I spent a number of hours today researching different options for relocating the starter contactor off of the hot side of the firewall in order to eliminate the need to have an essentially always hot robust power cable (whenever the master switch is on) running the length of the cabin.  I’ve been in discussions with a number of builders, and will continue to assess this issue.  Nothing dire, I would just like to optimize my electrical system configuration where possible.

I then got busy building a couple of cables… the first one is 1 of 3 cables that need to be constructed for my video cameras (left, right and top).  The left and right video cameras share a 24 AWG 5-wire cable with the fuel site gage LED power wires.  The total is 3 wires for the camera and 2 wires for the LED.

I grabbed the first camera I bought last year and ensured it was ok since I had tore it up a bit removing the plastic shell around the inline mini PCB.  A week or so ago I had quickly soldered some wires to test the non-shielded wire version of this cable, which as a reminder worked much better than the shielded wire version where I had the camera grounds (video & power) running through the wire shield with not-so-great results (my thought is there was too much resistance in the shielding).

I removed the test solder junctions, cleaned up the wires, added heat shrink on the wires and then re-solder spliced the wires.  I then heat shrank all the solder splices.

After getting the video camera’s wires solder spliced and squared away, I then added a bigger piece of heat shrink to protect the whole video camera-to-5-wire cable junction, leaving the 2 fuel site gage wires exposed of course.

Then on the hot lead for the fuel site gage LED I added a 470 Ohm resistor.

And then soldered it in place.

I then solder spliced the 22AWG white with red stripe power lead to the 470 Ohm resistor.  I added the resistor on the line here at this junction because I felt that it would both better be protected at this point, and plus I didn’t want to have to contend with it at the actual connection point with the fuel site gage LED light lead.

I then added red protective heat shrink over the fuel site gage LED light’s 470 Ohm resistor and the adjacent wires.

I then solder spliced in a white with black stripe 22 AWG wire for the fuel site gage LED light’s ground return lead.  The lead wires on the opposite fuel site gage LED light will simply be red and black, so this will help in distinguishing the 2 sets of leads.

I then added heat shrink to the fuel site gage LED light’s ground lead.

I then added one more piece of heat shrink over the entire fuel site gage LED wire leads and the video camera connection to the 5-wire cable.

I then got to work on the panel end where I solder spliced in the ground lead for the fuel site gage LED light.

And then did the same on the fuel site gage LED light’s power lead.

I then added heat shrink over the solder splices on the two fuel site gage LED light leads.

Also on the panel end of the 5-wire cable I soldered wire leads for the video camera, using the original standard color scheme that is employed for video cables: Red for camera power, black for camera and video signal ground, and yellow for video signal.

I then added heat shrink to all the video camera leads’ solder splices.

And then separated the two groups of wires: video camera and fuel site gage LED, and then added respective heat shrink to both sets of wires.

And then finalized the cable with a larger piece of black heat shrink.  Yes, I know accounts of cable building is not exactly riveting to read about… nor are these an overwhelming hoot to build.  It actually took well over an hour just to construct this one cable.  But again, they are very necessary for what I want to do and I’d rather get them done while the weather is still colder.

Since I have no more 24 AWG 5-wire cable on hand, I then set my sights on constructing the P-Mag’s Variable Timing Select (via a switch) and Data I/O (via serial data over a DB-9 connector) cable.

I focused on the engine mounted P-Mag unit side initially. This cable requires a 2-conductor shielded wire and added ground lead off the shielding, so I used a solder sleeve. I started by trimming back the outer insulation of the wire and removing the shielding except for the ~1/4″ that will get soldered up in the solder sleeve.

I then soldered a green/black pigtail in place with the solder sleeve and then trimmed the ground pigtail to length.  I specifically ran the ground pigtail out the solder sleeve on the same side as the other wires since this will be in the engine compartment and I wanted to minimize any free wire vibration.

I then focused on the D-Deck/Turtleback side where both the switch (a dip style switch which I haven’t ordered yet) and the DB-9 female connector will be mounted just below the sub-face that will be visible when the GIB headrest panel is removed.

For the switch wires I tied in a 22 AWG blue and black twisted pair that was reclaimed from one of the trimmed Trio autopilot wiring harness leads by splicing them to the two leads from the shielded cable.

I then terminated the 2 shielded cable wires and the ground wire with D-Sub sockets and popped them into the 9 pin D-Sub connector.

