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Chuck and his son Tyler came over today to give me a hand mounting the engine mount. The lower left hole didn't align too well so we had to be a little creative so we wouldn't end up with a figure eight hole. Drilled the top two first then drilled the lower middle ones while securing the lower outer ones with a drill bit of the same size as the pilot holes. This allowed us to drill the lower outer ones with the mount firmly in position and end up with good holes. We temporarily put a bolt and nut on as we drilled each hole.

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Update: Here are some pictures now that I have my camera back...


Yeeeehaa! Finally made it all the way from Kamloops, British Columbia. It was actually in town on Monday but I had it delivered to a coworker's place. He was able to bring it to my place tonight. With him and his son (Thanks Roger and TJ!!) we were able to slide it off the trailer.

Did some minor work hooking up the map lights to the dimmer and redoing some of the wiring for the instrument flood light. I originally took it to a switch and the dimmer but now I'm using the dimmer only. Have to figure out a good use for two extra switches on the panel.

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Here's where I'm putting the electronic ignition module. Have to install nutplates later.

Its going here because the DB connector is already on the crank sensor and I do not have much room on the cold side of the firewall. Too many goodies such as AHRS and ELT and terminal blocks.

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The engine that is... The stars aligned and my buddy Chuck and Paul were available to help me. We drove over to PDK to get Paul's engine hoist and then went to town. In the end, we were only able to get the top two bolts in there and the nuts finger tight. This was because I didn't have a ground down 5/8 wrench to tighten the bolts. Paul did - but it was getting late and cold - so we called it a day. Paul said he can help tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can wrap this up by Super Bowl time (not that I really care all that much for the participants in the game tomorrow).

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Chuck came over and we were able to get the two remaining bolts in the engine. Then we used the hoist to put the main gear on. Here you can see Chuck cleaning out the landing gear weldment holes - they had a little overspray.

Still have to torque the engine bolts and put the cotter pins in.

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Installed Vetterman exhaust with Chuck. People say that some of the nuts are hard to reach but we found them all very manageable, especially when using an extension with a universal joint. Also installed the cabin heat muffler. No tricks here.

Returned the engine hoist to Paul's hangar. Without Paul's help and tools, I'd still have parts in the empennage boxes.

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Even though I have the VA-182 bracket from Vans for the fuel servo, it still won't work in my installation. They have the mixture cable pointing too far down at a steep angle.

I cut off the mixture tab of the bracket and started fabricating my own setup. Will have pics shortly.

Also put the swiveling eyeballs in the firewall for the cables to pass through. I made some reinforcements for them out of leftover .050".

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Made a new bracket for the mixture cable. Installed it on the current bracket after lopping off the old tab.

Then I spent forever trying to adjust the mixture cable to get full throw from rich to lean. Countless minutes of frustration figuring out the best geometry. Still no luck. I have too much throw!!

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Guess there is no better time than the present or delaying the inevitable. Started on the baffling. They might lull you into a sense of this will be easy by making the sides fit pretty well. Only minor trimming was required. Riveted on the screw supports.

Don't go into a huge effort to make the screw supports. Just get them roughly the correct shape, rivet them on and then trim to match the side baffles.

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This is what I'll be doing for a while. I'm really appreciative of people's build sites now. Been using Walter's, Jeff's and Rene's since their engine is similar to mine. Thanks guys!!

However on my ECI case, I had to really trim away for the upper right engine bolt. Did this to put the least amount of stress on that rear baffle. Then I trimmed the left side.

The final pic is the rear section coming together. Like everyone says, the fits leave a lot to be desired. You just have to do what works best for your particular installation.

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Tonight I started tackling the inlet ramp floors. Now I can see where all the mental stress comes from. Had to fabricate a new bracket for the lower left support since the one that comes with the baffle kit was too puny. Made the 3/4 angle piece that goes across the left front floor.

Trimmed the left and right floors roughly to size. Will have to take them to Paul's bending brake to get more bends in them so they line up with the lower cowl. At least I think this is what needs to be done!

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Before I worked on the inlet floors some more, I had to clean up a few tapped holes in the engine case. Be careful when inserting the steel screws into the aluminum case. I think some of the tapped holes in my case were not cleaned out that well from the factory, though.

On to the inlet floor. More trimming, fitting and banging into position yielded this. I riveted on the angles just so I felt like I had some progress. Remade the L-shaped support for the engine case. The instructions don't really say how high the floors should be.

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Went to Paul's hangar to put more bend in the right inlet floor. Because the cylinder is so much closer to the cowl, a shaper bend is required. Did the other bend 'up' at home.

Just general fitting of the right inlet floor tonight. Maybe I'll drill it to the side tomorrow.

Made a bigger piece on the right side like Walter did here. It's beefier than the original. Sounds like a fast food ad - "beefier than the original".

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Cool beans. Check it out, it's gorgeous. Ordered it on October 17 last year and it arrived April 8 this year. Craig tells me that an RV-10 with his prop is truing out at 190 knots with a 2000 fpm climb at 120 knots (300hp IO-540, though). He also said that the same guy could buy 5 Catto props for the price of one constant speed.

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Before you mount the oil cooler, you have to trim the rear baffles to the correct height. You want to mount the oil cooler as high as possible for maximum efficiency but you can't mount it higher than the baffles.

This is the most frustrating, iterative process there is. This entry covers many days and hours but it's almost done. In the last pic you can see a method I used to get the contour of the cowl (note the upper cowl was on when I actually did this but it was very hard to take a picture at the time).

There's supposed to be 3/8 between the cowl and baffles. I used a 3/8 wood block glued on the end of a stick to see if the baffles were OK in certain areas.

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Got the exhaust system firmed up with the hangers they give you. You have to make some trim cuts as you can see in the pic below. I don't have a pic of the completed exhaust hanger system but it's done.

