Lindy
7/12/2009
Today was sort of a bonus day a the hangar...there was a group of us there were planning on flying to Lee Bottom today for ice cream, but plans sorta fizzled out late yesterday, so we'll try to go next month. Anyway, since we didn't go, Jack and I met for breakfast at the airport restaurant, then I went straight to the hangar to get started. I decided to go ahead and start working the fiberglass at the front of the cowl. I was gonna wait until the hinges were riveted in, but they aren't going anywhere with them cleco'd and pinned. First thing to do is make a bracket for the two cowl halves to fasten at the front. I used the same method that Mike Bullock used on his SJ cowl to set up a flat area to rivet/bond some AL to it.
Got it all clamped in position and laid down some flox slurry.
I used packing tape on the top half of the cowl, as well as the metal strips you see in this picture to keep the epoxy from sticking.
A closer shot of the AL strip and mix.
That will be cured by tomorrow...since I had quite a bit of time left before needing to head home to do some house work, I decided to finish up the primer lines. Right as I was getting ready to solder the compression fittings to the copper line, my friend Bruce Jackson pulled up. What timing, because HE is the man to help me with this job! All I've ever done is sweat fittings at home on water pipes, so I was happy to have his guidance on this part...thanks man!
There is one more line on the other side as well for a three cylinder primer system.
Next I wanted to get the rest of the lines secured to the engine. I used a couple of high temp Adel clamps to secure the line to the back of the sump (sorry, no pic today of that), and then used zip ties and clear tubing to attach the lines to the intake tubes. I don't know if I can leave them like this though, because I don't know if this is an acceptable method. I'll be posting this on the forums for a quick answer. If it's okay, great! If not, it's a quick snip of the dikes, and I'll figure something else out.
I think the exhaust is gonna prove to be too close to the zip ties for this to work, but we'll see what I'm told...
Probably not much work gonna happen over the next couple of days. Brit is back tonight, and the baseball All Star home run derby and game is Monday/Tuesday...in St. Louis!! I'm not going, but I'm excited that it's being played so close, and at my team's field!!
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