Below is the mostly completed P-Mag Variable Timing Select and Data I/O cable.  The timing switch will allow me to change the timing curve from an “A” power curve to a “B” power curve in a scenario where let’s say I’m stuck in the middle of Wyoming and all they have is leaded auto fuel.  It allows me to essentially suppress the spark timing on the engine to allow for lower grade fuel without subjecting the engine to the same power curve used with regular 100LL fuel.

As you can see here, the 9-pin D-Sub connector allows me to connect up a laptop running E-Mag’s Interactive Control and Display (EICAD) program to view and tweak settings on the P-Mag electronic ignition unit.

If your interested in what exactly EICAD does, here is a little info page I snagged from the EMagair.com site:

Thus far, my mantra will continue to be the same thing in regards to finishing these “low-level” electrical system tasks until I get them pretty much knocked out during this sustained cold spell.  It is getting a bit warmer, but I’ll work a bit longer to get a bunch of these wiring tasks off the plate until I comfortably fire up the shop heaters.

In addition, I await word that my Superior cold air intake sump has arrived AERO Engines up in Winchester, VA so I can finish the engine build.  Hopefully this week.

Today I started out by extricating the fuse junction off the back of the Fuel Vapor Sensor control head to repurpose it for the X-Bus power feed to the EIS4000. As I was reviewing the EIS install manual I noted a specific statement that the power wire should be fused… and since it’s quite a lengthy wire back to the D-Deck I figured although the IBBS feed to the X-Bus is fused, I would throw an inline fuse in place.  I wanted a less bulky fuse housing than the ATC blade inline fuses provide –with their gargantuan leads no less– so I stole this one from the Fuel Vapor Sensor.

I then soldered a new length of 20 AWG Tefzel wire to the nub of a wire I left remaining on the back of the sensor control head.

As per usual I then protected the solder splice with some heat shrink.

Then I made a boo-boo.  Not unrecoverable by any means, just really dumb.  I consider it especially dumb since I had all the tools I’ve worked so hard to make available to me to keep this stuff from happening: electrical diagrams and wire labels.  If I had used either one, then the extra silly work I had just created for myself below would have been avoided!

For my power lead from the X-Bus (IBBS power) to the EIS4000 I need a wire lead to the AG6 annunciator for a general EIS alarm that will ring off.  This wire is connected to a pigtailed resistor (required by the AG6).  In addition, to make it easy, I have a D-Sub socket awaiting the actual alarm lead from the EIS.  Well, I grabbed the first setup that remotely looked like this off the X-Bus, pulled it and realized that I had “forgotten” to add the actual power wire to the equation.  Well, I hadn’t FORGOTTEN, it was merely that I pulled this same style setup for the IBBS low voltage sensing wire and AG6 IBBS Low Volt alarm from PIN 1!  The EIS power wire and AG6 reporting belongs on PIN 7!  I had grabbed the wrong setup in my haste and was charging forward, oblivious to my error…

So here goes: I trimmed the length of the 20 AWG fused lead that I had just stolen from the Fuel Vapor Sensor control head and bared about 1/4″ of the wire a bit away from the end that terminates into the X-Bus (DB9 connector).  One thing good about my mistake here is that since I built the X-Bus I’ve come to know well the importance to give at least a good inch or two of clearance on these D-Sub wires before placing any components or splices on the line to allow easier removal of the D-Sub terminated wire from the connector…. which is what I did here.

I then soldered the AG6 lead/interface/resistor combo to the bare spot on the power wire (not before soundly wasting another D-Sub pin by removing it!).

And heat shrank the junction.

Here’s the entire assembly from X-Bus termination (right side NEW D-Sub pin) up to the inline fuse assembly.  Ok, note the wire label on the white/green wire… it literally says TXB001 –for a quick refresher on my wiring code, that translates to LOCATION: “T” or Triparagon, ITEM CODE: “XB” for X-Bus, and PIN #: “001”– …. right there, literally in black and white, staring me in the face!  Ugh.

I then solder spliced a long length of 20 AWG wire to the other side of the fuse connector (process not shown) and added heat shrink.  Here’s the EIS power wire assembly connected to the other side of the inline fuse terminal.
And the entire fused EIS4000 power feed and AG6 alarm input.  To be clear, the alarm lead from the EIS is one of the 6 wires in the 6-wire cable that I just made up last week.

