Final Stage 4

Final Stage (4)

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More wiring on the new panel. Set the ground connectors on the old panel face and wired the panel lights. Six inches of space looked like a lot of room when I was planning this. Sure does fill up in a hurry! Some days you work more that you take pictures. Warning!! Soldering guns get hot when you solder!

Ground connectors

Back of the new panel, ignition switch wired

Tuesday, May 18
3 hours

Tedious work! Ran the EGT wiring from the panel, through the fuselage, to the engine, only to find out the sending units were 18mm and we had to have 14mm to fit the plug access. Dale soldered the connections and made up the wiring for the sending units, but we'll have to wait until Aircraft Spruce gets the correct size to up before we can finish the job. Soldered and connected more of the panel wiring to the distribution busses, and tied in most of the negative connections. Set the sending units (EGT) in the exhaust manifold, admired our work for a few minutes and then tried to make it home before dark.


	Top row: Wiring, soldering, insulating Left and right: Running the CHT wires and EGT sending units installed

Friday, May 21
4 hrs
Again, more wiring. This is getting tiresome. Got the correct size sending units for the CHT, so I installed those and put the rest of the spark plugs in the cylinders.

Saturday, May 22
6 hours
After the EAA 38 picnic, Dale and I jumped back on the wiring. Wired the strobe lights and connected the strobe on the aft of the fuselage. Cut and spliced (to the correct length) the wires that were pulled from the front to the back previously. We also ran a heavier gauge (12) wire for the ground buss and changed the wiring (correctly) to make the master switch hot.

Monday, May 24
4 hrs

Installed the strobe lights on the wingtips, channeled the wiring for the EGTs and the rest of the wiring we left in the fuselage yesterday. I built the braces out of .060 steel, riveted those to the wingtips and riveted the strobe fixture to the braces. I painted the black and bare metal on the fixture white to match the tips. Looks a lot better than the black did. Mounted the ground wires to the back of each one of the brace rivets, and connected the hot wire that we had run through the wing. Turned on the switch and all three strobes work like they're supposed to. Wonderful! Put the other two spark plugs in and attached the plug wires.

Thursday, May 27
6 hrs

Mounted the muffler and connected to the exhaust headers. Installed the carburetors (Bings). Installed the throttle cables and choke cables to the carbs. The choke cables were too short and we had to peel a short length of cable housing so they would fit the choke assembly. Can't believe I can cover all that trouble in three sentences! Installing carburetors is not something I would want to make a career of.... Thanks to Bob Edminton for giving me a preview of carburetor installing a month or so ago.


	Left and up: Mounting the muffler Right and down: installing the carbs, attaching the throttle and choke cables.

Saturday, May 29
2 hrs

Spent all day mounting the fuel pump. Two hours actual work, three trips to Airpark and back home, and two trips to the hardware store and auto supply house for supplies. Highly recommend that anyone building an airplane rent or build an enclosed hangar, buy a cot and a hot plate and move in with the bird for the duration. The fuel pump needs to be higher than the top of the fuel tank, and the engine compartment is a slight bit crowded at the top, so I elected to fabricate a mount and hang it from the motor mount. Used 1/8" aluminum strap and spacers to give the back of the pump the needed room for the connections. Wired the master switch to the rectifier. Installed a primer pump on the fuel line. Filled the "E" box with recommended oil. Overfilled it a little, then let it drain for a few minutes. Not sure what that is supposed to do, but it's recommended, so it must do something good.

	Left: Installing fuel pump on bracket Right: Finished installation Bottom: L-R Oil regulator with throttle control line attached on front of engine Wiring in pod Fuel primer in fuel line - can be reached through air intake on side of fuselage

Monday, May 31
1 hr

Spent the morning finalizing (with Dale on the telephone) the wiring diagram connections. Linking the diagram to a PDF file (viewed with Adobe) and a jpeg file (viewed with almost any graphic reader). I'll make corrections as needed.
Wiring Diagram (jpeg file)
Wiring Diagram (PDF file)

Thursday, June 10
3 hrs

Mounted the front seat (I had only had it temporarily mounted) and with it the seat belts and rear rudder pedals. The pedals are mounted on the rear of the front seat. Ran the cables from the front rudder pedals, connected to the rear pedals and (temporarily) attached them to the rudder cables in the fuselage. Attached the aileron cables (again temporarily) and cleaned and lubricated the cable pulleys for the control surfaces. Glued the Velcro strips for the seat cushions to the front seat, both the seat and back sections. Removed the fuel pump and reinstalled it with vibration dampeners on both the mounting bolts. (Understand that vibration causes most problems in fuel pumps.) Replaced the short bolts from the aileron flutter dampeners on the left wing with the proper length bolts. (The required 3 threads weren't showing) Ran out of lock nuts for AN3 bolts, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to fix the right wing.

Saturday, July 10
2 hrs

I've been to the Falcon a few times during the last month, but nothing really has been done, other than keeping it clean. Birds love to park on the beams above the XP. I had to remove the fuel pump and remount it so it would be mounted flat, and I replaced the fuel lines with different tubing. At 105^o (heat index), it doesn't take long to wear out a, ummmm, "mature" individual. Hope to have a few more entries in this log in the next week or two.

Saturday, July 24
6 hrs

After our Chapter 38 EAA meeting, Dale and I worked the rest of the day on odds and ends. We pulled the carbs off and reworked the choke cables, adding the rubber fittings that hold the cables to the carbs. We left them off on the first installation, so the rework was necessary. Was advised the gas line was not the proper material, so we replaced all the fuel lines with the 'right stuff'. While we were in that area, we refitted the primer bulb with a new mount. I'll have to take it home to smooth it out with a grinder, but it'll be a lot easier to use when we get it mounted. Had a great tip on fitting the fuel lines. I wanted to use oversize line where the clamps were (see the first picture), but the things were too tight to slide over the 1/4" tubing. Bob Edminton suggested spraying the tubing with WD-40. Works like a charm. I'm amazed sometime at what I don't know. .Mounted the VSI and the new compass I received for Father's Day. At last the panel is complete. Of course the VSI had an offset and the hole I so carefully ground out in the panel didn't fit the offset. Spent another hour grinding (little by little) the offset so it would fit nicely. The compass fit well, however...... Evidently it's too close to the CHT and adds about 30 or 40 degrees to its reading. I'll have to move things around or figure out how to keep it isolated in the panel. Any suggestions?? Dale put the 'Falcon XP' lettering that I had made at a local sign company. They have the pattern if anybody needs one. Close to completing the wiring, all that's left is to troubleshoot, add the proper fuses and tie down a few more stray wires. It all seemed to work at day's end, but you never know about tomorrow.

	Replacing the fuel lines
The primer bulb with the by-pass line	Electrical connection to the rectifier	This is the only line left to replace. It connects to the gas tank (which isn't installed yet)
Making the wires neat		Completed panel. The GPS will fit on the left side in the blank space.
	Dale installing the "XP" decal

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