Today I finalized all the wiring for the GRT EIS-4000 and D-Deck components.  The one bit of wiring I have remaining is the Electroair coil pack which can’t be completed until it’s permanently installed to the firewall after the firewall covering is in place.

The majority tasks today consisted of verifying my wire runs from the panel to the D-Deck, then tying in the GRT EIS-4000 harness wires to these panel-originating wires.  As I did this I verified the wire labels.  I added a number of labels and relabeled wires where needed.

Here we have half of the RS-232 wire pair from the GRT EIS-4000 to the GRT HXr and Mini-X EFISs to display the engine info onto those displays.  Since it is a RS-232 serial wire pair, before solder splicing wire #2 I twisted the second wire with this green one.

The majority of wires I finished connecting today were for the GRT EIS-4000, either to the panel or to the P9/P10 connectors, or the GRT MAP sensor (for power), but one circuit was simply an Ancillary Power feed from the panel to the one item currently on it: the D-Deck Fan Thermal Controller.  This controller turns the D-Deck cooling and exhaust fans on at 85º F and off at 80º F.  It’s actually more of computer type component, so it has a computer style power connector.

Here I’ve solder spliced on a segment of the same color 22 AWG wire (I try to maintain the same colors if possible) with a connector socket already crimped in place.

I then added a piece of heat shrink over the solder splice and covered that with my wire label.

A side note on my D-Deck wire labels: since I can pretty much see component A to component B I don’t strictly follow my wire labeling code as I do on the rest of this bird where I have a myriad of wires all running helter-skelter.

Here the Ancillary Power Wire is terminated into the Fan Thermal Controller power connector.

Of course our DC power circuits need positive (+) power and ground (-), so I made up the ground wire for the Fan Thermal Controller to plug into the connector, which I have the connector socket crimped onto one end of this wire.  The other end is also terminated with a crimped pin for the D-Deck G6 Grounding Buss, which is a 9-pin D-Sub connector.

Here we have the Fan Thermal Controller ground wire terminated into the controller’s power connector on one end, and the D-Deck G6 Ground Buss in the center of the pic.  Notice the unconnected ground wires coming from the G6 ground buss (center bottom of pic) that are terminated with a D-Sub socket for the P10 connector and a CPC socket for the P9 connector.  Also, just below the G6 ground buss is the ground wire for the MAP sensors that will be terminated into the G6 ground buss once all the D-Deck components are installed.

I accounted for literally every wire coming into the D-Deck from the panel, hell hole or elsewhere and verified that the labeling was correct.  If it wasn’t, I pulled the old label off and relabeled.  Of course any changes, updates or discrepancies I annotated on my wiring diagrams and/or connector pinout sheets. Tomorrow I’ll spend a little bit of time wrangling the wires to get them organized and looking nice, and then won’t really deal with the D-Deck components & wiring again until final engine install.

My last task of the evening was using my Clamptite tool to secure the orange fire sleeve to the FI Servo to Fuel Flow Divider (aka spider) -4 hose (left pic).  I then added red hi-temp RTV to seal the end of the fire sleeve to the hose (right pic).

I think some folks roll their hose up under itself on the end, which looks nice, although after a quick search on the web I couldn’t find any how-to’s on doing that… No worries, I just went to my ol’ standby of cleaning up the red RTV gooped up ends by covering the seam with a band of heat shrink, which is nothing really more than cosmetic.

I then reinstalled the hose to check out how it fits and looks.  Here’s the top side connection with the fuel spider.

And the bottom side connection to the FI Servo outlet fitting.

I’ll note this isn’t the final install for this hose, just a quick visual and clearance check.  Here we have a bit closer shot.

And with that, I called it a night.  Tomorrow I should receive my other 120º -6 hose end fittings and plan on making up the mechanical fuel pump to FI servo fuel feed hose.  I’ve also started the process to figure out and order my throttle and mixture cables prior to removing the engine —to finalize the forward/accessory case configuration and component installs.

I’ll start off by noting that this post covers both today and yesterday.

