Pillow Blocks and Oil Cooler Plumbing

A number of people have inquired about how the lubrication groove in the pillow block was cut. I set the drill press for 3000rpms and chocked up a rounded Dremel bit, then set the drill press table to the proper hight and worked the pillow block around it by hand. The shaft of the bit and the size of the cutting tool determines the groove's depth.

WARNING: LOTS OF WHINING IN THIS NEXT PART!

The thing I despise the most about building airplanes has always been cooling baffles, but plumbing is now at the top of the list. First it was trying to fit the fuel system in a tiny space. It looks simple on paper:

Not shown are the 3 fuel tanks, the main of 9.7 gallons, a front aux tank of 3.3 gallons and a rear aux of 5.5 gallons. The front aux tank is cross fed from the main as it has no filler neck. However, in flight you can select each tank independently.

The system uses two fuel pumps in parallel, otherwise if run in series, the pressure is doubled. To keep positive pressure to the carb while only one pump is in use, there is a check valve after each. The carb uses a return line to regulate its own pressure.

The picture below is not a good one, but lets start in the middle with the fuel selector valve. From there the line goes forward and makes an immediate turn to the left and enters the fuel filter. From there, it has to turn aft and then down into the fuel flow sender. From there it turns to the right and feeds the 4 way fitting. The aft line heads down and then splits to feed the pumps.

All of that is kind of visible if you look closely. What can't be seen is that as soon as fuel leaves the pumps (now heading forward again), they have to turn straight up and feed through the check valves. After the check valves, the lines rejoin and head to the right side of the plane and go through another "T" that allows a spot to pick up fuel pressure.

Then the carb feed line goes through the firewall, with the return line coming back right next to it, which then snakes around into that 4 way fitting mentioned earlier. The last line from the 4 way is the low point system drain... about 80 hours of work all said and done. Grrrr.

And yes, those are shelving brackets from the hardware store supporting the fuel valve ; )

Same kind of stupidity is going on with the plumbing for the oil filter and cooler. There is just no space left.

END RANT

The list is getting shorter however. Here is the remaining list of gak that needs to be finished:

• Repair a few holes in the cowl from excessive sanding
• Finish the stooped oil cooler plumbing
• Finish the oil cooler inlet interface
• Fix the cowl flange and install fasteners
• Install the wheel pants
• Finish the right side cooling baffle and inlet flange
• Complete the new control column
• Make a new seat pan
• Make lots of heat shields
• Contour the prop blades at the roots
• Finish up the filler plates on for the spinner
• Sand and paint the cowl and pants
• Make new pushrods for the engine and set up the valve geometry
• Modify my new helmet to fit under the canopy and install electronics
• Modify my O2 mask to work with my fresh air inlet

I am sure there is a bunch of other stuff to do. I had hoped to fly it to the Mojave Fly-In (http://www.mojaveflyin.com) in a month, but I'm not sure that I will be entirely comfortable flying it to the other side of the country yet. At this point, it looks like its going to have to ride in the trailer. I am hoping to at least have the 5 hours flown of so that I can fly it while there!