Hey Folks,

Well, it’s been a crazy summer… consistently super hot weather that has kept the internal workshop temps well into the mid-90’s to over 100° F, and that’s with fans on.  So I’ve been delving into some other homestead tasks while still trying to get a bit done here and there on the bird.  The hot weather has eased up slightly, so I’ve been spending another 1-2 hours a day more in the shop (before still needing a shower!).

The electrical system and instrument panel install is still virtually complete.  My Trio autopilot is installed and Garmin GNS-480 GPS Navigator and Bendix-King AV8OR handheld GPS back in hand from getting repaired. 

I still need to finalize the weight and balance on the ailerons before their final installation onto the wings.

Also on the upcoming to-do list is the final canopy install… and getting the rudder/brake pedals configured and installed, along with the brake lines, master cylinders and reservoirs plumbed. 

Slowly making progress . . .

Today was all about getting the final left fuel line tubing segment made up and installed.

And I’ll note that with the weather temp dropping into the mid-80’s (about 5-6° cooler than the usual lately), it provided a noticeable slight reprieve from this crazy heat of late.

Note the fuel line segment coming from the black inline fuel valve to the fuel selector valve.  It looks a little odd at this camera angle as it looks like a constant shallow curve up into the fuel selector valve.  That is an optical illusion, as there is actually 2 curves at play just below the fuel selector valve: a 90° from vertical-to-horizontal and about a 23° curve forward to place the fuel line somewhat in the center between the aft (right tank) and forward (out to fuel pump) fuel line tubes on the right side of the fuel selector valve [note peel ply pulled and glass edges cleaned up from yesterday’s support pedestal layups].

Here’s a bit higher angle of the above pic: note the fuel selector valve “free floating” as it is only secured in this position by the 3 fuel line fittings threaded to hand tightness at this point.

I then installed the fuel selector valve first to the compound angled securing bracket, which involved also installing the valve’s fascia ring plate.

Once the fuel selector valve was secured to the bracket with 3 stainless steel button head screws, it resulted in the bracket being askew —angled off to the right by about 0.3″.  I then rotated the fuel selector valve and bracket CCW and temporarily secured it in place with a hex wrench inserted into a K1000-8 before installing all the mounting CS screws.

I also had to add some space between right fuel line tubing (farthest aft) and the left fuel line inline valve to ensure the open/closed handle could rotate freely.  To further ensure clearance I also rotated the inline valve body to ensure that its top face (flat section) was actually vertical before securing it to the support pedestal with heat shrink covered zip ties.

Below you can see the 6x #8 CS screws that secure the fuel selector valve mounting bracket to the lower right angle bracket just below the nose gear viewing window.

I then installed the fuel selector valve’s rotating handle and the small painted screw cover plate over the bracket securing screws I highlighted above.  Also note that I turned the left fuel line inline valve handle to closed (up) to verify clearance with the nearby right fuel line tubing.

Here is a closer-up shot of the left fuel line inline valve handle in the closed (up) position.  This pic also gives us a better view of the fuel valve support pedestal aft layup after cleanup. Again, when this inline valve is in the open (down) position it will be safety wired to the Adel clamp screw seen at the bottom of the pic above.

And while I’m very pleased with the good progress I made on the fuel system today, I will note that I still have to do the final torques on all the fuel line tubing securing nuts and secure/pad the fuel lines where the contact any composite surfaces.

Today was another barn-burner hot day… I was soaked to the bone in less than 20 minutes.  Thus I’m looking at some type of additional shop cooling options, since layups and such are not designed to be an 80/20 mix of epoxy and sweat!! (I digress…)

I started off by removing the weights from atop the left fuel line on/off valve, exposing the pair of yellow zip ties that are securing the valve body to the top edge of the foam/fiberglass support pedestal… which by the way measures about 2″ wide x 2.1″ high.

I then cut the zip ties to reveal the position of the left fuel line on/off valve in its unencumbered state.  Also, once installed, I’ll safety wire the valve lever into the open position (as it sits) vs closed, which is 90° up from its current position.

In prep for the final glassing of the valve support pedestal, I removed the valve.