I’ll start off my next informational tidbit with a reminder: my first angled Sniffle Valve setup —to clear the SCEET tube— used a 45º street elbow (which I stole to use on the MAP manifold), with the Sniffle Valve itself cocked at a 45º angle, then a modified brass barbed fitting secured to the Sniffle by a -4 AN nut.

I had the notion, and still do, to clean up my Sniffle Valve setup by using a -4 AN tube nut mounted directly onto the Sniffle Valve with (I hoped) a 45º angled barb to allow attaching the drain tube. But alas, the entire unit is too long and ends up just kissing the SCEET tubing that it is meant to avoid.

Not to be deterred however, in working with Summit Racing for them to send me the correct -3 AN hose for the MAP system, I added a 90º barbed fitting to the order in lieu of this 45º fitting… that I’ll then attach to/underneath the Sniffle Valve to clean things up.  I think the 90º fitting should both fit and provide a cleaner install look for the Sniffle.

I also mocked up and then cut the pre-populated (IIRC) GRT EIS-4000 wiring harness “B”, which has all the EGT and CHT wire pairs.  Each freshly cut side of these wires will terminate into the P10 connector, so I crimped sockets onto the EIS side wire ends and pins onto the motor side wire ends.  I also printed off and heat shrink labeled all the wire pairs.

I then took the CHT/EGT wire bundle out to the shop and terminated them into the aft/engine side of the P10 connector.

And zip tied all the wires in the P10 connector and threaded on the strain relief backshell. In the right pic you can see the pins inside the P10 connector.

And one final shot of the fully populated engine-firewall P10 connector.

Inside the D-Deck/GIB headrest, I am very, very close to finishing all the wiring connections for the engine electrical components.  I did a rather significant update to a number of my wiring and connector diagrams, and have only a few wires to solder and terminate to call the engine wiring complete (again, there are 3 wire/cables that need final install on the bottom of the engine as well).  Of course final wiring won’t occur until after the firewall covering is in place and after all the aircraft surfaces micro-finish and painting is complete.

Speaking of the engine electrical components, I spoke with Brad at E-MAG Air regarding my P-MAG to confirm my unit is up to date.  Well, the firmware needs to be Version 40 or higher and mine is Version 37.  So when I pull the engine off the firewall here in the next few days, I’ll be pulling the P-MAG to send back to E-MAG Air for them to flash the firmware to the latest they have.  Actually a good deal to have it done within —hopefully— just a few months prior to first flight.

I also pressure tested a few more engine hoses, with the firewall to fuel pump -6 fuel line (left) passing muster, as well as the oil heat oil return line (right) doing fine as well.  I also pressured tested the longer oil heat oil feed line (from oil sump to oil heat oil pump) but don’t have a pic of that one… it passed as well.

You may have noticed that I wrap the seam of the fire sleeve of each hose with electrical tape.  This is simply to keep the lining of the fire sleeve from getting wet.

Tomorrow I plan on finalizing all the component wiring inside the D-Deck to be as prepped as able for engine install.  I have not prioritized finalizing the EGT and/or CHT installs until after I get the exhaust pipe clearance issues resolved (coming soon).  Also tomorrow I plan on finishing up as much as possible on the engine fuel hoses.

Today I started off my first round of adventures by knocking out the wiring of the P-MAG, starting off with the shielded 2-wire cable that goes to both an ON-ON slide switch (to choose either the “A” or “B” power curve) and a 9-pin D-Sub connector that allows hooking up a serial cable and port to adjust different parameters through the E-MAG Interactive Control and Display, or “EICAD”.

Again, since I originally didn’t have a connector designed on the firewall (well, I did at the VERY beginning but then went away from the idea… now obviously full circle back to it) I just made one long cable.  Today I cut that cable and added a solder pigtail to each new cut end… the P-MAG side shown here where I used a Raychem solder sleeve.

The serial data/power curve ground pigtail is connected to the P-MAG unit’s ground wire, which in turn is grounded to the engine side ground bolt.  So I made up this ground wire with a ring terminal for a 5/16″ bolt as well and soldered the two ground wires together.

