First off, I thought I would show you a couple good shots of the EZ Point Locking Nut that I’m using to attach the heat exchanger to the duct network along the lower horizontal duct.

Today I started off by sanding the interior surface of the glass at the entrance to the GIB high air duct in prep for attaching the forward EZ Point nut that will be used in concert with the aft EZ Point nut to secure the heat exchanger to the duct network.  I then floxed in and glassed over the forward EZ Point nut with 1 ply of BID.

I then peel plied the forward EZ Nut Point 1-ply BID layup.

I had to run up north to help some friends that are moving out of the area here in a couple of weeks.  When I returned back home I pulled the peel ply off the forward EZ Point nut layup and cleaned it up.  Here’s a shot of both installed/glassed-in EZ Point nuts along the lower side of the duct network for mounting the heat exchanger.

Here’s the same shot from the inside of the duct network.

I then did some final preps for floxing the lower outlet duct onto the heat exchanger to meld these two components together permanently.

I then whipped up some flox and floxed the lower outlet duct onto the heat exchanger.  I then clamped the lower outlet duct into place on the heat exchanger.

Here’s a closer shot.

I then headed up north again to help out my friends, and upon my return I removed the clamps and cleaned up the seam of the floxed-on lower outlet duct.

Tomorrow should be a big build day and I plan on continuing my efforts on the oil heat system & ductwork.

Oil heat that is!

Again, the Chapter 22 thing might be throwing you off a bit since it’s electrical, but currently that’s where I have my oil heat system.  Thus, any discussion on the major ventilation system in this bird is married to the heat system, and ends up in Chapter 22. Weird huh?!  Yep, well, nothing about building Long-EZ’s can be considered normal!

I had to run over to Andrews AFB to scarf up some money out of one bank to transfer to another bank for my upcoming purchase of the GRT EFIS I ordered under the discount that GRT offered for Sun N Fun 2017.  Since Andrews requires some Interstate/Freeway/ Motorway driving, I decided to test out my ventilation/heat system ram air inlet.  So I drilled a couple of holes into some chip board and then zip tied the inlet to the board.  Then I duct taped the zip ties to ensure they wouldn’t slide off.

I think it’s ready to go!

I then tested it out a bit in my driveway to ensure I wouldn’t kill, maim, hurt or embarrass myself . . . or anybody else for that matter.

I quickly realized from messing around with it above, that the inlet needed to be straight into the wind as best possible, but the angle for the rest of it really didn’t matter. Regardless (or “Irregardless” for Joe Coraggio!) at around 65 mph I was getting pretty good airflow coming through.  But then when I would push my hand up against the outlet I could pretty much shut down the flow.

So, quick assessment is that it seems to have decent airflow, but not good pressure.  And in this game sports fans, pressure is what it’s all about.  Looks like it’s back to the drawing board on this baby!  [Plus, I’ll do some more detailed testing . . . I got some ideas!]

After arriving back home I quickly got into the shop with the intent of getting the 2-ply BID base reinforcement layup for the oil heat pump mounting bracket layup glassed onto the aft side of the GIB seat.  I sanded down & prepped the area for the layup.

Then I prepregged 2 plies of BID, measuring 3″ x 8″, and wet it out with MGS 335 and fast hardener.

I then glassed in the 2-ply layup and peel plied it.

Here’s another shot at an angle to help with the exact orientation of this layup.

While the oil heat pump mounting bracket base reinforcement BID curing I then trimmed up the heat exchanger top duct piece.

I then test fitted the heat exchanger top duct piece back on the heat exchanger.

With both top & bottom ducts glassed, I could then verify the exact spots where the heat exchanger top & bottom inlets would go, given their dimensions match the ducts’ dimensions of 0.75″ x 2″.

Again, for better understanding where the heat exchanger ducts are located, I identified them with a couple pieces of paper.

I then took a few minutes to mark up the lines along the entire perimeter edge of the heat exchanger cover to split the case in two and remove the heater core with all its protective tape, etc.

