May 06, 2024     Wiring - (6 hours)       Category: Engine

Brenden soldered extensions on a couple of the grounds that are part of the wiring bundles that are on the engine provided by Rotax. He also installed a bracket to mount all the wire bundles to and made a holder for the X3 connectors.

  May 03, 2024     Changed Grounds around - (3 hours) Category: Engine

Replaced braided starter ground with an insulated one. Brenden ended up putting 2 ground wires under the engine mount/nose gear mounting bolt.

  May 02, 2024     Wire Testing Fixture - (2 hours) Category: Engine

Taylor made a wiring testing fixture for the male and female connectors for HIC A & B

  May 02, 2024     Created another Engine Grounding point - (3 hours) Category: Engine

We made a more central grounding point as the lower right point was too far for the battery and starter grounds. We will us the lower right for other grounds.

  May 01, 2024     Wiring - (5 hours)       Category: Engine

Brenden finished wiring the HIC A & B connectors. This is after he struggled for a long time to remove a miss-pinned wire.

  Apr 30, 2024     Discussion on how to mount Fuel Pressure Sensor - (2 hours) Category: Engine

LONG discussion on how to mount the fuel pressure sensor. I had ordered an adapter to mount the sensor on the fuel rail just before the pressure regulator from Lockwood. The issue is that both of the sides of the adapter are metric threads. The sensor is a standard threading. After much discussion with Dean and ourselves, the options are to order a metric threaded pressure sensor which would be a one-off for Dynon to support with custom pressure curves. Have a new adapter machined ($$$), we could use a manifold I also bought from Lockwood that the pressure sensor could be screwed in but should be mounted after the small filter. and it needs to have the return fuel routed through it so any air trapped in the line will find its way back to the header tank. Chris has proceeded with the new adapter. and also wants to have me install the manifold. I am torn and it would require new fuel hoses to be made.

  Apr 24, 2024     Additional Ground For Engine - (4 hours) Category: Engine

We didn't like attaching all the wires that needed to be grounded underneath the nut of the motor mount. We had a hole in the firewall on the lower right which we then created a grounding point with a bolt and nut and fitting that covered this hole.

  Apr 17, 2024     Attached Adelle Clamps on Heater Hoses - (1.5 hours) Category: Engine

Adelle clamps were attached to the heater hoses that I installed yesterday. They were needed to prevent the hoses from rubbing on the engine mounts.

  Apr 16, 2024     Engine Wiring - (6 hours)       Category: Engine

We are making headway but it is slow going as we are double checking the wires and Brenden makes the connectors.

  Apr 16, 2024     Cabin Heater Hoses - (1.95 hours)       Category: Engine

:( After going back and forth with Rans trying to figure out what they meant, they sent me a video. There are NO Ts at the firewall. The picture in the parts manual is a bit misleading. The text manual is not clear but after I finally understood what Rans wanted it is clear. All that time was wasted but now it is correct.

  Apr 15, 2024     Engine Electrical. - (7 hours)       Category: Engine

Brenden continued working on the wiring of the 915. We had a tech support call to Lockwood Aviation to clarify where to connect the grounds. He also made the starter and solenoid power cables. He worked on assembling the HIC A and HIC B connectors.

  Apr 15, 2024     Heater Hose connections - (2 hours)       Category: Engine

I verified that Rans wanted me to mount a 1" hose on the 5/8ths" leg at the source and destination coolant hose T's and then mount the hose on the 1" legs on the firewall connections. I was uncomfortable with this as I am concerned that over time the 1" hose on those 5/8th" legs would eventually leak. I instead purchased metal automotive metal cooling system 5/8" T's and installed 5/8" cooling system hoses.

  Apr 12, 2024     Engine Electrical - (8 hours)       Category: Engine

Brenden worked on the electrical connections with the engine. This included a lot of research in the Rotax installation manual and pondering over the Advanced supplied schematics. I helped him retrace wires that the labels had fallen off.

  Apr 11, 2024     Wiring On the Engine - (7 hours)       Category: Engine

Brenden spent most of the day continuing the wiring of the engine. He was able to finish the X3 connector and the grounding straps. He spent a lot of time reviewing the Rotax installation manual and the schematics produced by Advanced.