I also soldered/tinned the ends of all the wires for attaching to the P-MAG terminal block.

On the freshly cut serial data/power curve cable inside the headrest I soldered in a ground pigtail by hand and simply covered it with heat shrink.  Since the firewall (forward) side of the P10 connector has sockets, I stripped the ends of these wires and crimped those on.

I then spent a good bit of time removing the P-MAG wiring terminal block and populating all the wires into place.  When my engine was built I had them install the P-MAG with the wire plugs facing down, which made sense at the time, but the access down there is not great with the mechanical fuel pump in the way of the inboard terminal block/plug anchor screw.  I plan on swapping that inboard anchor screw out for a hex head vs slotted since a hex wrench would be infinitely easier to use to get that screw in and out for future maintenance, etc.

I’ll note that I could rotate the P-MAG 90º or even 180º but I still like the wiring down on the bottom.  Clearly I don’t plan on wiring up this unit more than once and/or messing with the wiring much once the bird is flying.

I added the yellow wire that sends out the tach signal to the GRT EIS-4000 and also connected up the 18AWG black ground wire.  Finally, I routed and connected up the blue (PMAG 12V+ power) and white (P-MAG “P-Lead” Kill Switch) wires that come over from the P9 connector.  Add the serial data power curve/EICAD wire pair and that’s 6 connections total for the P-MAG wiring.

Note that I also went ahead and disconnected the other 3 lead coil plug (right side of pic partially obscured) at this time since it needs to be disconnected during the initial P-MAG setup process for safety reasons.

I terminated all the ends of the required P-MAG wires with D-Sub pins and installed them into the P10 connector (except clearly the blue and white wires in P9).

I also crimped pins and terminated the 3 fuel pressure sensor and 1 oil temp sensor wires into the P10 connector as well.  This leaves only 4 pairs (8 wires) for CHT and 4 pairs (8 wires) for EGT to install and I’m finished with all the engine/connector wiring except for 3 wires down below: the big yellow starter cable and the alternator’s B & F leads.

Clearly I need to wait until after the firewall covering is in place to connect these wires and the GIB headrest side of all these wires/connectors as well, including the Electroair coil pack wiring.

Still on the P-MAG: I connected the included 1/8″ ID MAP sensor hose to the nipple on the face of the P-MAG and routed the hose over to near the MAP manifold block mounted to the top left of the engine mount frame.  The setup process of the P-MAG unit requires the infamous 2 puffs of air during the initialization of the unit so I left it disconnected from the MAP manifold until after the setup is completed (note the blue arrow on the MAP manifold where this hose will get connected).

Speaking of the MAP manifold… I’m sorry to report that I received another order from Summit Racing that included a 16″ long -3 AN (3/16″) stainless steel hose with a 90º fitting on one end.  The only problem is that I currently have a 16″ hose on hand, thus why I ordered a new one that was supposed to be 12″ long with straight fittings on each end.  I have to say this was actually not Summit’s fault since the packaging from Aeroquip had the wrong part number on it.

And as I always say, “better to be lucky than good” since as I was researching the issue on their website I found a 14″ hose which I think will actually work a hair better than the 12″ hose, after some double-checking… to be clear, either a 12″ or 14″ would work, but the 16″ hose is just too long.  I’ll call Summit Monday and work out the exchange.  Also, since they have to pay return shipping I’ll throw in one of those 120º -6 fuel fittings that is just not angled well.

I then switched gears and assembled all my collected bits and pieces from yesterday to test out my 3 each -4 hoses.  From my old painting days (chopper motorcycle project pre-Long-EZ) I grabbed a pressure gage setup and added that to the mix.  I then attached a -4 nipple to an air hose quick disconnect fitting and Voila!   Pressure test kit ready to go.

I then tested the oil pressure sensor hose.  I noted on the 150º hose end that the -4 sealing cap needs a little extra oomph to keep any bubbles from forming in the little side hole.  But beyond that it passed the test perfectly.

With the oil pressure and fuel pressure (sorry, no pic on that one) sensor hoses good on the pressure tests, I then pressure tested the fuel injection servo to fuel distro spider -4 hose.

