Back out to the hangar after an almost two week break due to the Labor Day holiday. The magnetos are still in South Carolina, so unable to work on anything directly related to the engine and prop, I decided to work on some miscellaneous tasks around the aircraft. I started by setting up my chain hoist on an overhead beam and moved the aircraft into position to raise the nose enough to set the nosewheel breakout force. This is done very scientifically—tighten the nut until it requires 22 lbs of force to move the nose gear…and this is done with a fish scale. Homebuilding.
After setting the proper breakout force, I went through a couple of drillbits while drilling the necessary holes in the gear weldment to accept a cotter pin. I had to bend the pin slightly to get it through both holes, but got it done without too much difficulty. While the nose was up in the air, I gave the lower portion of the engine a good look-over to see if I had missed anything—turns out I had not installed a cotter pin on one of the throttle connection nuts. I got that fixed and also trimmed up a couple of other cotter pins that were excessively long. With the nosegear back on the ground, I moved aft a little bit and shortened the horizontal exhaust hangar ensure the pipes would not move outward and contact the lower cowl during flight.
The last thing I did was start the process of fitting the empennage fairing. I’m not thrilled with the way it lays on the left horizontal stabilizer, so I’ll have to address that tomorrow.