  Apr 10, 2024     Wiring - (3 hours) Category: Engine

We all spent time looking at where to install the 2 required diodes on the starter solenoids. After reading the Rotax manual I finally emailed Ran's tech support to see if they had any guidance and specs. Brenden started work on making the mate to the X3 connector.

  Apr 09, 2024     Connection of Cooling System to optional heater - (2 hours)       Category: Engine

I measured and cut the 5/8ths diameter hoses to connect the liquid cooling system to the optional internal heater. This requires a supply hose, a bypass hose, and a return hose. Unfortunately, after cutting the hoses, I discovered the "T's" installed on the firewall for the heater were too large for the 5/8ths hose I had cut. I called Ran's Tech support and talked to Randy S. I sent him pictures so he could figure out what was going on. I hope to hear back tomorrow.

  Apr 09, 2024     Heat shields and Chafing protection - (5 hours)       Category: Engine

We clamped on heat shields to the exhaust pipes to protect nearby hoses. RTV'd hoses together that might chafe. Also installed clamped on various wires and hoses to the engine mounting frame to prevent chafing and contact with exhaust pipes.

  Apr 08, 2024     Oil Thermostat - (5 hours)       Category: Engine

We received the custom oil hoses from Aircraft Specialty during the break from working on the plane. Today Brenden installed them. It took a while to figure out which hose went where and the orientation.

  Feb 23, 2024     Engine Oil Thermostat - (3 hours)       Category: Engine

We tried many spots to mount the oil thermostat and finally decided to mount it on the sensor bracket on the side of the engine. We then measured and figured out connections for new oil lines. I ordered the lines and got sticker shock.

  Feb 20, 2024     Modified cowl for air intake - (5 hours)       Category: Engine

Cut the hole and attached the air scoop on the right side of the cowl. This allows additional airflow to the air filter into the turbo.

  Nov 17, 2023     Fitting Cowl - (7.5 hours)       Category: Engine

Made good progress with fitting the bottom cowl. Enlarged radiator and exhaust holes. Match drilled to the mounting straps on the boot cowl and then trimmed to fit.

  Nov 16, 2023     Cowl - Exhaust Hole - (0.25 hour)       Category: Engine

Using a hole saw the preliminary exhaust pipe hole was cut in the bottom cowl.

  Nov 16, 2023     Completed the Mountings of Intercooler and the Radiatiors - (7 hours)       Category: Engine

Refined the positioning of the intercooler and the radiators. Also mounted the prop gear oil line.

  Nov 16, 2023     Assembled the Oil and Coolant Radiators - (6.95 hours)       Category: Engine

Assembled the Oil and Coolant Radiators and the mounting. This is needed to complete the cowling fitting.

  Nov 16, 2023     Intercooler Scoop and Mount - (7 hours)       Category: Engine

Assembled the intercooler scoop and created the mount. This is needed to complete the cowl fitting.

  Nov 16, 2023     Engine Cowl - (7 hours)       Category: Engine

Cut holes and trimmed the engine cowl.

  Oct 06, 2023     Mounting Engine ELectrical Components - (8 hours)       Category: Engine

Mounted the fuse box and studied the rotax 915 installation manual to learn what connects to what and why.

  Sep 29, 2023     Cowl - (5 hours)       Category: Engine

Cut out the sections that needed to be removed. Match drilled the top and bottom halves.

  Sep 28, 2023     Mounted Engine - (6 hours)       Category: Engine

We replaced the fabricated spacers for the bottom of the engine mount and firewall with the new ones provided by Rans. There are now 2 spacers on the two bottom firewall to the engine mounts and 1 spacer each between the engine mount and the nose gear mount on the top. The nose gear mount and the engine mount cross members no longer touch. Swapped out the mounting bolts for longer ones that I had purchased from Aircraft Spruce. After that we mounted the engine to the engine mount.

  Sep 27, 2023     Cowl - (2 hours)       Category: Engine

Mated up the top and bottom cowls and identified what needed to be cut.