Again, all was good with this -4 fuel outlet hose pressure check.

I grabbed a shot here to show you that I pressure checked all these hoses to a hair over 130 psi.  The Silver Hawk manual says to have the fuel lines good to something like 1000 psi, but, um, sorry Precision Airmotive guys but my shop compressor ain’t got that in it!  This will have to do.

Tomorrow I’ll test all the other hoses I’ve made so far.  I’ll probably start my -6 fuel hose from the mechanical fuel pump to the FI servo inlet but won’t be able to finish that hose until next Wednesday when I receive my next round of 120º hose end fittings… yes, I’m going to be OCD on this one guys.

Finally, I should be wrapping up all the nit-noy prerequisite (self-determined) tasks on the engine to the point where it will come off the bird soon so I can work the oil lines and reinstall/re-clock the engine oil inlet fitting (it’s pointing up vs down).  I’ll add some Adel clamps to the front of the accessory case as well.  I’ll finish by noting that I need to do some AD stuff on the P-MAG and will talk to Brad at E-MAG Air.  I might even send the unit back for any final and latest updates if need be before I go live with it operationally.  More to follow on that.

I started off today by finally getting in touch with Clinton at Custom Aircraft Parts to have that much needed, serious discussion about the exhaust pipes.  Clearly there are some inherent limitations in what Clinton and his team can do being in California and my being in North Carolina.  As Clinton noted, they could make me a set of custom exhaust pipes if they had access to the bird to determine the requirements first hand.  Thus, unless I go with a local vendor, which I might just do, cutting and re-welding is out in regards to Clinton & Co. doing it.

Another option is simply to return the pipes for a refund.  Of course this gets me nothing since these are a must have item.  The lower cowling will get reworked before these things go back since, again, you can’t run an engine without exhaust pipes.  Moreover, from what I’ve observed with these pipes and other aircraft components, most cost 1.5-2 times of what I paid for them… no thank you to that!

The last option, which is dichotomy of scary as hell and probably/likely the most potential to effect real results is to do some surgery on these pipes myself, as detailed to me by Clinton over the phone.  Since these exhaust pipes are actually 2 pieces held together by a couple of springs, the best area to minimize height for these pipes is where the outer pipe slips over the inner mounting bracket sleeve, with the latter being welded to the mounting flange.

The total height of this possible area of reduction is 1.2″.  Talking with Clinton, he recommended leaving at least 3/4″, with a max removal of 1/2″.  Now, as with any surgery there are requirements, parameters and risks.

• Whatever amount comes off the outer, female pipe collar must come off from the inside sleeve as well.
• The removed material must be parallel to the original edge on both pieces, with the edges straight and clean to maintain an optimized seal to prevent exhaust leaks.
• With significant shortening of this collar, new, shorter springs will be required.

But, as I’ve noted countless times over the last couple of months: compromises are unavoidable and I’ll take what I can get.  I’ll prognosticate that this will be another PITA process to be sure, but on the other end any significant cowling clearance will be worth it.  I’ll assess this process further and also next steps [local cutting/re-welding and/or re-working bottom cowl] if/when this initial task is complete.

After my phone call with Clinton, and my note-taking and mental processing of what all is entailed with the exhaust pipe surgery, I then called Summit Racing.  I told them my tale of woe involving the 2 different 120º hose end fittings and asked if I could do a partial order and still get free shipping.  They agreed, so it was worth another $40 at a shot of getting a CORRECT angled hose end fitting for my Fuel Injection Servo inlet hose… or at least a better-angled fitting than either of the two I have now. I will note that the amount I’d spend in shipping to return either one or both of the two offending hose ends I have on hand now would be spending a third to half of what they originally cost (with free shipping no less). So they’ll go into bench stock for now and maybe on Ebay someday.

On to more benign build tasks: I received the Electroair MAP sensor Molex connector with the requisite sockets.  After a bit of digging into the manual to confirm I wasn’t screwing anything up, I then terminated the sockets onto the appropriate wires, got them into the appropriate positions and finished off the wiring to the electronic ignition MAP sensor.