First though, I cut out the heat exchanger duct inlets on both the top & bottom (inlet & outlet).

After a fair amount of pulling, prying and practicing my “How to converse with Sailors” speak . . . and not to forget the requisite injury, I finally got one side off of the heat exchanger core.

Following the shampoo mantra . . . ok, the “repeat” part . . . I was finally able to get the other side pried off as well.

I then got to work deconstructing the protective barrier that Stacey had helped me construct (could this be why it was so difficult to remove?!  . . .  just kidding!).  I took a fair number of pics on this process since I didn’t take any as we applied the protection before.

Here’s the final protective tape ensemble with the top & bottom 1/4″ wood caps that all served to protect the heat exchanger core while it was completely covered with glass.

Finally, here’s the heat exchanger core with the two halves of the heat exchanger cover.

I then set the heat exchanger into one of the halves of the cover.

And then checked the fit of the heat exchanger core inside the cover.  Ahh, it’s awesome when a plan comes together!

Although I had mounted the oil heat pump to its mounting bracket much earlier in the evening, my last official build task of the evening was to flox and glass the mounting bracket to its location on the lower aft side of the GIB seat.

Before I get into that though, here’s a good shot (aft side) of how the oil heat pump will attach to the mounting bracket.

I pulled off the fittings and taped up the exposed areas of the heat pump as it sat on the mounting bracket.  I’m floxing & glassing the mounting bracket into place with the oil heat pump mounted to it to ensure clearance for the pump on both the forward and aft sides.

Although my off-center pic makes it appear more askew than it actually is, I must admit that during the initial mounting process of this thing, it did end up skewed off center about 0.070″ and is higher on one side by about 0.030″ . . . but that’s why we call it the hell hole right?! (As I told Dave Berenholtz: “Loaded up with flox on the edges of course this guy was like trying to balance a fish on a greased hard boiled egg!”)

I do have one more set of BID tapes to do on the bottom after the 2 sets of outboard vertical, 2 sets of inboard vertical, and 1 set of topside horizontal BID tapes cure.

I took this shot at an angle for as good as view as we can get of the side layups, in the hell hole and all!

The layup schedule I used was a 3-ply BID tape on each outboard vertical junction (the foam tabs & seat back), with a 2-ply BID tape on the inboard vertical junctions (inside surface of foam tabs & seat back), and a 3-ply BID tape on the horizontal junction (1/4″ plywood bracket & seat back).  Tomorrow, I’ll do a 3-ply BID tape across the bottom intersection with the seat back.  Moreover, the 2-ply vertical junctions have a lot of overlap in the interior corners, thus there’s a good amount of “5-ply” BID in the corners.

Finally, I wanted to show you all how I secured the pump/bracket assembly in place while I floxed & glassed it up.  What you can’t see in this pic is that the wood support is actually sitting atop my large shop vac.  In addition, If you look closely you’ll see that I taped 2 stir/ popsicle sticks on the front of the pump as a standoff pad so I could then just feel if it was pressed firmly against the fuselage bottom at the front and then concentrate on the aft side for clearance with the landing gear bow.

Tomorrow I’ll continue to work on the oil heat system ductwork, heat exchanger and finalizing the oil pump mounting bracket install.

I started out today by pulling the peel ply and trimming up the edges of the layups on the wall sides that essentially make up the left sump tank, left & middle walls.

I then promptly glassed the right side of the middle wall, or sump rib, with E-Z Poxy to get it curing.

I then glassed the outside of the left sump wall using MGS, since this wall will not be in contact with fuel… hopefully!

When I did this layup, I also glassed a strip of BID on the bottom of the GIB right armrest storage pocket going to the sidewall.  Once cured, the GIB storage pocket will be glassed in once and for all.

I then marked up and did an initial cut on the right side wall to start the trial & error process of getting it to fit.

Here I’m about halfway through the process of fitting the right sump wall to the sump / fuselage floor.

And here’s when I finally got the shape along the bottom of the sump right wall dialed in.