I then prepregged 2 sets of 2-ply BID in 2″ x 2″ squares (yes, a lot of “2”s!)… and after applying a flox fillet in the corners of the support pedestal and fuselage floor, I then laid up the aft side BID tape.  And then peel plied it of course.

I then did the same thing on the front side of the valve support pedestal… the only difference on this side being that the epoxy was getting more gummy since I was using fast hardener and the heat was insane!  But I got ‘er done, just under the wire!

Tomorrow I’ll pull the peel ply and clean up the edges of the cured securing BID before getting to work on the last cross-connect tube between the left fuel line valve and the fuel tank selector valve input port.

Again… pressing forward (hot and slow!!)

Today was another scorcher.  And with that mandatory notice out of the way, my goal for the day was to get as far on trimming and shaping the left fuel feed line to allow for installing an on/off fuel valve.

As I mentioned in my recent video, I WILL NOT be installing a fuel valve for the right fuel line at this point due to time and space constraints.  The 90° bend in the left fuel line up to the fuel selector valve was not a pretty sight, and since it needed reforming, I decided to go ahead and install the left side on/off fuel valve now.

This was pretty much the status of things when I started today . . .

I then cut about 1.5″ off the end of the left fuel line tube to allow me to get it out and free from the transit slot in the thigh support rib.  Of course it’s tight quarter working in this area, so I simply used side cutters for this initial cut.  Then once I positioned the tube where I wanted it, I used my tube bender to place a 90° bend on the tube.

I cut the the tube to length, then slid the anodized blue tube nut and sleeve onto the tubing before flaring it… again, tight quarters!

Here’s the newly bent, prepped and flared left fuel line, ready to attach to the fuel on/off valve.

Which I did here to check out fit and alignment…

I then spent a good little bit determining the height and angle of where I wanted the fuel valve to allow me to get the width and height of the 3/8″ foam pedestal it will sit atop.

Out of a scrap piece of BID covered 3/8″ thick PVC foam, I then cut out the left fuel line on/off valve mounting pedestal.

Employing the tried and true KISS principle here I simply plan to secure the fuel valve to its mounting pedestal with zip-ties, so I drilled, prepped and micro’d in a couple nubs of -6 3003 aluminum tubing into the top area of the pedestal.

I then zip-tied the fuel valve to the pedestal top edge, slathered up the bottom foam edge of the pedestal with micro and then threaded the fuel valve to the end of the left fuel line.  With the fuel valve fastened to the fuel line, I then did some minor reposition on the pedestal as I weighed it down for curing.

Tomorrow I’ll add a fillet to each side of the pedestal and glass it in place with 2-ply BID tapes before moving on to my final cross-connect fuel line between the on/off valve to the fuel tank selector valve.

To start off, this summer’s heat has been both persistent and brutal, consistently in the low to mid- 90’s outside… meaning high-90’s to well over 100° F in the shop.  Maybe I’m getting old and wimpy, but being in a full set of work clothes, drenched and dripping with sweat after 15 minutes of working, with shop fans on full high, is just not working for me thus far.  So I set my attention on other tasks that have needed to be done as I await cooler weather temps.

Ok, here’s another shot of the panel —fired up to run the fuel boost pump.

As you can see here, the fuel boost pump has been re-installed, the new 45° fitting is installed on the right side, and the fuel selector valve base mounting plate was installed as well (upper left corner).

I made a fairly short video of the priming of the EFII fuel boost pump…

Which I referenced the paint cup on the firewall as a fuel overflow container.  I did in fact need it, so I was of course glad that I secured it under the firewall fuel outlet fitting (black, center top).

And a final shot of the excess 100LL fuel that came out of the firewall fuel outlet fitting.

I’ll note that I also checked all the fuel joints down the right sidewall (as best possible) and found no leaks.

Pressing forward!

Over the past few weeks I’ve finished installing the Trio AP roll servo.  I have a couple minor tasks upon final no-kidding install where I’ll decide best how to secure the electrical cable.

I’ve also done a good bit of cleanup of all the wiring bits and pieces leftover from the electrical wiring install tasks.  That and another few rounds of some wire management as well.

Not a whole lot accomplished, but I’ll reiterate just how crazy hot (and humid!) it has been for many weeks now.