Before I decided on using CPC connectors to transition the wires through the firewall, I had labeled and terminated a white 22 AWG wire into the GRT EIS D-Sub connector for the Oil Temperature sensor.  With the new connectors in play I simply cut this wire in half, which gave me a nice labeled segment. I then terminated a FastOn connector onto the end of this freshly cut wire and plugged it onto the Oil Temp nub on the front of the engine accessory case.

Voila! Oil Temp wire installed and ready to be terminated into the right side engine-firewall connector: P10 (see below).

As I did on the left side, I then duct taped the firewall side of the P10 connector plug to the firewall in its respective hole.  In this pic below, from left to right you can see the engine-side P10 plug strain relief zip tied onto the freshly cut fuel pressure sensor cable (note the internal wires).  The OT sensor wire is also through the strain relief while behind it are the blue and white P-Mag wires from the P9 connector.

The fuel pressure sensor inputs only require the red, white and black wires, so I cut off the green and bare wires from the cable.  This pic also provides another shot of the firewall P10 connector plug.

Today was one of those days of a lot of corroborating, research, coordinating and prep without a lot of work actually getting done.  I did get all the components assembled and prepped to pressure test my oil and fuel hoses, so tomorrow I hope to get a lot more actual work knocked out.

I started off today by gooping up the threads and torquing the AN fittings onto the GRT fuel pressure sensor.

If someone would have told me that this next task was going to take 3 hours, I would have told them they were cuckoo for cocoa puffs… and I’d have been wrong.  Adel clamps are a big enough PITA to install without chewing them to pieces, but due to about zero working space and being blocked from getting tools in place either from the engine mount itself or a big cylinder on one side to the P-Mag on the other… it was simply a rough time installing these 4 Adel clamps at angles to secure this sensor in place.  But perseverance, a lot of expletives and countless dropped tools and/or hardware (perhaps even a couple propelled tools . . .) won out.

Here we have the diminutive but huge PITA to install GRT fuel pressure sensor.

Jumping ahead a bit, I repurposed my previous top hose end fitting and blue fire sleeve from my fuel injection servo to fuel spider -4 hose and added a new 90º hose end on the fuel pump side.  With the straight hose end side fire sleeve already secured in place, I used my Clamptite tool to wire clamp the fresh cut side in place as well.  To be clear, I just cut off about the last 4″ of the previous hose and fire sleeve and simply added a new hose end on the other end to make up this new hose.

By swapping out the straight nipple on the bottom end of the FP sensor with a 45º fitting, it again allowed me to re-use the straight hose end fitting from the fuel spider.  Although the space is tight in this area, the hose went on without an issue.

Speaking of 45º AN fittings… after assessing the hose attach configuration for the oil pressure sensor block, I removed it from its temp Adel clamp attachments to goop up and torque the 45º fitting into place in the center position of the aluminum NPT Tee fitting.  I’ll note that this fitting required clocking at a forward facing (pointing down) inboard angle to get the most optimized fit for the interfacing 150º hose end.

With the hose length and required hose end fitting clocking requirements in hand after my recon, I cut and installed a 150º hose end on the opposite end of the one shown at the top here.

The 150º hose end at the other (bottom) end of the fuel pressure sensor hose worked out nicely with the Tee block’s middle 45º fitting facing downward and clocked inboard just a bit.

A little extra length to a hose provides a tad more flexibility (read: less stress & tension) and ease during install, so that’s what this combo offers.  It actually worked quite the treat even in such a tight spot.

I’ll further note that I swapped out the temporary standard nuts on the Adel clamps and did a final install on those with MS21042-3 nuts.

With no kidding final installs on both the fuel pressure sensor and the oil pressure sensor block, it was now time to go final on the MAP manifold block.  I gooped up the 1/8″ NPT threads on the newly acquired 3/16″ barb fitting and torqued it into place.

I then did a final install on the MAP manifold onto the engine mount, again swapping out the temp nuts for MS21042-3 aircraft grade nuts.  Although I just ordered the correct 12″ length -3 AN hose for connecting the MAP manifold to cylinder #3, I attached one end of the current hose to show how the connection will work.

