Today was all about getting as much of a jump as possible on the firewall configuration to get that stuff knocked out early.  I did take about half an hour to clean up all the rough edges on the wheel pants’ tire hole reinforcement layups that I did the other day, and then cut, shaped and sanded the bigger layups I did on the back of each wheel pant tire opening.

After reviewing some info on installing NPT fittings I felt I should do my due diligence and check the torque on the 45° AN6 fitting exiting the FT-60 Red Cube fuel flow meter.  It was tight, but I thought it could be tighter.  However, if you’ve seen the install manual there is explicit warnings not to over tighten a fitting on account the transducer’s case might actually crack.  In the AFP-30 Air Data Computer install manual there’s some literature on the FT-60 that states to torque the fittings to 25 ft-lbs.  Since I had a box wrench adapter on a short extension mounted to my torque wrench, I dialed the torque down to 23.5 ft-lbs to ensure I didn’t crack the FT-60 case.  Surprisingly, I was able to get one more entire revolution out of the 45° AN6 fitting… with how much pressure I had to exert to get to that 23.5 ft-lbs (again, remember I was using an protruding box wrench adapter on a short extension… both serving to add a mechanical torque advantage), I’m surprised people go further than that to crack these darn things!

Once I got the aft fitting on the FT-60 squared away, I then did some minor tweaking of the fuel filter and lines to get the filter flat again the front face of the firewall.  I then marked the position of the Adel clamp hole and the fuel line exit point on the firewall.  From inside the hell hole I drilled small holes out using my right angle drill.  I then drilled from the aft firewall side coming back into the hell hole.  You can see the drill bit in the pic below peaking through the firewall and aligned with the fuel line fitting.

Here’s a shot from the firewall side of my initial 2 holes through the firewall for mounting hell hole and firewall assemblies and pass-thrus.

I then took a #10 screw and Dremelled the head of it to create indentions for flox to better grip it.

After drilling out the fuel filter clamp screw hole and then counter sinking the hole, I then floxed the fuel filter Adel clamp mounting screw into place in the hole.  After it cures I’ll layup a small ply of glass over it.

I then took a fair amount of time to figure out exactly where to place the Electroair electronic ignition coil unit on the upper firewall.  I marked off a 1″ Demarcation Zone around the edge of the firewall to ensure I had space for both laying up the fillet glass to the upper cowling mounting overhang, plus room enough to run 1/4″ fuel vent lines as well.  I also needed to stay as far left as possible to give myself room to get the oil filter out for oil changes.

I even called Electroair and conferred with Denny on the location and orientation of the coil unit.  I played around with placing it just aft of where the CS Spar crosses in front of the firewall in the midpoint area of the firewall, and while there’s enough space in that area the spark plug wires would have funky runs to get to the spark plugs.  So, in the end I decided it had to go on the upper firewall, but at an angle.  It sits about 1/4″ above the SD-8 alternator and does very slightly impinge on the Demarcation Zone.

Here’s a closer shot of the mounting location of the Electroair EI coil pack.

I then got busy making four K1000-4 nutplate assemblies for the AN4 bolts that would be used in mounting the Electroair EI coil pack.  I cut and sanded the phenolic pieces and then riveted the nutplates to the front side of the assemblies.

Here’s an aft view of the Electroair EI coil pack K1000-4 nutplate assemblies.

Using the coil pack as a template to keep the AN4 bolts in their exact mounting configuration, I then floxed the 4 nutplate assemblies to the front of the upper firewall.

I then focused on installing the B&C Firewall/Engine ground stud and forest of tabs inside the hell hole [the usual configuration for the firewall/engine ground stud and forest of tabs is to have a forest of tabs on each side of the firewall.  However, since I only have two items that require ground on the hot side of the firewall, I forewent installing the forest of tabs on the aft side of the firewall].  Although I didn’t get a pic of it, the engine ground strap is temporarily secured on the engine side where I plan to mount it permanently, so the length I ordered for the braided engine ground strap is spot on.

On the hell hole side of the forest of tabs, I then installed the big yellow ground cable that runs the length of the firewall to the negative ground post on the battery.