It wasn’t until I went to mount this assembly into pin 7 on the X-Bus (Yes guys, I seriously even knew this by heart . . . total brain fart!) that I realized that’s not where I removed it from.  Hmmm, what’s going on here?? I wondered in confusion.  Then when I actually read the wire label on the white/green wire, and checked my wiring diagram I finally realized I screwed this thing up 10 ways ’til Sunday.

Now I had to remake another lead for the X-Bus IBBS lead that I just heinously stole for the EIS power lead (which clearly I had never made in the first place…).  No big deal, it took a few minutes to find my resistor stash, and since the decently long wire coming from the IBBS in the nose is purple with yellow stripes, I just stayed with that color scheme for all the wires on this assembly.  Just like the one I stole, it gets an AG6 feed wire and a D-Sub socket for future connection to the IBBS lead, both connected on the downstream side of a resistor.  This is very close to the same setup as the EIS power wire, but since the IBBS lead simply monitors the X-Bus voltage, it doesn’t need any other wire other than the input into the X-Bus (thus why I thought I had “messed up” on originally creating the EIS power lead . . .  which of course wasn’t the EIS power lead).

After soldering up the resistor to the wire leads, I then added heat shrink to protect the configuration and keep it all physically together.

Here’s the NEW & IMPROVED IBBS X-Bus voltage monitoring feed and AG6 alarm reporting wire.  Problem rectified.

Moving on with my newfound knowledge straight from the keyboard of Bob Nuckolls, I grabbed one of the inline ATC fuse assemblies with mondo-massive wire leads and did some mental configuring where all of it would be situated in its D-Deck/GIB headrest habitat.  I then trimmed one lead a little shorter on the inline fuse, gathered up a yellow FastON connector and some red heat shrink and went to work.  The way this works is that both blue leads coming from the SD-8 voltage regulator get connected to the leads coming off the actual SD-8 alternator.  The one change as of now –within the last 24 hours– is that one of those leads to the engine-mounted SD-8 alternator gets an inline 15A fuse.

So that’s what I did here.

Here’s the blue lead from the voltage regulator spliced with the inline fuse lead of one the SD-8 alternator leads combined into a PIDG FastON connector.

I then threw the Bridge Rectifier into the mix where it belongs so that you can see where this FastON connector actually gets connected into the SD-8 power matrix.  The other blue lead from the voltage regulator, combined with the other lead of the SD-8 alternator into another FastON connector, will get connected to the lower left tab of the bridge rectifier shown below.  I also need to order a 3K Ohm 3 watt resistor for the final connection to make the SD-8 circuit ready for prime time install.  This resistor will be the start of a ground wire that connects to the upper left tab of the bridge rectifier.  Again, all that’s left after I make up that ground wire is to install this thing.  (The black lead of the twisted pair goes to a Hell Hell ground tab while the red wire goes to the SD-8’s Hell Hole-mounted S704-1 relay that I showed in a post last week).

Here’s a bit closer shot of the components I highlighted above.

And with that, I will close for the evening.  Again, I will continue to knock out more of these “small” electrical taskers that all need to get done at some point, so might as well do them while the weather is too cold to work in the shop (without breaking the piggy bank to heat it!).

Today I started off by knocking out another long overdue electrical task, minor really as it is: adding heat shrink to relay #9, the relay that handles COM1-COM2 PTT flip-flopping.  The tricky part to this endeavor was finding a decent-priced source of supply for the 1-1/2″ diameter heat shrink to complete the job.  I looked on McMaster-Carr but they wanted to much for the amount I needed (their prices are usually reasonable, but the order quantity for stuff like heat shrink is often a bit much).  In the end I was able to find some on Ebay.

I’ve actually had this heat shrink since last week, but as you know, I’ve been a bit busy lately.  The heat shrink worked great and covered the relay nicely.

I then labeled the relay to ensure I can tell what’s what inside the avionics bay.  When I do my cable management efforts in the not-too-distant future, I’ll cinch up the bottom opening of the heat shrink with cable lace.

I then called GRT and got a lot of stuff resolved (actually 2 phone calls a couple hours apart).  First, I solved the case of the missing EGT & CHT probes and they are sending me the sets for my engine (an oversight on their part, but they are remedying it in an expeditious fashion).