Today I got the EFII fuel pump set in place after getting the 45° fitting installed and test fitted with the engine fuel line.  While the fuel pump was still loose I installed the fuel selector valve 90° mounting bracket (just above fuel boost pump) and secured into place with its 3x AN3 bolts.

I then secured all the fuel boost pump hardware hand tight before attaching the engine fuel line to the new 45° fitting on the right end of the fuel boost pump.  Once the fittings were torqued to spec, I then tightened up all the fuel boost pump mounting hardware.

I then secured the wing light wires exiting out of the end of each strake to ensure the wires were tightly bundled together.  Close to the D-Sub connectors I used a zip-tie, and then wax cable lace ties around every 6″ away from the connector, to add another 2 tie points on each bundle.

I then measured and cut a length of black protective anti-chaffing sleeve that I ordered from McMaster-Carr specifically to protect the bare control stick electrical cable (blue) .

And with that, I called it a night.  Next up will be more on the fuel lines to get the fuel selector valve installed.

I’ve had my Trio Pro Pilot autopilot back from Trio Avionics for over a week now with its screen repaired.  As I noted in the project overview, May and June have been crazy busy and the latter half of last week we were up in Williamsburg, VA on a mini-vaca that included Bush Gardens and Water Country USA (trying to regain/retain my youth!).

I’ve also been researching/designing/compiling and assembling my own in-house capability to dismount/mount virtually any tire as I needed to replace my motorcycle tires since I had the rear one go flat on me while cruising down the Outer Banks with Jess.  The local tire-changing businesses want from $100 to $300 to change one tire, and with me being the tightwad that I am, I decided I needed to learn a new skill.  That of course took a couple of weeks off and on to figure out.

Anyhoo… although I’ve done a few plane-building tasks in the shop here and there, I’m finally getting back onto the build consistently enough to report my shenanigans on the blog.

Since the wings aren’t mounted and I don’t have the outer aileron control tube available, I temporarily installed the forward heat shield on the right side to assess whether the autopilot roll servo pivot arm should face forward or aft (as it’s not yet mounted in place, see tape below).

After setting the aileron control tube in its approximate alignment using small plastic CPC pin & socket storage bins… and a screwdriver, I then played around with possible positions and angles of the servo control tube (silver) that connects the servo pivot arm to the aileron control tube (black).

After a few machinations it was very clear that the control tube angle was much shallower with the roll servo pivot arm facing forward —as in the pic below— than facing aft.  Plus it’s a cleaner install with all the components closer to the to CS spar and tucked out of the way rather than with the pivot arm facing aft and everything hanging in the breeze!

Again, as you can see in pic 1 the servo pivot arm is temporarily taped into place since the 4 screws that secure it have Loctite 222 pre-applied and are reportedly fairly difficult to remove once installed (per manual).

That being said, I was going off an old install write-up from Nick Ugolini where he stated to connect the control tube to the center hole on the pivot arm, but that was for the pitch servo, which has the pivot arm facing outboard from the body and thus easy to relocate from hole to hole for the servo control tube to dial it in.  In both the install manual and in talking to Chuck Busch at Trio, typically the outer hole is used for more leverage, and after another re-read of the manual I decided to swap the securing bolt from the middle hole on the pivot arm to the outermost hole before I installed the mounting screws (pic 2).  Clearly with the pivot arm facing forward, underneath the servo, if I wanted to change holes I would have to remove the pivot arm… so better safe than sorry on the leverage.

BUT, that all being said…. when I attempted to remove the first screw I had threaded in above, it came out quite easily… too easily in my book, given it had Loctite 222 pre-applied.  So Iinstalled just one more screw before temp installing the roll servo back onto the CS spar.  I’ll call Chuck tomorrow and confirm the Loctite situ and get a couple of other questions I have answered.

With the roll servo in place on the CS spar, and cables connected up via the Deutsch connector, I then re-installed the screen-replaced Trio Pro Pilot autopilot control head into the panel.

I then fired it up and was pleased to be greeted by an operational screen!

Here’s a couple more screens, which is about all I can show at this point since it doesn’t report much without a GPS signal (which I have none with the bird in my metal shop).

