Date:	5-6-2010
Number of Hours:	10.00
Brief Description:	Baffle
Yesterday and today I cut out and installed the top part of the baffle system. It took quite a bit of finesse work to get it to fit right – but in the end it turned out ok. I have to get the cowl fitted before I can finish installing the rubber seal to the top of the aluminum – so I’ll start that bright and early tomorrow. I’ve been looking forward to installing the cowl for some time now. I also finished up a few of the wiring issues I hadn’t finished. One thing that I didn’t like was grounding the upper and lower mags. To ground them the instructions say to either run a ground wire to the mounting screw, or attach a female spade to one of the big, solid rivets. I didn’t want to ground through the mounting screw, and I couldn’t find a big enough female spade, so instead I drilled and tapped one of the rivets and attached the ground wire with a #4-40 screw. This seemed much more secure. Also, I‘ve been trying to install the oil temperature sender in the blank cover like the directions say, except the only place I could find the right tap (M14-1.5) was to order one on-line for about $40. It’s hard to justify spending $40 to tap one hole. Today I also received the 1/8” thick piece I’m going to use for my new panel. The old panel was OK (at best) but I hated that the trim indicators were too far to one side, that the “passenger” placard didn’t fit well, that the ELT should be in front of the Pilot, and that the lettering I did didn’t turn out that well. Also, I hated that to work on anything in the panel meant I would have to somehow get my big ass under the glare shield. I plan to use the existing panel and frame work, but cut the existing panel, leaving about an inch all the way around, drill out all the rivets and replace them with flush rivets, and then mount the new, 1/8” panel to this framework using screws and of course, nut plates! This way, when I need to get to the back of the panel, I can remove a few screws and pull the panel up and out at least 6-8 inches or so - enough room so I