Here’s an aft shot of the fuel sump’s right wall. Note that you can also see the fuel pulsation damper mocked up in these pics as well.

Once the shape of the right wall was good, I glassed it with a ply of Kevlar first, then a final ply of BID, just like I did with the inside layups of the other walls that make up the exterior perimeter of the sump tank.

One thing I was going to account for that slipped my mind until after I hurriedly glassed the interior side of the right sump wall, was that this wall needs to be a bit shorter due to it butting up against the back side of the right front sump wall extension.  I was so dialed into getting the difficult shape on the aft side of the wall completed, that I missed the front edge needing to be back 0.55″.  Since I had already configured the right side wall, I was going to merely trim the aft edge so it’s profile would match the other 2 walls.  But again, I jumped the gun in glassing the right sidewall so I didn’t get it done.

Fast forward many hours later, and I marked the left wall with 0.55″, aligned the two sides and then marked the aft/top of the right sump.  I trimmed the right sump wall immediately after this pic was taken.

As the interior layup of the right sump wall was curing, I decided to knock out making the oil heater pump base.  I started with the 1/4″ Finnish birch plywood plate I cut out the other day.  I rounded over the edges and then drilled 4 x 3/16″  holes.

I then marked the heads of the only 2 AN3-12A bolts I have onto the back of the mounting bracket and dug the wood out to keep the bolts from spinning.

The bolt heads are flush with the bottom, can’t spin, with still a good amount of wood to keep them in place.  Still, this plate will get about 5 plies of glass to hold it in place.

Here’s a side view showing the bolts in place.

Since I didn’t have any more AN bolts, and I wanted to get this mount finished, I stole the two 1-1/4″ bolts from the fuel pump and mounted them in the oil pump mounting base.  I then taped up the bottom of the vibration mounting pads, floxed the bolts in place and then set the oil pump in place over the floxed bolts.

And here’s a couple more shots of the oil pump on its mounting base.

I then used the oil pump attached to its mounting base to figure out where in the world I was going to mount this thing in the Hell Hole.  Since I just recently discovered that it is best to mount it horizontally (interesting, but that’s what it says!) I found a spot centerline of the aircraft, immediately forward of the gear bow and just aft of the GIB seat.

This all ties into the sump in that before I glass the front side of the fuel sump front wall, I need to know if I’m going to mount the oil heat line fittings into the LEFT sump front wall extension.

To figure out my oil heat oil lines, I needed to make some.  So I did.  I made the feed line that feeds the oil to the heat exchanger from the oil pump.  It all looked good on the top side . . .

. . . as you can see here . . .

But since I don’t have a 1/2″ tube bender, I resorted to a spring kit for bending the 1/2″ tubes.  The spring works well enough on simple bends, but it just can’t handle really tight turns without crimping or flattening the tubing — as you can see in this real tight turn to the right.

I’ll assess further, but right now I’m thinking at least the oil feed line will most likely need to be a braided cable to provide me the flexibility that I need.

With that, I then made up an oil return line.  Since it doesn’t need to make a hard right turn to get to the oil pump, I didn’t think this one would have as much of an issue as the oil feed line.  And it appeared not to.

One interesting point in the pic below: I played around with the spacing and tubing run for a bit before deciding on exactly where I wanted the Adel clamp to be located to hold the 2 oil lines (feed & return).  Well, I reached into my pocket to get my trusty Sharpie, but, uh, no Sharpie.  So, I picked up a small Phillips screwdriver and gave it a nice sharp rap to make a mark…. well, it was a bit harder than I thought and it made a nice dent in the wall. So, another wiggle and another rap, and in she went…. I guess this will be a RivNut hardpoint vs a Clickbond!

A shot of the oil return line from below.

For now I’ll just count the oil return line good, and then later when I finalize the firewall configuration I’ll cut the oil return line and terminate it with a fitting.

Tomorrow I’ll continue working on the fuel sump.  I’m hoping to have it done in the next few days.

