Feb 28, 2021     Completed Section 47 - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

I checked the tracking on the propeller. The instructions -- I can't recall whether it's Van's instructions or the Sensenich instructions -- said the blades should be weithin 1/8" or 3/8" (I forget which) of each other. I placed the props vertically and measured and they are exactly perfect! Yahtzee!

Then I returned the spinner to its rightful place and attached it with the stainless screws and plastic washers.

I returned all spark plugs to their proper location but did not torque them yet as I have some fogging oil spray on order and I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to squirt some in the cylinders for protection.

Other than that, I'm not sure what more I can do right now since two major components are still on backorder from Van's -- the replacement engine mount standoff and the replacement muffler pipe. They're not due to be in for at least another month, and I suspect longer. Communication from Van's to keep me updated has not been particularly good.

Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and order the avionics kit.

  Feb 22, 2021     Set propeller pitch - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

I haven't done any work at the hangar since December. First it's been too cold. Second, I'm waiting for the replacement parts for two Van's service bulletins -- the rejiggered muffler exhaust pipes and the top engine mount standoff. Both, apparently are back ordered and it will likely be at least April.

But the cold snap finally ended and the temps hit 40. The digital level with the magnetic base arrived and so it was time to set the prop pitch.

I set the level to zero on the right side canopy deck, then put the TOOL 0002 (I had to buy it) on the prop on the right side whose blades had been set to 0 . degrees. Then i attached the level to the tool (a little finagling here because the entire bottom is not magnetic, and pushed the top flange as indicated to seat it properly and measured. I was pretty close on both but not good enough. Loosened the bolts and set it to 71.2 for the Rotax iS.

Then i flipped the prop around and repeated the process. Got it set to 71.2 but it would consistently flip to 71.3 when I tightened the bolts but eventually got it to hold. Then tightened all the bolts to 250 inch pounds.

  Dec 04, 2020     Reinstalled prop - (2 hours)       Category: Propeller

I reinstalled the spinner plates, hubs and props and torqued the back hub to 240 inch pounds (221 after accounting for the crows foot). I didn't like the 1/16 gap on the back filler plate between it and the hub (too easy to scratch the prop when removing and installing the spinner, so I widened it out to 1/8". Now I have to decide whether to leave the clearance on the spinner itself to 1/8" or leave it at 1/16".

  Dec 01, 2020     Drilled for nutplates in spinner - (2.5 hours)       Category: Propeller

I suppose this little pile should be bigger, considering I spent 2.5 hours at the hangar working on them, but such is the nature of nutplate work. I drilled out all the attach holes to #19, then removed the spinner, forward bulkhead, aft bulkhead and gap seals as well as the forward and aft hub (I've got to find out if those elastic lock nuts can be reused).

I deburred everything, then drilled the #40 holes for the various nutplate locations, and then countersunk the bulkheads and gaps, and riveted 18 nutplates to the locations called out.

I brought them all home for Alumiprep and Alodine (or whatever the heck they're calling them now) and then will prime with a rattle can.

  Nov 20, 2020     Drilled more holes in spinner - (.5 hour)       Category: Propeller

I located and marked and then drilled holes on each side of the gap fillers that will hold it to the spinner (nutplates will be installed in the gap fillers. Then reinstalled the forward hub and spacers and reattached the spinner because I have to open up all the #30 holes to #19. I decided to wait and order new #19 drill bits and also some #19 clecos as I have none and if you follow the directions without having #19 clecos, you'll be in big trouble.

Unfortunately, because of COVID-19 restrictions, Cleveland is only shipping on Fridays and Tuesdays so I don't know whether 2:30 on a Friday gets out the door in time for the weekend.

I can wait because the anti-seize order came and I can work on attaching the muffler.

  Nov 19, 2020     Fabricated spinner cutout backup clips - (2 hours)       Category: Propeller

It took a little while to figure out what the schematic was telling me to do but eventually I figured it out. We'll see how it comes out once everything is assembled again.

  Nov 18, 2020     Drilled spinner to aft spinner bulkhead - (2 hours)       Category: Propeller

The Van's instructions are a little weird in this section in that it shows you in a figure on an early page to trim back to a scribe line, which, if you do (I did) will probably make the spinner sit flush with the rear spinner bulkhead. Then on a following page, it tells you to trace the aft edge of the spinner bulkhead on the inside of the spinner. Well, no because that fiberglass is already gone when you trim to the scribe line.

No matter. In truth, some of the spinner is about 1/64" from the aft edge of the bullhead, but I filed the bulkhead down to get rid of tooling marks . It's fine.

Anyway, I drilled the pilot holes, fit the spinner, and drilled to the backplate. Then I made up the spinner cutout cover plates.

Then I removed the props and the forward hub and spacers and drilled the cutout cover plates to the bulkhead spinner.

  Nov 14, 2020     Drilled spinner to forward spinner bulkhead - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

I reviewed the updated Section 5.18 in the instructions on drilling matched holes in opaque fiberglass. It was pretty detailed and I went with most of it except for tapping the pilot holes. And, of course, I haven't added any fiberglass and flox to the inside, at least not yet.

I used the plastic washers to mark the hole locations then drilled one hole which appeared to be dead on. Then I reinstalled the spinner, checked to be sure it was centered, and drilled the other three holes.

