I originally ordered the exhaust as part of the Vans Aircraft kit. However, due to the Chapter 11 proceedings currently going on at Vans (they appears to be climbing out of it successfully), the exhaust system was continually delayed with no word on delivery. Plus, the price about doubled. So, I went to a small […]

Because I am using all Garmin for the avionics, I naturally will use Garmin autopilot servos. These are the motors that will fly the airplane when the autopilot is engaged. I am going with one to control roll (in the wings) and one to control pitch (attached to the elevator). I am not doing yaw […]

Kind of exciting from a pilots standpoint, this section is where all the control cables are installed including I bought a custom overlay to go over the cable bracket with labels identifying the function of the cables. The FAA may or may not require this type of labeling so I went with it just in […]

Here the various fuel and oil lines are added to the engine. Mostly in the area between the firewall and the engine. Also, the oil cooler radiator is added to the firewall and connected to the engine with some of these hoses.

The cowl baffle is designed to force all the cooling air, that enters through the openings of the cowl inlet, over the tops of the cylinders, and then down through the bottom back part of the cowl. This hopefully gives the most efficient cooling flow of air over the engine. The idea is that the […]

I say preliminary here because the prop was partially installed merely for proper alignment and spacing of the cowling which is Section 45. Here, I installed the spinner plate and then the prop to the engine. It was later taken off because it gets in the way in my limited workspace. Clocked at the 2 […]

This was the big step: receiving and installing the engine. I ordered a Lycoming IO-340EXP119 Thunderbolt engine from Vans in Dec 2021. The original delivery date was sometime in October 2022 but I never expected, or wanted it, until later. It finally was delivered in early July which turned out to be perfect timing because […]