Moreover, one of their EIS techs, Eric, was great in providing me a tech sheet on just how to hook up my #3 GRT OAT probe to use as an air/heat temp sensor inside my air/heating ducts.  A couple key issues is that I needed to use a 4.8V excitation signal from a 5V source (luckily I now have that at the front side of the aircraft) and I needed to solder in a 10K Ohm resistor on a pigtail that went from the signal wire to ground.  Once I did that, Voila! … it was up and running.  With just one minor tweak of the Scale Factor setting and I was in business.

After I soldered in the 10K Ohm resistor on the ground pigtail, I then covered and secured it with heat shrink.

I then got to work on setting up my engine data display on the HXr EFIS.  I’d like to point out a few things in the pic below.  First, note column #3 “Airvent Tmp”  and column #5, “Spark Advnc” in the lower left inset.  Next, note the yellow “L Sump LOW” and “R Sump LOW” alarm states across the top, which not currently being hooked up to the low fuel sensors they alarm due to no signal…. I also got some more refined info on dialing in these Sump Low Fuel alarms from GRT as well.  Finally, note that in column #1 I have a low voltage alarm on EFIS Voltage 2, which is the E-Bus feed to the HXr.

Since not all data points are available to each display area.  For example, the vertical data columns in the inset don’t necessarily have the same data points to display as say the 4 black combo boxes stacked up in the upper right corner of the inset.  I played around with these a while until I finally got the data showing that I wanted.

I then went to the split screen engine data page.  Note that my #2 EFIS power input is still red in the pic below.  Also note the new red numbers in the EGT and CHT graphs at the bottom, which is showing up since I set the limits.

I finally took a moment to see why my EFIS Volts2 input source was alarming, and quickly discovered that I had no fuse in the E-Bus slot where the HXr connects to… so I popped a fuse in, and no more alarm.  However, I would like to point out even further the bus power source data below.  Column #2 in the inset is EFIS Volts3 power input which comes from the X-Bus, or IBBS.  Now –since the IBBS is not installed– it’s simply jumpered off the Main Buss, so those two busses read the same: 13.3V.  But the E-Bus voltage reads 13.0V.  Why? This is due to the Schottky diode that lies in the middle of the connection between Main Bus and E-Bus.  Schottky diodes extract a toll for their services, often up 0.7 of a volt just for being in the picture.

After setting all my engine data limits, inputs and parameters in the HXr, I then did the same in the Mini-X.  I made a few quick changes right off the bat like changing out the Carb temp reading in the upper LH corner to “MPG.”

I then did a bit of exploring and found a few cool things: such as the 6 different engine page display types on the Mini-X.

Here is DATA menu #2: EGT as shown above that I selected.  I also set some display parameters like dropping down the max RPM on the dial from 3000 to 2800 RPM.  Note that it will still display the actual numerical RPM if it goes above 2800 RPM (the dashed lines at about the 4-O’clock position of each dial), it just doesn’t show it on the dial.  The reason for narrowing the dial’s range is that it actually makes it more readable since it increases the granularity on those setting numbers displayed (i.e. makes the space bigger between the numbers) in the normal operating range.  If it goes above say, 2700-2750 RPMs, it will definitely let me know!

Here’s another page: STATS.

And lastly, a dials page that adds % power and fuel flow in dial format.

After spending a bit of time configuring all the EIS display settings and inputting all the limits and parameters, I then zeroed out all the limits on the actual EIS4000 box.  Thus, until I fire the engine up and taxi around, I’m pretty much done with programming engine data stuff on the EIS.  It will truly be just a matter of fine-tuning the numbers from here on out.

I then targeted one more electrical system task that has been on the list for quite some time to finally knock out: replacing the fuel vapor sensor wires that run from the actual fuel vapor sensor (located on the face of the GIB seat bulkhead under the right armrest) to the fuel vapor sensor control head (located on the nose wheel well [NB] cover).  I tried the lighter test on the gray 3-wire cable last year and it failed miserable, so out it goes and in with aircraft grade Tefzel wiring.  In addition, as you can see in the pic below, I wanted to get rid of that bulky connector about a foot away from the sensor unit.

The first order of business was to get rid of the offending connector and then leave only just enough of the original wire to be manageable.  I cut away a bunch of the gray outer insulator to expose the 3 wires.

I then rounded up a twisted 3-wire bundle that I bought from Stein to attach to the sensor.

I soldered the 3 sensor wires to the 3-wire bundle (all wires ~22AWG).

And then of course added protective heat shrink (pre-placed) over the solder splices.