This morning when I happily went down to check out my layup, I didn’t stay happy very long.  As I was ripping off the peel ply, which is admittedly one of the best ways to start out a morning, a couple of areas still seemed a bit soft and not fully cured.  This was not really what I was expecting since I had used fast hardener.  Ironically, I had just had a discussion within the preceding days on fast hardener, as I extolled its virtues.

There is of course a possibility that I jacked up the ratio, but I am usually pretty good at ensuring those are correct.  Regardless, I decided to cook it for a while and set my sights in at a good post cure temp: 140° F for 4 hours.  Over the next couple of hours I checked various spots and never had the IR thermometer go past the mid 150° area, and only in a couple spots.  And I was checking just about every area in each heat lamp’s path (more on this below).

Besides the heat lamps, in this pic below you can see that I glassed the aft side of the GIB armrest storage pocket with 2 plies of BID.

Here it is a bit later after it cured.  Note the yellow spot at the front side.

And below you can see the yellow spot again.  After establishing that my average temps on all the stuff I checked being in the heat area, including the sidewall and the storage pocket, were in the high 120s to high 130s, I ran out to grab a bite to eat and go to the store. When I checked the heat lamps a bit later I saw this discoloration.  I immediately checked the temp as I was pulling the lamp away, and it was 162.9°.  I also did a quarter test and could find no delamination.  Since a good portion of the yellow will get cut out when I open up the sidewalls for the baggage area, I’ll check the foam & glass again then.  But for right now, nothing seems odd except the color change.  Moreover, MGS 285 epoxy should have a multi-hour post cure over 170°.  I guess just that high of heat concentrated on that one spot over time caused the discoloration.

Moving on.  Note that the right front sump wall extension piece layup is complete!  The heat lamps did there job and the spots I was concerned about cured nicely . . . except one.

The area on the aft side of the foam at the bottom didn’t seem to be fully cured.  If this were slow hardener I wouldn’t have worried about it, but since the other areas were cured, this concerned me.  Now, it still looked like a solid layup, but the overhanging glass was just a bit too pliable for my liking.  I decided that in the 1 inch area that I would be laying up the BID tape for the outside of the right sump wall, that I would remove this glass.  Since I had laid up 2 plies over just the one on the sump wall extension, I broke through to foam in a couple spots.  No worries.  I’d rather have fresh foam for the next layup then putting good glass over some that is a bit suspect.  As for the rest of that layup, it’s in there and sticking, but I have so much other glass around it, I’m not concerned if its strength is a little less than normal.

In the right pic you can see the front side of the layup.

I wanted to show the access holes on the outboard side of this layup: the top hole is for the bundle of small wires that will traverse this bulkhead heading back to the aft areas of the plane.  The bottom hole is for the 2 big power wires to go through.

You can see that I also made the big power wire channel on the foam fuel line bracket as well.

So here’s a shot of all the layups I did last night, after I cleaned it all up. One good thing that happened is that weighing down the fuel lines worked.  The fuel lines are in the correct position and have no tendency to try to rotate upwards.

I then finalized my dimensions and shape for the fuel sump profile.  I took some scrap 3/4″ thick Divinycell foam and cut the pieces for the left & right sump walls.  I then micro’d the pieces together.

I then cut out the middle sump rib from 3/8″ Divinycell foam.  I loaded everything in the backseat for a quick mockup to see how it all looked & fit.

I then spent a good 25 minutes shaping the left fuel sump wall.

I figured out the fit on the middle fuel sump rib as well.  If you’re wondering why the bottom of the middle rib is cut, there is a technical term for that: it’s called being unfocused, not concentrating on the task at hand and having a major brain fart!  I noted on the left side wall that the base of it matches the base of the front wall.  I then inexplicably picked up the middle rib and had it cut and was putting it back in to check before I even realized the mistake I had made! Luckily, this is foam and composites, and it’s all easily fixed!

I started with the interior left wall and laid up the first ply, which is Kevlar.

I then laid up 1 ply of BID on the interior left wall (ply #2), and then –after reattaching the bottom strip– I laid up 1 ply of BID on the left side of the middle fuel sump rib.

