Category Archives: Fuselage

The Big Cut

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Time: 2 Hours

My girl and I took this last weekend off went camping in northern Wisconsin to see the fall colors and relax. So I was excited to get back to build this morning refreshed after a great weekend. The big task at hand was to get the canopy cut since I received the back ordered parts from Vans. The parts that were in play for today was the two front rollers and the aft pin retention block. The rollers were easy to assemble and I put them in place pretty fast. 

The retention block was a little bit of work as you need to measure and drill for the two holes that will allow it to be screwed to the bulkhead. I used the pin to align the block as needed. 

After the block is in position with the frame all the way forward you make a couple measurements and drill aft from the bulkhead. Since the space in this area is pretty tight the plans call for you to counter bore the block on the aft side for two nuts to be pressed into. This will hold the nuts in place and you can screw from the front side. 


Now that I had these parts in place I could move on with the canopy. That means the big cut, separating the mind screen from the slider canopy. I used a cardboard cut out, slid between the roll bar and the frame, to help define the line that needs to be cut. 

So I sat and stared at the line for almost an hour double checking all the marks and measurements. Then I took a deep breath and started the cut. Like most things that seem extreamly scary ended up being not so. It took just a couple of minutes to make the two sided cut. It went perfect and was pretty easy. 

Wow now I have a slider! This was a big day! 

Skyview EMS

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Time: 4 Hours

I played around with the Skyview for a while looking at different configurations and how I would like to use them. One great feature of Skyview is the fact that it is so customizable! You can have different variations of screens and sizes, for example you could have 50% PFD and 50% engine instruments or 60% PFD and 40% interest instruments as well as several other options like 40-40-20. My initial plans for now are to run 50% PFD 50% engine for take off and landing, and then switch to 80% PFD 20% engine on my 10″ screen for all other phases of flight.  That would leave the 7″ screen to handle only the moving map. So now the fun part, Dynon is an open source coding and they allow for manipulation of their widgets if you’re willing to spend a little time playing with their text file.  For example there widgets can’t be changed from bars to arcs to numerical numbers pretty easy, but let’s say the arc always starts and ends in the same spot as they have designed it. With the ability to manipulate the files I can start and stop the arc wherever I want. Look at this next photo, specifically at the MAP gauge and the RPM gauge. Look at the starting point and ending point of the arcs as well as their thickness. 

Now fast forward a couple of hours, there is a learning curve in here, and see what I did to all the arcs. Some I rotated, some I made longer and some way shorter. I also changed the thickness of the lines as well. 

I also added a boost pump light so I know when it is on. Here you can see how each of the lights looks when activated. 

Each of these indications is just off of the sensor it could be manipulated in a lot of different ways! For a geek like me this is a lot of fun changing these files. For now this is how I will leave it until I look at it more and see if there’s any other information I would like to have during the critical phase of takeoff and landing. This configuration is saved as one file on a flash drive, I can change his shop to look totally different and save it as a different name and have access to both (or as many as I want) iterations of the screens anytime I want with a couple button pushes. Now this is what I call fun! ?

Cleaned up Wiring

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Time: 1 Hour

I spent an hour cleaning up the fuselage floor wiring once I finished running the passenger seat heat wires and switch. I’m all done running wires so I wanted to zip tie all my wire bundles to make them look nice. I will tell you it’s getting harde and harder to bend over the side of the fuselage now that it’s on its wheels. 

I also grabbed my 2″ black air vent hose and cut a chunk off to add to the pilot air vent and the elbow on the forward baggage door. 

Every little step is progress. 

Alternate Air Door Control

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Time: 2 Hours

An alternate air door is a small sliding door that gets mounted to the side of the fiberglass “snorkel” that funnels air to the fuel injection control. The idea is that if your air filter would get clogged with anything like ice, which would restrict needed air flow, you could open this door and allow unfiltered air to get to your engine. You don’t want to run like this for a long time as the air is unfiltered but it allows the engine to keep running while you get it on the ground. I won’t. E working on the actual door for sometime but I wanted to get the control in now while I had the top skin off. I ordered my push-pull cable from MacFarlane aviation just like my cabin heat, I’m so thankful to have attended flight training naperville il, now I get to experience all of this fun. I drilled the holes and ran the cable to check fit, once I was happy I decided where I would have it exit the firewall. I looked at a lot of builders photos to see what they had done. It’s hard to know exactly where to put it so that it would line up since I don’t have my engine so photos are my best friend. When I was happy with the placement I started to process of adding the cable pass trough I purchased from Aircraft Spruce. This “ball” style pass through gives you the ability to angle the cable as needed as well as give you a really secure and fire proof connection. First up was to mark and drill the six screw holes and center hole.

I then used my hole punch to open the center hole to 1 1/8″. 

With all the holes and edges deburred I put the backer plate in position with the top and bottom screws. 

I then ran the cable through all the holes securing it with the washer and nut in the gear tower. Once it is through the firewall I place one of the retention rings followed by the two halves of the center ball followed by the second retention ring and screwed them all together. 

I really like these pass thoughs and they really look clean. I will use three more when the time comes for the throttle, propeller and mixture. While I was in the area of the the cables I decided to do the EGT/CHT cable extensions. I had ordered extre cable from Dynon since the cables only made it out about 6″ on the firewall and need to get the left side of the engine. Since I had to splice these I decided to do it inside the fuselage to be a cleaner look and be out of the engine environment. 

Gear Leg Brake Lines

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Time: 1 Hour

I ordered some SS braided brake lines from Tom Swearengen at TSFlightLines for my gear legs versus making them out of aluminum tubing. Mainly because I wanted to see his quality of work and to make the connection super easy. He was great to work with and a pleasure to talk to on the phone. The lines were made and shipped the same day and I had them 3 days later. I had to change my fitting on the brake caliper from a 90° to a 45° to make them fit better. Once I had those swapped out I put them in place with a little bit of clear vinyl hose to preven chaffing where I taped them to the legs. The legs will eventually get a fiberglass fairing over them and hide the lines.