Really only one hole revealed a slight indentation that that the magnet wasn't completely centered but it was completely marginal and no factor.

The sanding I did to the scribe line has allowed the spinner to line up almost perfectly with the back spinner plate. There is a slight amount of aluminum showing but I think that's only because I haven't filed the edges to get rid of the tooling marks. I'll do that next.

  Nov 13, 2020     Aligned spinner - (.5 hour)       Category: Propeller

I didn't really have much to do. I had sanded down to the scribe line and then fit it flush to the rear spinner bulkhead so when I set up the ruler to pinpoint center, it was pretty close. A few minor adjustments. There's always the chance I'm off by a 1/32nd or so since I'm only eyeballing things but it looks pretty good. I clamped it in place pending a review of Section 5 on drilling opaque objects. The Section 5 in my manual does not have such a section so I'll check online.

  Nov 07, 2020     ProSealed the pitot bushing - (.1 hour)       Category: Propeller

Brought the spinner home (because that's where the ProSeal is stored for the winter) and mixed up a small batch, sanded the edges of the plastic/rubber bushing, shmooshed on some ProSeal, stuck it in the spinner and cleaned up the excess.

  Nov 07, 2020     Made spinner cuts and installed prop - (2 hours)       Category: Propeller

As the directions indicate, I used a step drill to make numerous holes on the radius of the spinner cutout, then used a hacksaw blade and Dremel to cut out the prop cutouts and sanded to finish. I installed the prop, forward hub and spinner plate. I set the pitch of the prop to #3 and tightened the bolts just enough so that the prop can turn without being loose.

I need to ProSeal the pitot tip guide on but because of winter, I had taken the ProSeal home. Today, it's 72 degrees.

  Nov 02, 2020     Installed pitot tube. Trying to figure out routing - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

I screwed the screw into the block to "tap" then backed it out and installed the pitot tube, lined up the marks, and screwed it down."

Then I cut the pitot line to length, followed by the flexible 1 inch tube that helps it connect to the pitot tube. Slid all that on and safety wired both in place, which seems a little "rinky dink" to me.

Routing the line to the firewall has me flummoxed as the plans appear to show two routes.

Scott McDaniel on Facebook says;

"The two figures show the exact same routing. The left one is a view looking directly down from above the engine, and the right one is looking at about a 45�ngle from the left side and behind. This makes the path look different but it's only because of the different views. The dashed portion of the line means hidden, which means it's passing underneath the object that is in the area of the dash. The left (top view) shows it passing beneath the induction plenum on the engine and aligning directly behind the pitot tube."

I'm just not seeing it.

  Nov 02, 2020     Started pitot tube installation - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

Marked 1 1/4" from the end of the threaded pitot tube and placed tape on there, then attached the pitot block (didn't see that there was a threaded portion of it but got it right anyway). Made a reference mark (which will be imposible to see), then drilled with a #37 after stacking washers, making sure the drill chuck was tight against the washers, and removing a washer. Brought the screw home to make a 118 degree point... not 110. Not 120. 118. Right. Like that's going to happen. I made a point. It's going to have to do.

Also bolted on the block to the propellor hub and safety wired them in place.

  Jul 31, 2020     Fitting the top cowling - (4 hours)       Category: Propeller

I was very surprised to find out that there are NO callouts for the hardware that attaches the back spinner plate and propeller hub half to the Rotax 912iS. The assembly comes up in Section 37iS where the aft half of the propeller hub is attached to the back plate and engine before the top cowling half is intially fitted.

The instructions say only "use the hardware provided" by does not indicate what hardware or in what order. The hardware bag contains six smaller bolts, six larger ones, some lock nuts, about a dozen or so Nordlock washers. You have to figure out how it all goes together, which is fine except that Van's provides such details on hundreds of other components and this seems like a pretty important one to relegate to the "you figure it out" state.

(Update: Needed to use the Sensenich propeller instructions that should have come with the prop. They're online)

It took some noodling and looking at pictures and a few emails to Van's support to finally figure out how they go. The Figure 1 illustration in Section 37 isn't helpful at all, nor is the propeller section in Section 47. There's no hardware callout for a two-blade prop, although, curiously, there is for the new three-blade prop.

But I figured out, since the holes in the engine flange are too big for the bolts, that the bushings are inserted from the aft side of the engine gearbox flange, then the aft spinner plate, and then the aft half of the propeller hub.

Six of the smaller bolts hold the whole sheabang in place and the drawing in Section 47 kind of suggests that one Nordlock washer (which is actually made up of two) goes under the bolt head and one goes under the net, although I have yet to get this confirmed.

There's no safety wiring of this arrangement of bolt-washer-hub-spinner plate - bushing-engine flange - washer - nut configuration.

After that was on, I started to add the tape to the forward edges of the to and bottom fuselage skins as a reference line. I drew a centerline on the top cowling and lined it up, and made the small angle that allows the top cowl to sit flush on the top of the spinner plate. Nice.

Then I cut off a small part of the aft portion of the top cowl so it slipped between the skin and the spinner plate. Came out fine except I needed to add the top skin back on (I took it off to work on the ECU), so I put that back on. By then I'd already sanded the aft portion of the top cowl and it fit nice except in one small area where I took too much off.

But I still have to make spacers for the spinner plate flange that should put it back 3/8" of an inch and close everything up nicely.