I then trimmed the overhanging glass down.

And peel plied the layups.

Previously, I had laid up the forward side of the GIB armrest storage pocket with 2 plies of BID and a 1″ strip of BID down the front face of the foam fuel line bracket.  I then checked those to ensure that they were good to go.

Finally, since my garage is in the low 70’s I decided to put the freshly glassed sump wall pieces under heat.

Then I realized it was a bit too much heat and turned off one of the lamps and moved the sump wall pieces a bit farther away.

Tomorrow I’ll continue to work on the thigh support fuel sump and try to get this thing knocked out . . . hopefully a bit more error free!

Today I crossed the proverbial Rubicon in my initial steps of the thigh support fuel sump by glassing the fuel lines into place, but more about that in just a bit.

I started out today by trimming up the GIB right armrest storage pocket and removing it from the foam plug.  The pics below show both the front and inside of the storage pocket.

Here it is again, solo.

I then mocked it up in place to see how it fit.  I can say I’m happy with it, so it will soon be getting glassed into place so I know exactly how to route all my stuff around it!

I had to lower it about 0.20″ for the iPad to fit, while in its case.  But mounting it just a tad lower also helps me with some lid ideas that I have.

Moving on: I’m happy to report that the big pair of yellow cables are finally secure from the nose to the back seat.  Again, I will most likely have to secure them in one or two places in the Hell Hole, but beyond that, the task of routing these big suckers and securing them is complete!

Starting from the front part of the aircraft, here are the two newly mounted Adel clamp hard points in the pilot seat area: one Clickbond (forward) and one RivNut (aft).

Here’s a closer shot of the Adel clamp Clickbond hardpoint.

And a closer shot of the Adel clamp RivNut hardpoint.

I also mounted a Clickbond just aft of the pilot’s seat as you saw in yesterday’s post.

Here’s a clearer shot of that hardpoint with an Adel clamp mounted & in use to keep the big power cables secure.

And here’s the RivNut Adel clamp hardpoint in the lower right side opening of the back seat.

A little wider shot reveals the Clickbond that I floxed in place last night.

A bit later, I covered the Clickbond addition with 2 plies of BID and some peel ply.

I had an issue with the right side armrest today that needed some cutting to solve.  I simply couldn’t get the armrest mounted since the fuel lines were in the way.  I wanted to be able to mount the armrest since I was going to install the “map” pocket permanently to get a final idea of fuel line routing… and just to get it done!

I taped in my 12″ flexible decimal ruler to get a good estimate of what the pilot thigh support ribs profile will be, and then cut it out.  Of course, I also wanted to get this area cut out in my continuing effort to get the pilot area sorted out as well to allow me to move on to the nose build.

I did flox in the map pocket at this point (final pic is below) during the same round of glassing that I did the big power cables’ “final” Clickbond above.

I then moved on with the prep to start glassing the fuel sump right forward wall extension piece to get it installed tonight.  This may seem like not such a big deal, but this piece is a major lynch pin to the entire fuel sump build.  Not only is it a part of the front wall –making the front wall a bulkhead by traversing from one fuselage sidewall to the other– but it also ties the sump to CS118 for added strength.  Finally, it secures the 3 fuel lines heading aft: one to each sump tank and the other to the engine.

One of my tasks was to make foam fuel line mounting brackets that –at least the bigger one– will need to be glassed in place when the fuel sump right forward wall extension piece gets glassed in.  I’ll most likely wait on the smaller bracket.  If you’re wondering why I went with foam and am using fiberglass to secure the fuel lines, I actually got the idea when I queried Nick Ugolini on it.

To use Adel clamps, I would have had to spread out the fuel lines much farther apart (unless I grouped them together, which was not something I was so keen on doing). Plus, the way the fuel lines go through the pilot seat back opening, they either have to have a significant bend or slant to get them to the sidewall an inch away to use the Adel clamps, or they still need some type of bracket built to provide the required standoff from the sidewall.

