Sunday, February 22, 2015
Wings
Finished page 13-3 step 1, running #40 drill through all spar flange holes not already match-drilled.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Wings
Completed page 13-2 steps 5-8. Fabricated wing box J-stiffeners and match-drilled them to the spar flanges. Started page 13-3 step 1.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Wings - begin
Began wing construction. Completed page 3-2 steps 1-3.
First logbook entry since 6/3/2014.... wow!
WE'RE BAAAAAACK!!!!
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Holy cow... it's February 2015?!?!?!? Where did all the time go? Why haven't we been building? Here's the short list of things that have occurred since the last build log entry:
- We built a new shed in the backyard (June 2014)
- Our sump pump quit on a Sunday during a rainstorm and flooded our basement (June 2014)
- The very next day (Monday) another storm knocked over a tree and tore down the shed we just built and broke out a window in the basement (June 2014)
- Mold discovered in basement, turning a big project into an even bigger one (July 2014)
- Complete basement renovation begins (July 2014)
- OSH '14 - can't miss that! (July 2014)
- Basement renovation continues. Decided to dig up part of the concrete and move a post that was always in the way... because why not? (August 2014)
- Completed my IFR training and obtained my Instrument rating (yay!) (September 2014)
- Flew to Washington DC and Buffalo NY in an Archer (September 2014)
- Basement renovation continues. Drywall installation, new lighting installed (October 2014)
- We built a bigger, stronger, better shed in the backyard (October 2014)
- Basement renovation continues. Installed a new drop ceiling in the basement (November 2014)
- Ended up in the ER after putting a drill through my left thumb while installing ceiling track. I don't have any idea why I was in such a hurry to be done with all of this! (November 2014)
- Basement is finally done! (December 2014)
- Scratch-built a giant custom 8' x 10' L-shaped desk with hutch to put in my office (December 2014)
- Trip to Florida for a friend's wedding and to visit my parents over the holidays (January 2015)
- Quit my job to work for a different company based out of the Washington DC area. It's a telecommuting job so we're still here in Iowa though... I'm really happy with it so far! (January 2015)
- Trip to Washington DC to begin training for my new job (January 2015)
HOPEFULLY.... this year will have fewer interruptions, starting now :-)
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Thursday, July 10, 2014
Wing Kit arrival - inventory
Well, a huge storm hit our house and caused major damage on June 30. No airplane parts were damaged, but we lost a shed that we had literally JUST built, and had some pretty extensive water damage in our basement. Everything from both the shed and the basement had to be hurriedly moved up into the garage and into the way of everything in the workshop. What a mess! This is going to put a huge damper on plane-building progress for the time being.
In the midst of it all, the wing kit arrived on 7/8 (Sarah's birthday!), and even though we knew we couldn't really do any building we still had to at least inventory all the parts.
In the midst of it all, the wing kit arrived on 7/8 (Sarah's birthday!), and even though we knew we couldn't really do any building we still had to at least inventory all the parts.
Mesa performing initial quality inspection of the crates. All looked good so far!
All the packing materials removed and parts sorted back into place.
Sarah inspecting the inside of the wing tips for any signs of damage.
The parts list, painstakingly checking off each line item. All parts accounted for with 100% accuracy from Van's!
And now.... we wait.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Engine purchase
I consider myself an automotive "engine guy," and know my way around automotive engines quite well, having rebuilt well over a dozen of them over the years (mostly Chevy big & small blocks, as well as a couple others). Aircraft engines, however, are completely new to me-- and the idea is not lost on me that the bar is set quite a bit higher with these engines than what I may be used to, especially when it comes to safety tolerances and redundancy. Still, for me, part of the attraction of building my own plane is to also build my own engine, and that is what I have set out to do.
On the back burner, I've been searching online for the "perfect" Lycoming IO-540 engine. I wanted it to have relatively low total time, and be in running condition but perhaps be close to overhaul time. I found an IO-540-J4A5 for sale in FL that came off an Aztec and seemed to meet the criteria I was looking for. A notable feature of the -J4A5 variant is that it is actually a turbo-normalized engine-- the only turbo model that Lycoming made (to my knowledge) that did not bear the TIO- prefix.
