anyone think of a reason not to bond and rivet the wingtip mounting strips at this point in the build?

Sticking with the wings, I dug out the Dynon box and started running the pitot and AOA tubing. Not much to be done at this point except get the tubing from the pitot tube location to the outboard end of the wing. I used a wrap of silicone tape at each zip-tie location to protect the structure and the tubing. I'll run it down the aft spar once the wing is off the rotisserie (probably after covering).

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Finally, I installed the mounting bracket for the parking brake valve. Please pay no attention to the extra hole in my center console (I neglected to consider that the valve body has to clear the rivets -- a fact that the instructions don't mention -- and one of them was too close by about 1/16"!). I later filled the hole with Super-Fil and the console will be fabric covered, so I may have been harder on myself that was warranted.

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[Jcard]

If my interpretation of the instructions is correct, the wingtip attach strips and #10 rib capstrips get drilled/countetsunk but not installed until after fabric. Finish tapes then cover the rivets on the wing.
The fabric must give the rivet more to bite on.
If I misunderstood the directions it would be great to install the strip and be done.

[109JB]

It is not to give the rivets more bite, it is to make fabric easier. The fabric wraps the capstrip and the attach strip sandwiches the fabric in-between. Doing it this way you just have to wrap fabric around the end of the cap strip. If you attach the strip first, then the fabric has to go over the cap strip, joggle down to the aluminum attach strip, then around the end of the attach strip. Much easier to just wrap the cap strip. Getting fabric to lay in an inside corner can be a pain.

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[Eric Page]

Sorry, guys. Y'all must think I've got a two-digit IQ. We just covered all of this in my other thread a few days ago, and yet I asked the same question here, again. I'll pull the clecoes and wait till after covering. Thanks.