Yes, if my “map” pocket wasn’t installed I could have possibly drilled or removed the edge of the pilot seat back that sticks out from the sidewall, but I wouldn’t prefer to do that anyway . . . and of course it’s not an option in this case.  To be clear, I have been researching this topic online and talking to folks for over a week now regarding the securing of fuel lines, and when Nick mentioned this, it was simply an Aha! moment.

After a grinding few hours, here’s the final glassing-in of the fuel sump right forward wall extension piece. Obviously in the pic you can see where I’ve also 5-min glued the right armrest storage pocket.  As for the sump wall extension piece, I floxed it in place first after sliding the 3 fuel lines into the initial slot I created on this 1″ thick Divinycell extension.  I then used a clamp as a spreader to keep the extension piece firmly pressed against the right sidewall.  A bit later I had to remove the clamp for a bit while I mounted the foam fuel line bracket, but then it went right back into place.

I used a couple of pieces of the original foam I cut out of the wall extension piece to place back under the bottom fuel line.  To lighten up the fuel line install I resorted to using flocro with a bit more micro than flox.  I flocro’d the bottom foam piece back into place under the  bottom fuel line, then had to add another 0.4″ thick foam piece to get the height correct.  I then slathered up the channel for the middle fuel line with flocro and added a 0.35″ foam spacer between the first and second fuel lines.  Again, I added more flocro and then another 0.40″ foam spacer between the middle and top fuel lines. Finally, I closed up the space above the top fuel line with another foam piece flocro’d in place.  The top fuel line has a tad more space between it and the middle fuel line to provide just a bit of clearance for the fitting that’s right there.

Once I knew the wall extension piece was securely in place, as were the fuel lines, I then carefully used sandbags to weigh down both fuel lines going to the Hydramats in an effort to have them cure in the correct position.  I of course am hoping that there is minimal spring back and that this works . . . to make it easier when mounting the middle and right side walls. Not a huge deal if they don’t, but again, it would make the upcoming wall installations easier.

Besides using 2-ply BID tapes to secure the sump wall extension piece to the right sidewall & fuselage floor–respectively, I also laid up 2-ply BID tapes between the CS118 mini-bulkhead and the sump wall extension, also on both the front and aft sides.

In the pic below you can also see the foam fuel line bracket that I floxed & glassed in place.  For this I simply used 1 ply of BID on each side.  After I ensure the fuel lines are in the correct position, tomorrow I’ll secure each fuel line in place with flox in its respective notch, then I’ll layup a 1″ wide ply of BID over the entire edge of the fuel line bracket, from floor to sidewall.  I’ll most likely mount the other fuel line bracket, and probably even get the fuel lines nice and situated, then mounted at the pilot seat bulkhead opening.

A few hours later after I finished the layups above, here’s the floxed in place and 90% cured pilot right armrest “map” pocket.  I ended up mounting it about 0.050″ lower than I had marked, which actually works out perfectly because there is literally no sign of the actual “map” pocket visible when the armrest is installed.

I actually did this early evening before it got too dark, but I placed it here in the blog for better topic flow.  I went out to my shed and pulled out the big miter saw to cut this 2.5″ x 2.5″ x 3″ wide 6061-T6 angled aluminum bracket piece for the initial fuel selector valve bracket.  This bracket will be the base for the “S” curve bracket that will attach to it. In turn, the “S” curve bracket will be what the fuel selector valve actually mounts to.  The position shown here is way low since I just have it setting there.  However, the left/right position shown is pretty much spot on.

Here’s a shot of it free & clear.

Tomorrow I’ll continue to work on the thigh support fuel sump and should get the front side of the front sump wall glassed, and then actually get the front wall installed tomorrow night.  Then I’ll start working on getting the 2 side walls & 1 interior rib cut out, shaped and glassed.

Today I started out by trimming the right front corner piece of the fuel sump’s front wall extension.  I had glassed the aft side last night, and now I trimmed it up in prep for glassing a ply of BID on the front side.  I did leave the glass over the channel in the middle alone for now just to maintain a little bit more strength in the piece while handling it.