Before you go find the "flying high and fast" aka "tubos are bad for RV's" link and email it to me, I have no intentions of actually installing this engine on the aircraft with the turbo. In fact, this particular engine is unique in several ways. The crankshaft, rods, and pistons are all the exact same part numbers as for the non-turbo engines such as the Van's recommended -D4A5. In fact, the compression ratio is exactly the same as well. My plan is to run this engine normally-aspirated, and apart from a few minor differences it should be pretty close to parts-equivalent to the -D4A5. These are the only meaningful differences I am aware of at this time:
Most of these differences I consider to be unimportant, and additionally I should have a number of unused parts (turbo, servo, magnetos, etc) that I will be able to sell later on and hopefully recoup some of the purchase price of the engine. We'll play a lot of this by ear as time goes on, but the important part for me is that we have the engine now, and have plenty of time to deal with part-swapping as time goes on.
Anyway, here's the info on the engine itself: it has complete logs with 3046.7 hours total time, 1503 hours since major overhaul, and only 123.5 hours since a new top end (cylinders) had been installed. It did have a prop strike, but the seller was willing to guarantee the case, crank, and cam to be serviceable, as well as have an A&P/IA perform a "prop strike inspection" (more on this later), two fresh overhauled magnetos, and a sign-off for return to service. Basically, this engine could be bolted right back onto the front of an Aztec and fly away. Of course, my plans for it were a bit more involved.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to tear it down and ship the parts off to the various overhaul shops around the country. I will be rebuilding it myself and returning everything to factory new tolerances, with a few experimental upgrades such as EFI and electronic ignition. Ideally, I'd love to home-brew that system but time, money, and comfort/safety may dictate otherwise. Plenty of time to figure this out... we'll see how this goes.
On the back burner, I've been searching online for the "perfect" Lycoming IO-540 engine. I wanted it to have relatively low total time, and be in running condition but perhaps be close to overhaul time. I found an IO-540-J4A5 for sale in FL that came off an Aztec and seemed to meet the criteria I was looking for. A notable feature of the -J4A5 variant is that it is actually a turbo-normalized engine-- the only turbo model that Lycoming made (to my knowledge) that did not bear the TIO- prefix.
Before you go find the "flying high and fast" aka "tubos are bad for RV's" link and email it to me, I have no intentions of actually installing this engine on the aircraft with the turbo. In fact, this particular engine is unique in several ways. The crankshaft, rods, and pistons are all the exact same part numbers as for the non-turbo engines such as the Van's recommended -D4A5. In fact, the compression ratio is exactly the same as well. My plan is to run this engine normally-aspirated, and apart from a few minor differences it should be pretty close to parts-equivalent to the -D4A5. These are the only meaningful differences I am aware of at this time:
- The -J4A5 uses Bendix 1200-series magnetos instead of the Slick used in the -D4A5.
- The -J4A5 uses a gear-driven fuel pump instead of the more common pushrod drive
- The -J4A5 has piston-cooling oil jets-- something necessary for a turbo'ed engine but I believe will have significant benefits for NA as well. It may cause higher oil temperatures, I hear, but that can be mitigated with an improved oil cooler, if necessary.
- The -J4A5 has different mounting ears than the desired #70456 to mount to an RV-10. I'll be on the lookout to pick up a set of these at some point.
- The fuel injection servo is tuned differently to work with the turbo.
Most of these differences I consider to be unimportant, and additionally I should have a number of unused parts (turbo, servo, magnetos, etc) that I will be able to sell later on and hopefully recoup some of the purchase price of the engine. We'll play a lot of this by ear as time goes on, but the important part for me is that we have the engine now, and have plenty of time to deal with part-swapping as time goes on.
Anyway, here's the info on the engine itself: it has complete logs with 3046.7 hours total time, 1503 hours since major overhaul, and only 123.5 hours since a new top end (cylinders) had been installed. It did have a prop strike, but the seller was willing to guarantee the case, crank, and cam to be serviceable, as well as have an A&P/IA perform a "prop strike inspection" (more on this later), two fresh overhauled magnetos, and a sign-off for return to service. Basically, this engine could be bolted right back onto the front of an Aztec and fly away. Of course, my plans for it were a bit more involved.
The giant, heavy crate arrives that contains my 'new' engine! It was very well packed.
All removed from the crate and placed on the stand.
Side view of the engine prior to disassembly.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to tear it down and ship the parts off to the various overhaul shops around the country. I will be rebuilding it myself and returning everything to factory new tolerances, with a few experimental upgrades such as EFI and electronic ignition. Ideally, I'd love to home-brew that system but time, money, and comfort/safety may dictate otherwise. Plenty of time to figure this out... we'll see how this goes.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Tailcone complete!
Attached seat belt anchors, inspected tailcone for completion. Installed remaining hardware (page 10-22 step 3) and replaced two rivets on right skin that weren't set properly.
Monday, June 2, 2014
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