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Keiths Web Site
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Date: 9-23-2010
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Number of Hours: 8.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Refitted interior trim for weighing
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Two really nasty jobs. First was to remove the gascolator bowl and check for debris. I was pretty careful not to get stuff in the fuel tank or fuel lines during the build , so was reassured to find nothing in the bowl. As noted on the Vans web site the port rear screw is not easy to remove. I took out one of the nose gear bracket bolts, then ground down the sides of a narrow screwdriver so that I could push it up through the nutplate. It was just long enough to reach the screw. Reinstalling the screw needs one arm (or one person) to hold the screw with needle-nose pliers, and another arm (or person) to screw from the bottom. Worse yet, the four screws need to be safety wired. I wired the two port screws together, then the two starboard screws together.
Worse still was tensioning the stabilitor cables. I had a tensiometer but couldn't really get at a length of cable away from the turnbuckles to make the measurement. In the end I went with the plans and tightened until I had three screw threads. That's the easy bit. The hard bit is aligning the turnbuckles so that the safety pins can be pushed up the grooves. Took me ages to do the four pins. You really need a small light in the fuselage, or perhaps a powerful head torch. I guess I've earned my four spanners now - master mechanic ;-)
It took me ages to button up the access panels inside the fuselage so that I could re-lay the interior trim. This involved removing the wings to put the final piece of velcro across the fuselage centre section, underneath the spars. All done now - no doubt my inspector will want me to remove it all again.
Anyway, I finally fired up the electric pump, emptied the tank (68-40 litres/hour at 0.2 psi), and conducted an initial weight and balance. My inspector will definitely want to redo this for his peace of mind, but I'm happy with the results. 748 pounds and an empty CG moment of 80.5. This is on the forward CG limit, so no crew can fly without some balancing fuel/baggage.
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