With the result looking like this.  I had already chucked the other WWII-era looking gray wire bundle in the spare wire bin, and was too lazy to dig it out for a comparison photo…. so we’ll focus on the new & improved!

A closer view . . .

I then grabbed the connector for the other end of this wire bundle (I should have noted that I went down to the shop and got a measurement of the required length for a comfortable run: 9.5 ft) and solder spliced the wires onto the opposite end of the 3-wire twisted cable.

While I was at it, I cut the ground lead of the fuel vapor control unit to rid myself of as much non-aircraft wiring as possible, and added in a length of black 20 AWG wire for the ground.  I was thinking of removing the inline fuse, but for some reason didn’t.  However, after some further thinking I realized I want to repurpose that inline glass fuse holder. So I still have one small step to do in removing that inline fuse and (re)extending the red power wire with Tefzel wire.

I then spent about 45 min. updating all my electrical diagrams with what I had learned today.

Which reminds me, one of the diagrams I updated was on the SD-8 back-up alternator system.  My fellow local Canardian, Ron Springer, posted a question on the AeroElectric Connection forum regarding a 15A fuse shown on the B&C wiring diagram for the SD-8. On the diagram it shows this inline 15A fuse residing between the SD-8 Alternator and the voltage regulator.

In Bob Nuckolls’ AEC book, he adds a Bridge Rectifier to the SD-8 circuitry which provides a self-excitation feature, which makes it so the SD-8 doesn’t need to see power coming from the battery to “turn on.” However, in the various circuit diagrams Bob has, there is no mention or depiction of this 15A inline fuse.

So I jumped into the fray and asked Bob specifically about this fuse (there was some confusion as to exactly what fuse was being discussed, so I offered my “clarification” services . . . haha!).  Bob replied with:

 I'd forgotten about that fuse being 
 added some years ago. It's a good idea. One of 
 the failure modes for the rectifier/regulator 
 places a dead short on the SD-8 output. The fuse 
 keeps the dynamo from smoking. The RMS current 
 flowing out of the dynamo is about the same as 
 the DC output current from the rectifier/regulator.

Thus my reason for adding the 15A inline fuse back into the mix, and of course updating the Charging System electrical diagram to reflect this change.  Amazing that after all these years Ron sparked a discussion on that fuse just days prior of me needing to get a final answer on that specific fuse in order to proceed.

Tomorrow will be more smallish electrical taskers like the one I did today.  Again, I’m attempting to clear all these “lesser” important tasks that need to be done, but ones that I wouldn’t want to do during good glassing weather . . . which is still a bit away.    

With my truck engine repairs complete, I’m continuing my quest with trying to knock out as much of the aircraft component wiring prep as possible to facilitate a much quicker and smoother install down the road.  However, with no wire labels on-hand I was once again limited in all that I could accomplish to finality.

My specific focus currently is on both the GIB headrest/D-Deck/TurtleDeck AND Hell Hole located components.  Since I have the EIS4000 and the Electroair EI control unit mostly configured and labeled (although I need a few more labels for the Elecroair wiring harness), today I set my sights on the B&C SD-8 backup alternator wiring.

The components for the SD-8 live in 4 distinct places within the aircraft.

1. SD-8 alternator mounted on engine vacuum pad
2. SD-8 Voltage Regulator, Bridge Rectifier and Capacitor in D-Deck/GIB headrest
3. SD-8 power relay in the Hell Hole
4. SD-8 main connection feed into aircraft electrical system at the battery contactor

I started by wiring up the dual leads that exit the robust blue capacitor (although not pictured until later below) and head to the SD-8’s PMR1C-14 Voltage Regulator and to ground and power relay, respectively.  I gathered up all my required components, including a 1K Ohm, 3 Watt resistor that gets placed across the terminals of the capacitor.

I then went down to the shop and got a good approximate length required for cutting the black & red 14 AWG leads.  Again, these will get terminated with the associated lead colors on the voltage regulator, and then the black will head off to the “forest of tabs” grounding block in the Hell Hole, while the red will head off to the SD-8 power relay, also located in the Hell Hole.