You cut the tubes short and place some fuel tubing and clamps over each tube. This makes the system rigid but allows for some movement and vibration damping.

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There's no good way to mount the Lightspeed ignition coils with the mount they give you. So I decided to make my own much like Dan shows on his websites. Went through a couple of iterations and came up with a good solution. Mine was a little tricky in that there's a fuel line right where I want the coils. So I had to make a cutout in my new mounting bracket for it.

In the end, I may have to redo it one more time. Why? Because there's not much clearance (about 3/8") between the cowl and the ignition coils. Might have to lower it.

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Back to baffles. Trimmed the front baffles while listening to the Braves game. Was easier than I thought. And you can make it really easy by taking off the prop extension and starter ring. That way you can check the curvature pretty easily.

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This has been nagging be for about 2 months... but I finally got it figured out! Once I secured the cables at the throttle quadrant, I was able to focus on the engine side. The mixture control was able to reach full travel with a 2" extension I purchased from Aircraft Spruce. The throttle was able to reach full travel after drilling another hole in the control arm as shown.

Now both controls work great and have full travel.

Very cool - I was able to get to the hangar to get some work done. Our future RV driver fell asleep early enough for me to sneak out. Part of me wanted to join the Fair Tax rally at the Gwinnett arena (I practically drove right past it on the way to the hangar) but the other part of me wants to get this plane done. Turned out I made the right decision because they had such a great turnout at the rally that they had to turn people away.

Anyway... I installed the cabin heat flange on the rear baffle as shown. Then I cut two pieces of SCAT tubing to correct length. I put the flange in this location because I've seen others do it. Seems like a better location for the hose to go to the heat muffler.

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After getting the mount plate aligned, the next step is to drill and rivet the top plate. You're supposed to put the top plate 1/16" lower so it compresses the air filter. I did this by placing a washer between the mount and top plate. When the washer is removed, it will compress the filter the right amount.

One neat thing about the IO engine... there is no carb heat door to build into the airbox. And the fuel servo is short enough so you don't have to cut and bend the top plate up.

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Got out to the hangar this morning to do some trimming of the baffles. After a few minutes of that, I started riveting them together. Had to leave early because the in-laws were coming into town.

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Vans now ships a kit to add an alternate air door to the filtered air box. I installed the door tonight. Be careful of its orientation! One of the pictures messed me up and I had to drill out the rivets and re-orient it so that the cable pulls in the right direction.

Then you have to find a place in the cockpit to put the handle. I mulled over all the options. Not wanting to clutter up my switch panel, I cleverly thought of attaching it to the throttle quadrant. It now sits tucked just under the switch panel almost out of sight - but easily reachable. And it's grouped right there with the rest of the engine controls! I later painted the AL angle black and riveted it on.

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The stock hoses that come in the FWF kit were too short for me. Ordered new Aeroquip hoses and fittings. I appreciate Kahuna helping me make the new ones. Note, the firesleeve is not on in these pictures. It will most definitely be added!!

Also we removed the oil filter to rotate the oil line fitting to a better position. Previously I couldn't get the hose on.

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Finished up a few remaining rivets on the baffles. Then I primed and painted them. Drilled lots of 1/8" holes for the pop rivets that hold the baffle material on.

I emailed Tim at B&C to ask him if I only needed one wire to connect to the alternator. He said yes... but there's a better way. Use their connector which positively snaps into place. Also place a jumper between the terminals since they are both connected internally. This adds another layer of redundancy.

I didn't get a connector with my alternator since the guys at Aerosport put the alternator on. Check to see if you have yours.

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Finally finished putting on the baffle seal material after a few days at it. Not especially tricky. But I wanted to be careful where material overlaps so I have a tight seal. The last piece I have to add is on the lower cowl to inlet floor.

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Had been debating about moving the mixture control. It was very close to the engine mount the way I had it previously. A local A&P advised I should probably get more clearance and I agreed. So I took a little time to experiment with a better location.

It's a catch 22 - you don't want it too close to the engine mount but that moves it closer to the fuel servo body. Here's a pic showing where it ended up. Still have to rivet the bracket back together.

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Huge day today. And I owe a big thanks to Mike Stewart (Super 8), Paul Schattauer (RV-8), and Bob Goodman (RV-4) for all their ground support. The engine was successfully run! View the video.

We had a few gremlins to sort out but it in the end it was successful. Could NOT have done it without the great RV guys. We fixed the timing on the electronic ignition and tightened up a few fuel fitting in the cockpit. I found out that 100LL evaporates pretty quickly in the hot sun. The guys taught me a lot about FWF stuff.

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Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures recently. Most all my work on the plane has been unexciting and not picture worthy. Mostly putting nuts on for the final time, securing items, and what not. No real fabrication.

Today was focused on securing the wires and cables in the engine area. Used some AMP spiwrap and lots of adel clamps. Did I mention how much I hate working with adel clamps. They do an awesome job but are a pain to squeeze and get the bolt in.

Here are some shots. Still have a clamp to do here or there but you get the idea.

Also, I'm running out of space on the server for pictures. So I may have to shrink them or just live with the thumbnails. We'll see.

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Tweaked the spinner installation but first making more clearance around the backside of the prop. This also helps with the installation/removal of the spinner. Then I countersunk the screw holes and installed the countersunk washers as you see here. Then I placed a file between the top of the cowl and spinner to make a nice even clearance.

And after two years of not doing this, it happened (see second pic). Spilled all my nuts & bolts!

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The information presented on my website is for reference only and is meant to satisfy FAA requirements to document this aircraft's construction.
Comments that appear on this website should not be interpreted as instructions on how to build any aircraft. Please consult with the manufacturer.

2004 Scott Will.