And with that, I called it a night.

Back to pressing forward!

Yes, I haven’t posted in the past week.  So what have I been up to?

First off, it took a couple of days for Phil to knock out the extra sanding and buffing on the ailerons.  While I was there helping I could see the considerable amount of white paint powder being ground off the surfaces of the ailerons, as Phil aggressively attacked the ailerons.

But then something very strange happened.  I had already weighed the ailerons pre-finish and post-paint where they each had gained nearly 8 oz total of weight from micro, primer and paint.  If you remember, this is also dialing in the surfaces of the ailerons and the wings to match each other in airflow. So with the weight known, I weighed each aileron again.

Shockingly, with pretty much all the visible orange peel removed on both top and bottoms of the ailerons, and with all the paint powder I saw coming off the ailerons… so much that just by holding them in place while Phil worked I had to wash a bunch of it  off my hands, the grand total in net weight removed for aileron was less than 0.5 ounce… barely registerable.  Moreover, after this latest round of sanding the bottom of the ailerons, the varying colors of bare glass vs primer is visible under the paint, as the primer was essentially used to finalize low spot fill on these ailerons.

The bottom line is that my ailerons are heavy, as are many in the fleet born out in the testimonies by many forum, newsletter, discussion accounts.  I sanded them extremely aggressively pre-finish and was well through a significant bit of the top ply of UNI on both sides.

It is my belief that while there is a solid ounce or two that is cooked into the finish and paint that adds to both the weight and balance issues, my decision now is between stripped, “lumpy” ailerons that seriously risk no longer matching the wing surfaces to get them to weigh slightly less and possibly balance that way, or go full rogue and bust the 0.3 lb added weight allowance by less than 0.1 lb each side to get them into balance.  With the caveat that I plan on rebuilding the ailerons (preferable with carbon fiber ala Klaus), I’m choosing the latter.

With my heretical decision made, I ordered some 1/8″ diameter lead “wire” and set about to drill a 1/8″ hole in the upper aft “corner” behind the existing balance weight rod.  But since the aileron is 65″ wide I needed a drill bit longer than 33″ to come in from each end to create the channel hole for the 1/8″ lead wire.  I started with the 24″ drill bit I had on hand, but clearly that didn’t get me through all the way past center.

After looking for a good day, to no avail, to find a longer 1/8″ drill bit, I decided I needed to make my own.  I bought a 36″ piece of 1/8″ steel rod and then used a grinder to create flutes on each side and an angled point on the tip:

Here we have the new 36″ long 1/8″ diameter drill bit on top, and the shorter actual 24″ drill bit on the bottom.

With the 1/8″ hole made across the entire aileron, just aft and above the original balance weight, I then slathered up the inside of the hole and the 1/8″ lead wire with wet flox as I cajoled the wire into the hole.  Since friction was too much with this soft flexible “wire” to allow me to insert the lead from just one side, I cut it in half and slid the wire in from both ends of the aileron.

I then left the flox-secured lead wire to cure overnight and will assess further after weighing and checking balance on both ailerons.

As an aside, I will also note that Jess and I went out of town for 3 days over the weekend to celebrate our anniversary, which was another big chunk of my plane-building absence.

So in addition to my aileron quagmire, I’ve also been dealing with getting the fuel selector valve and fuel pump final plumbing completed.

I used the cut off piece from the fuel line I deemed unserviceable as a nozzle to allow me to inject 100LL into the EFII fuel boost pump to prime it before testing if it powered on.

I had set up my video camera on a tripod and was actually planning on making a short video on it, but I started running into issues.

First, after shooting in nearly 2 full large syringes worth of 100LL and flipping the switch, the FUEL PUMP indicator lit up but nothing happened…

I tested the electrical connectors with my multimeter to find that both positive and ground leads were both connected to ground.  And that I had also popped the fuse.

After some investigation I found that the positive connector was touching the case, grounding it out (apparently a minor issue in that I found many builders who install these pumps cover the positive connector to prevent this from happening).  With my checks looking good, I once again resumed my test.