This completes all the external sensors and sensor components that I’ll be installing onto the engine mount.  The only sensor-related items left to install are the CHT and EGT probes that mount to the cylinders and exhaust pipes, respectively.

It was late and I was about ready to call it a night, but I had everything sitting in front of me to knock out the new -4 fuel line from the fuel spider to the Fuel Injection Servo outlet port… so I did.

Here we have the new, more demurely colored hose end fitting attached to the fuel distro spider.

Down below I used a 45º fitting to attach this -4 hose to the FI Servo.  I’ll note that I will in fact fire sleeve this hose (upgrading to orange vs blue) and that the hose itself is cut from the longer hose that originally came down from the spider.

My last task of the evening resulted in a bit of head scratching.  I quite often buy extra fittings so that I have them on hand when need be and I don’t end up paying extra for shipping, as I did today on a small order I submitted to Summit Racing for the shorter stainless steel “vacuum” hose that will connect the MAP manifold to cylinder #3.

That all being said, I ordered 2 each 120º -6 hose ends to use one of them to connect the main fuel line to the inlet fitting on the LEFT side of the Fuel Injection Servo.  Well, here they are… both right out of their packaging… different well known brands mind you, but clearly one thing is not like the other angle-wise.

Does it matter?  How different are they?  Let’s take a look.  The first one curves around decidedly inboard to the right, about 3-5º seriously more than I’d prefer.  The other one very noticeably points outboard to the left, and with a fire-sleeved stainless steel hose installed will be just barely —if at all— able to clear the cold air plenum’s cable-mounting extrusion.

And all I wanted was one that splits the difference and shoots “straight” towards the forward right engine mount.  Yes, I know: first world problems.

Tomorrow I plan on doing some engine-related wiring and pressure testing all the -4 hoses I made up today.  The jury is out on whether I’ll press forward with either of these -6 120º hose ends or if I’ll call Summit and maybe order 1-2 more, if they’ll ship for free.  Regardless, I’ll press forward with more engine stuff… I suspect within the next 2-3 days I’ll pull the engine to work the oil hoses, etc. on the front face (accessory case) of the engine.  Many tasks to complete with the engine off the bird.

Between waking up a bit later this morning from my late shop work hours last night, some domestic duties and a wine tasting event starting early this evening, I didn’t get a lot done on the build today.

I was able to buy a 3/16″ x 1/8″ NPT brass barb for the engine mounted MAP manifold.  I put it in place just for this pic… later I’ll goop up the threads and install it with the proper torque.

I did spend a little bit sorting through and inventorying an ACS order I received today.  One item I received was a length of clear plastic tubing that I’ll slip onto the oil quick drain, as I tested out here, to drain the oil during oil changes.

I also got a good 45 minutes in on working the GRT fuel pressure sensor, both in rounding up and configuring the -4 AN fittings as well as sizing the appropriate securing Adel clamp.  I’ll note specifically that this fuel pressure sensor must be mounted with the cable end up and fitting end down, per the manual, as shown here.

After looking at a number of possible spots to install the fuel pressure sensor on the right side of the engine mount, I think I found the sweet spot for mounting this sensor… here’s a wider angle view of that spot.

And a closer up, albeit slightly blurry, shot of my proposed mounting position and configuration of the fuel pressure sensor.

And one final shot of the fuel pressure sensor proposed mounting position.

Back in the house, before getting ready for an evening of fun and frivolity, I updated my GRT Engine Management System wiring diagram to denote the Oil Pressure Sensor wires now transiting the firewall via the P9 connector vs P10 previously.  I then printed off a new diagram and Voila, all changes to denote the wire swap complete.

And that’s it for today folks.  I do plan on installing the fuel pressure sensor on the engine mount tomorrow.  In addition, I’ll start working the configuration and wire runs for the right side engine/firewall connector, P10.

Finally, within the next 2-3 days I plan on blitzing the construction of all the remaining fuel and oil lines —including pressure testing— for the engine (except the 2 in/out oil cooler hoses… those will come later).