Today is Memorial
Day. A day to give thanks for those who
have defended our freedoms. The flags are
flying in the neighborhood today. This morning,
after pulling weeds in the flower beds and watering the vegetable garden I
started to work on finishing up Section 42D.
I put the 9-pin D-sub connector on the 8-wires to the tailcone. The 2-twisted pair and the 4-wire
conductor. I also put the ¼" nylon
connectors on the static and pitot air lines.
These are now ready to be attached to the ADAHRS. I left the wire ties loose until the ADAHRS
is installed. I will most likely pull
the excess wires back and loop them near the last bulkhead as they enter the
tailcone. At that point I will tighten
the wire ties.
I marked the AP disconnect wires and then cut
them. I installed Molex pins on the
wires connected to the button and installed Molex receivers on the fuselage
wires. I inserted the Molex receivers into
the appropriate half of the connector. I
will insert the pins in the other half of the connector after I install it in
the center section of the instrument panel.
I rolled the fuselage back upright and worked on the
headset power wires. I pulled them
through the last rib snap bushing on each side and then put a piece of heat
shrink on the ends. I wire tied them to
the headset wires. I then pulled the Nav
power wires through the last snap bushing and attached them to the floating
wing connectors. That portion of Section
42D is finally finished. While the
fuselage was in the upright position I decided to install the upper engine
mount to the firewall. I drilled the
holes to 3/8" and installed the engine mount with the appropriate nuts,
bolts, washers and cotter pins.
I replaced the cover plates over the floating wing
connectors and rolled the fuselage back on its side. Next I cleaned up and put away all of the tools
and materials I have had set up in the garage over the last several days. I turned my attention to the instrument
panels. I used the microstop to countersink the center and left instrument panels. I also prepped the Instrument panel support
angle and deburred the edges. I then riveted the support angle to the left
panel and riveted nutplates to the left and center panels. Next I put the vinyl carbon fiber wrap on the
center and left panels.
Of course I had already installed the vinyl wrap on
the right panel a few weeks ago. I did
my best to line up the diagonal lines from panel to panel. I think I did a pretty good job. I have learned a lot about installing this
stuff. The heat gun really helps to get
the stuff into the inside corners. After
installing the vinyl wrap on the center and left instrument panels I decided to
attach the ELT remote switch and the intercom to the right panel. I read though the instructions in both Section
42D and Section 42 to get it right. I
hooked the panels together for the full effect.
I think they look pretty good.
I took the panels
down to the garage and clecoed them in place.
I like what I see.
