Lower cowl hoist

Trying an idea off of the VAF forum. Fabricated cowl hoist, cut and drilled PVC pipe. Used some hinge for lift points.

Aft seat crotch belt anchor

So I noticed today my aft crotch belt anchor was installed improperly. The aft part of the anchor was not flipped around so that there is a gap in the two halves. Not good after floors are riveted.

Drilled out mount rivets, fairly easy. Used Cherry max rivets but I had issues getting the squeezer in position. Just not enough room. Almost drilled out floor rivets then decided to hack off most of one squeezer handle. It worked! If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough!

Fixed!

Last of the to do list

Installed baggage shelf. Confirmed charging wiring secured and not chafing. Trimmed boots to accept charge wire terminals.

Torqued exhaust flange nuts.

Batteries: EarthX ETX 900

15.6Ah each and light weight. Aft mounted as recommended for CG with a CS prop. Figure I can plan on a solid two hour electrical endurance running EFII only in an alternator out situation.

Decided to install the batteries. My newer battery has a shorter battery fault monitor wire. So my ship wiring was too short to reach. So I had to lengthen both wires which took time because of limited access. Wrapped batteries in stainless foil for added thermal protection.

Wheels and lower cowl stand

Removed wheels double checked all bolts torqued. Reinstalled, cotter pinned, and safety wired rotors.

Fabricated lower cowl stand which will capture cowl when lowered with hoist.

Alternate air door

Fabricated an adapter out of leftover angle to capture the wire instead of the Vans method of wrapping the wire around the screw. Took way too long but should give good service.

Polished the door so I can check for food in my teeth while wrenching.

Alternate air: 2.0 hours

Spent a lot of time yesterday marking hole locations on the gear tower. Not an easy area to get to. Drilled left gear tower for cable mount and installed alternate air control cable.

Wrapped with fiberfrax to protect inner housing. Got about 1/4″ clearance with plug wires.

Registration/filter bypass

Received my registration today! Much sooner than expected.

The county will be in my ass soon, they just gave themselves a 5% pay raise while the private sector stagnates.

The state counties will not build more t-hangars which would generate tax and user revenue. Why do that when you can divert funds to some social program to buy liberal votes.

Installed data plate.

Riveted air inlet to snorkel.

Air filter bypass: 3.5 hours

Cut hole in snorkel, drilled, dimpled, and floxed filter bypass flange to snorkel.

Air filter bracket & baggage shelf

Decided to add a fourth air filter bracket closest to cylinder. Removed dome rivets, installed flush rivets, and match drilled bracket to support.

Trimmed edge of forward baggage floor for easy install.