I then micro’d up the foam and laid up 1 ply of BID on the front side.

Something I didn’t mention from last night is that I took the small bit of left over epoxy that I had, whipped up some flox, quickly prepped 2 Clickbonds, and floxed them to the corner of the fuselage in a couple spots to secure the pair of big electrical cables going from nose to aft.  I also embedded a RivNut (not shown) in the pilot seat bulkhead, for an additional Adel clamp for these big battery cables.

So, before I mixed up the epoxy to glass the 1 ply BID layup on the fuel sump right front wall extension piece above (today), I made up two small 2-ply BID pre-preg setups with ~2″ x 2″ plies to secure the Clickbond assemblies that I floxed in place last night using the leftover epoxy.  I laid up a 2″x2″ 2-ply BID layup over the first Clickbond, which is located in the area below the pilot control stick.

Here’s a closer look.

The 2nd Clickbond lies halfway between the pilot seat bulkhead and CS118, aft control assembly mounting mini-bulkhead.  It also got a couple plies of BID.  As you can, I also peel plied both of these Clickbond BID layups.

Still using the same epoxy as the above layups, I whipped up some more flox to attach yet another Clickbond for the big battery cable pair, and also embedded another RivNut in the GIB seat bulkhead for the same purpose.  I know that I’ll need one more Adel clamp in the Hellhole for the big battery cable pair, perhaps two, but that will be it for securing these mondo cables up to where they either attach (-) or pass thru (+) the firewall.

I realized that I was remiss in showing a pic of the fuel selector valve with all the fuel lines in place, so here’s a shot.  Also, to the right you can see one of the new Clickbonds.

I then pulled my table saw out of the shed and cut a 1/4″ thick piece of Finnish Birch plywood for the oil heat pump mounting pad.  I also beveled the edges in prep for it getting glassed into place.

I then tried out the fit of the oil heat pump on its new mounting pad.  The 4 each AN3 bolts will stick through the pad –with the heads embedded in the plywood on the back side– to secure the oil heat pump.  In addition, before I glass all this I’ll sand the beveled edges of the pad to remove any sharp corners.

While I had my table saw out I took the opportunity to cut up some 2″ thick urethane foam for some plugs.  The 2 longer strips on the right will be plugs for the heat & air ducts, while the block in the center is the GIB right armrest storage pocket plug.  FYI – this storage pocket is somewhat like the “map” pocket in the front right pilot’s console, only much bigger.

I hate wasting dead space in this plane, especially since storage space is a premium in Long-EZs.  Since I have just a hair wider back seat bulkhead (around 0.8″), combined with the Cozy Girrrl’s Cozy style control sticks [which straddle the control tube vs. attaching just on the inboard side], I needed to move my control tube assembling inboard about 3/4″ if I wanted the configuration to match that of the plans.  All these minor mods served to create a significant gap between the aft control tube and the right fuselage sidewall.  A gap that I of course exploited to use as storage.

I had jotted down some initial configurations last night, and further dialed those in today to come up with a storage pocket measuring 12.5″ long x 1.7″ wide x 6″ deep (tapering up to 5.2″ deep on the aft side).

This configuration not only provides a fair amount more storage, but it also allows all the engine fuel feed line, main tank sump feed line, big power cables and a smaller electrical bundle to all traverse around or under it.

Thus, with my design good, and wanting to dial in the engine fuel feed line, specifically, I decided to go ahead and glass this baby up.

I started by taping up the urethane foam plug with silver duct tape.  For a smoother interior pocket surface after it has cured, I then followed that up with a layer of clear packing tape.

I used BID as the first ply down, followed up by 2 plies of UNI biased in opposite ~30° directions.  To add a little bit more stiffness than my “map” pocket, I added 1 more ply of BID that covers the entire side and about half of the bottom and each end.

Here’s the glassed GIB right armrest storage pocket.

I then peel plied the bottom, front and back sides to allow for future glassing in place with BID tapes.

I then left it to cure as I went out for the evening.