I then spent the next hour or so drilling and mounting the big yellow power cable that runs from the starter contactor in the nose battery compartment to the starter through a stainless steel firewall pass-thru.  Inboard of the starter cable, I then drilled and mounted a Blue Sea connector for the Alternator’s B-lead that also heads up to the nose battery compartment.

Although this pic is a bit fuzzy, here is a final view of the firewall configuration tasks that I completed today.  From the upper left hand corner you can see a hole drilled for the Oil Heat oil return line to the engine oil sump.  Slightly lower and to the right of that is the main fuel line that feeds the engine driven fuel pump.  Towards the middle is the #10 (3/16″) screw that I floxed into the hell hole as a mounting stud for the fuel filter’s Adel clamp. Then of course is the electrical firewall pass-thru package, starting from the left with the Blue Sea fitting for the Alternator’s B-Lead, a stainless steel firewall pass-thru with the starter power cable running through it, and then the engine grounding strap that connects to the the firewall ground stud that is opposite the forest of tabs inside the hell hole.

In the pic below I added in the Alternator’s B-Lead which will be paired together with the big yellow starter cable as they both exit the engine compartment via the firewall.

Here’s a wide-angle shot of the major engine component electronics, with the big yellow power cable of the starter, the Alternator’s white B-Lead, and the connected engine grounding strap connected to the firewall ground bolt.

Here’s bit closer shot of the starter and alternator power leads.  Note that the Alternator’s B-Lead is terminated on the Alternator side but not yet at the Blue Sea firewall pass-thru. Also note that the starter lead cable is not terminated yet, and won’t be until I get the Fiberfrax and 6061 aluminum sheet affixed to the firewall.

Here’s the hell hole view of all my firewall-based shenanigans. Note that the fuel filter mounting screw is visible in-between the 2 yellow zip ties.

Here’s a little broader view specifically showing the Adel clamp that secures the pair of big yellow power cables.

Tomorrow I’ll continue my firewall configuring tasks.  I should receive some more fittings, so I’ll most likely mount some of those while I’m at it.

Since I’ve been hitting the shop hard for the last few days, today was a light on shop work, heavy on research day.  I identified over 90% of my required components to roll my own fire-sleeved engine hoses (thanks Joe Coraggio for the tip on your website!).  In fact, I pulled the trigger on the first of 3 major orders that I’ll be placing for the engine hoses.

I then checked my interior CS Spar Clickbond installation that will serve as a hardpoint for the cable management Adel clamp.  Now, I don’t mean to brag, but clearly as decent as this layup turned out (90% of it in the blind), I need to start doing these things with my eyes closed!!! Ha!

Here’s a wider angle shot that provides a general idea of the entry and exit points for the wires in the cable bundle.

And one last closeup of the mounted Adel clamp.

I then did a bunch more research, but wanted to get something curing overnight.  I had already planned on installing the CS123 control system bearing into the firewall tonight…. so, that’s what I did.  I lined up the aft end control rod with the one that runs along the fuselage sidewall, mixed up some rather wet flox, and then floxed in the CS123 bearing (this is a Cozy Girrrls product btw).

Here’s a slightly lower angle shot.  I also got up into the hell hole and added a flox fillet around the front side as well.  I don’t this thing will be going anywhere with as much flox that’s holding it into place!

Tomorrow I have just a quick couple of sideline tasks to complete and then I’ll move right into my 3-DAY BLITZ on the wheel pants!

Within a day of coming back from NC I started feeling a bit sluggish, and felt a cold coming on.  Well, today it hit me pretty hard, so I’ve been moving at a bit slower pace.  I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll feel well enough to get the lower engine mount extrusions glassed into place.  On top of all that, when I woke up this morning it was a virtual winter wonderland outside, with snow continuing to fall and a good few inches already on the ground.

So I grabbed a cuppa and went through Mike Beasley’s baffles and –while looking at his website– taped a number of the pieces together to get a good idea what his were all about.

The initial confusing part on his just looking at them is that all the annotated & marked sides are actually the interior side of the baffles, with the blank sides ending up what you see when you piece them together, or the exterior side.

So once I got that little tidbit down, I was able to get a good handle on what was going on.  Here’s the inside (looking aft) of the lower skirt that wraps around the alternator & starter.