I then crimped the large yellow screw post PIDG connectors to the black & red leads, with the interconnecting 1K Ohm, 3 watt resistor.  Again, these leads will get attached to the quite hefty blue capacitor for the SD-8 backup alternator system. [I had to hold off on the blue Voltage Regulator leads since they get terminated with the big white 12 AWG SD-8 power leads that I soldered extensions to below]

I then went to the other end of this equation, literally, to attach the 14 AWG red power feed wire that runs from the SD-8 backup alternator to the battery side of the battery contactor in the nose, all via the inline 30 Amp ATC fuse.  I spliced the red SD-8 power feed wire to this inline 30 Amp fuse (IF000).

Then I finished the job with a couple of layers of red heat shrink over the solder splice.  Again, this 30A inline fuse (IF000) resides in the nose battery compartment, just below the battery contactor and nose tool box.

I then again headed down to the shop to get a very close approximation for the total length of wires I would need for the SD-8 alternator power leads.  These wires exit out of the SD-8 alternator unit and then get terminated onto the SD-8 bridge rectifier (along with the blue SD-8 voltage regulator leads) in the D-Deck/GIB headrest.  I cut the white 12 AWG wires and then did a rather intricate interweaving of the 2 sets of wires on each lead to add a lot of strength to the wires before I ever even hit the splices with solder.

I then soldered up these massive spliced joints.

And then covered each spliced joint with multiple layers of red protective heat shrink.

Here’s a shot of all my SD-8 related wiring effort today.  I also refined my drawing of the GIB headrest/D-Deck to nail down how the components will be mounted within it.  Note the SD-8 Voltage regulator leads are connected to the blue capacitor.  Also note the unmentioned SD-8 power relay leads’ terminated into the relay.  The small little black nodule hanging off the relay is the backup Alternator’s Over-Voltage protection module that prevents any major damage happening to the electrical system if the SD-8 enters an overvoltage state.

Finally, while not SD-8 related, since the Hobbs meter will reside in the GIB headrest as well, I went ahead and wired up the negative side lead that will traverse the firewall to connect to the backup oil pressure sensor.  I originally wasn’t going to have a Hobbs meter, but since I installed the backup oil pressure sensor I figured for 1 extra wire and about an ounce in weight I would have a good crosscheck for my engine/airframe time.

This marks the end of any aircraft tasks for a few days since tomorrow will be all about researching, studying, and load-out in prep for the engine build.

I’m posting my truck repair efforts since it somewhat relates to the build in that it accounts for time away from the build, it facilitates traveling to & from my Long-EZ engine build up in Winchester, VA, and it gets me in an engine/mechanical mindset for the quickly approaching engine build.

I offer this post as just an FYI of what I was doing over the past few days.  I’ve been so busy on my plane build, that –especially with this extremely cold weather we’ve been having– my truck engine needed some TLC.  My check engine light has been on for quite a while, but having the code checked I knew it wasn’t anything “serious” and was either a vacuum leak or dirty/bad sensors.

So, starting out I wanted to get the engine and engine compartment MUCH cleaner to have a better starting point.

The pics below are all labeled with the tasks I did, but here’s a comprehensive list of what I did over the last couple of days:

• Cleaned the engine and engine compartment
• Replaced passenger side headlight bulb
• Cleaned the MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor)
• Removed & cleaned the Throttle Body and gasket
• Removed & cleaned the IAC (Idle Air Control Sensor), replaced gasket
• Replaced the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor)
• Removed & replaced 3 ignition coils
• Removed & replaced 3 spark plug wires
• Removed & replaced 6 spark plugs
• Removed & replaced PCV valve and gasket
• Removed & replaced PCV valve hose
• Removed & cleaned upper intake plenum
• Removed & replaced upper/lower intake plenum gasket
• Removed & cleaned lower intake plenum
• Removed & replaced lower intake plenum/intake manifold gasket
• Removed & cleaned valve covers, prepped for new gaskets
• Removed & replaced 3 spark plug tube seals on each valve cover
• Removed, cleaned, re-RTV’d and reinstalled “Half-moon” plugs in engine heads
• Removed & replaced Camshaft cover disks in engine heads
• Reinstalled new valve cover gaskets and rubberized washers
• Reassembled engine . . . and voila, runs like a champ!

Below is the new and improved –and much cleaner– engine on my truck.  The check engine light was gone as soon as I restarted it, and it runs MUCH, MUCH better.  Dare I say it’s now ready to haul an IOX-340S aircraft engine! :)

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shoutout to my next door neighbor Jerry who meandered over and spent countless hours over these past 2 days helping, and giving those extra pair of hands when I especially needed them.  Thanks Jerry!

Ok, let’s build an airplane!