Lindy
4/3/2010
After the Chapter breakfast this morning, I walked over to my hangar to get reorganized from moving back in...after I had things back in place, I installed the pitot tube.
Then I drilled a 1/8" hole at the lowest point of the carb bowl for drainage.
Next I began checking all the fittings from the fuel tanks to the carb to make sure everything was secure. All were tight except the primer pump lines, which I knew still needed tightening. Since we did the oil system at work this week, everything is ready to go for an engine start, other than adding some gas. I need to decide on whether or not to add full fuel and calibrate the tanks, or put everything on the airplane to weigh it first before adding gas. If I don't weigh first, my feeling is that I should only put a few gallons in the tanks to make the first engine start, then drain it later to weigh. There is a way to compensate for the fuel to get the proper cg, but it sure would be easier with no fuel in it.
A short time after this, I got a call from Rob telling me that he was on his way to the airport to help me phase the Lightspeed spark. I've been referring to this as timing the LSI, but timing comes after the engine is running...this is simply making sure the spark a) works, and b) is being sent to the proper cylinders. No pics of this...but it's an easier process than I was reading in to it.
After we chit chatted for bit, he took off to his hangar to get some parts to paint on his 7. I took a break to grab some lunch, and then searched for, and found, some more blind rivets to use to put the right side spar cap cover on.
Then worked on getting the flaps set to extend to at least 40 degrees, according to the manual. I don't have enough travel available on the notch arm to get a full 45 degrees of max down, but I was able to get 40.5, which is in the range of full down flaps for the 7.
I sort of had the thought in my mind to start the engine today when the day started, but I wasn't sure what time Brit would be home from her dog show, and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything, so I called it a day at this point. As I type this, Brit is home, and we do have another hour and a half of daylight left, but getting everyone called to come out to the airport on short notice is asking a bit too much. Tomorrow is Easter, and depending on how the day goes after visiting with family, it's possible that tomorrow could be the day, but more than likely, it will be next weekend after I've had a couple of evening's to go over everything, and make the final decision on what to do with how much gas to put in it.
3.5 hours