Here’s the top looking aft.

Now, since I’ll have my oil cooler in the plans location on the side of the engine and not nestled in the aft underside region of the motor, I won’t need the aft lower skirt positioned like Mike’s (and countless other EZs) so far aft that it just barely covers the aft end of the alternator and starter.  Here’s Marco’s oil cooler in the plan’s location, just forward and to the left of the motor.

Here’s Mike Beasley’s real world baffles, with the lower baffle skirt far aft to account for the oil cooler placement.  If I were going to place my oil cooler in this location, I think it might have been a better, cheaper option to just use Mike’s Beasley Baffles.  From what I can tell Mike really did a bang-up job on his baffle templates, so they are certainly a viable option for most builders that are installing an O-320.

That being said, here’s a lower baffle skirt placed much farther forward that has both the alternator and starter exposed, but still has a centerline mounted oil cooler.  My baffles will look more like this, only without the oil cooler mounted in the centerline position.  So in my situation I think it will work out better having the VANs baffle kit on hand to modify.
(To be clear, I will be using Mike’s baffle temples extensively –as I have been doing– to modify the VANs baffle kit).

I then compared Mike’s baffles to the VANs, and assessed what I would need to modify on the VAN’s baffles.  On the set of side baffles (bottom of pic) you can see my proposed line cuts off that big blank piece of aluminum, which would be on the aft side.

This expanse of baffling would normally match up to the considerably wide shelf going aft of the cylinders (see 3rd pic from top, above) and which then drops down to create the skirt running across the aft faces of the alternator and starter.  Here’s another example on Mike Beasley’s bird.

Again, since my lower aft baffle skirt will be located forward of the alternator and starter, I only need a very narrow shelf just aft of the rear cylinders to then drop down to create the lower baffle skirt.  Here’s a good depiction of what I’m talking about on Buly Aliev’s Cozy, where he used the VANs baffle kit.

I then made it down to the shop to get a little bit of prep work in for installing the lower engine mount extrusions.  I copied Dave Berenholtz in bolting a wood plate to the engine mount to help easily ascertain the mounting angle of engine mount/engine during the installation of the lower extrusions.

Here’s another shot.  BTW, the plans would have you install the engine mount so that the prop is 2° higher than the front (firewall side) of the engine.  This makes sense since the Long-EZ, like many aircraft, flies about 2° nose high.  However, remember that the 2° number is based on a 118-125 HP Lycoming O-235 engine.  If you’re pushing a few more ponies, which I and most people are these days in Long-EZs, then it takes less angle to keep the nose up.  Also, 2° high on a higher powered engine probably won’t get you level flight, but a slight climb… which then of course would mandate more trim forces in play.

For example, with a planned 220 HP engine, my buddy Dave B. set his angle at 1.1°.  So for my 180-190 HP motor, I’ll be setting my engine angle around 1.4°.

In addition to fiddling about with the baffles, I also tweaked the lower engine mount extrusions install plan and will hopefully get these guys glassed in tomorrow, or the next day (depending on how I feel of course).

Since I brought the engine back home to my shop, I’ve been doing a fair bit of mock engine component installs and taking note of what I’ll need on hand to finish the engine installation when the time comes.

One such subject item are the firewall pass thrus.  As I reported last week, I picked up a 1/2″ ID stainless steel firewall pass thru and liked the concept so much I ordered another 2 of them to finish off my acquisition tasks for purchasing firewall pass thrus.

After a test install of the alternator and starter, I was also able to measure and then order the appropriate alternator-to-starter support link (1.794″ version) from B&C Avionics.

I also identified a myriad number of hardware/fitting pieces that will need to be on hand to install the starter, fuel lines, exhaust pipes, etc.  Although I did identify a bunch of these items, I have not yet ordered them as I am building an order currently on ACS.

Finally, I was able to grab the parts I needed to finish off the Engine Dehydrator System. So, as I often do, I made a video to provide an overview of this system.

Tomorrow I’ll get back to the grind of completing items off my task list.  I only have a few solid build days left before I need to start packing –once again– for yet another trip to haul a load of household stuff down to NC.