Strike two!  When I flipped the switch nothing happened.  After another full round of electrical checks with the multimeter I could find no issues.  I then remembered when I was working on my wife’s convertible Mustang top that before filling the pump with oil I had to rap on it a few times to get it to work.  I employed the same method here, banging on both cylinders with the handle of my screwdriver.

Voila! It kicked on.

Then STRIKE 3!  Wanting to ensure that the boost pump was operating, which it is, I only flipped its switch on for maybe a second to hear it turn on.  I then realized that the whole right end compartment under the pilot thigh support was flooded with 100LL.  I sopped it up with paper towels and rags and threw those outside to dry, then sprayed and cleaned the area with Simple Green to knock down the fuel smell.

Sins of the past!  Somewhere along the route of my fuel boost pump installation I had temporarily installed a standard 45° -4 NPT to -6 AN elbow fitting (shown above) at the pump exit to feed into the engine fuel feed line.  And while it does thread in fairly snugly, it is NOT the same threading (I would have gooped it as well for final install).

I’m guessing that since I removed straight blue anodized aluminum fittings to then allow me to install a 90° fitting (from EFII) on the left side, that I assumed the removed fittings were NPT threads.  They are not.  They are O-Ring Boss (ORB) straight threaded fittings going into each end of the fuel pump (shown below).

As you can see above, I had already configured the geometry of the engine fuel feed line to connect to a 45° fitting vs the 90° fitting sent to me by EFII.  At this point, not knowing what thread I was dealing with yet (BSPP? NPSM? ORB?) I called EFII in California about an hour after they opened, but had to leave a voicemail for them to call me back.  In the meantime I whittled the thread options down and was fairly certain that it was ORB threads.

I then did a fairly exhaustive search online to find a 45° fitting with ORB threads on one end and -6 AN threads on the other.  Thankfully I found a few sources of supply.

STRIKE 4!  Yep, during my research in my attempt to find out what thread these fittings were on the pump side, I ran across a statement on EFII’s website in reference to the installation orientation of the fuel pump: “The unit can be mounted in a standing up fashion with the fuel pump above the regulator which is common for installations in tandem aircraft…”

What?!

Let’s look at all the historical reference material that I had on hand from around the time I bought this fuel boost pump.  First, here’s a pic from my old installation manual.  Note the smaller diameter regulator over the fuel pump (and no description of what components are what).

And another example pic, orientation the same way:

And a newer pic from their website, almost always with the actual fuel pump depicted on the bottom, when it should be on the top (per their statement).

To be fair, there is one older shot with the fuel pump up top, and this is a new pic I’ve never seen before on their website.

To be clear: I’m NOT fragging EFII.  I’m just noting why in my mind there was no question that the actual fuel pump was to be mounted on the bottom.

No big deal though, as when I called EFII back towards the end of the day I confirmed that, A) Yes, the fittings do have ORB threads and, B) there is no big issue with the fuel pump on the bottom, it may just take a second or two longer to prime the system.

With that, I ordered a new 45° ORB & -6 AN fitting.  Tomorrow I’ll press forward on the ailerons and the fuel selector valve plumbing.

Pressing forward… one issue at a time!

After dropping off a few tidbits at the hangar, I then went home to my shop and assessed my plan for the aileron weight and balance.

Since there was quite a bit of orange peel still remaining on the left aileron and some significant smatterings on the right aileron, my thought was that I was simply going to sand off all the paint —starting on the bottoms first— assess the weight, and then figure out the top sides after that.

All in all, I’m really only about an ounce over on each elevator that is currently prohibiting me from not violating the plans ‘golden rule’ of only adding 0.3 lbs to get my ailerons back to good in the balancing department.

I then took a break and headed into town to run some errands and also visit my paint guy to see if he knew any independent painters that may be able to shoot a light coat of paint on each side of the ailerons in a paint booth (this last part being critical to getting a decent paint cure without dust or critters mixed in with the paint).

But alas, he didn’t know anyone that was flying solo in regards to shooting paint.

Now, part of the dynamic duo that buffed out my paint, Ray, happened to stop by at Guy’s hangar the other day while I was there… today I reciprocated by stopping in to Phil’s shop to ask them if they knew any independent painters.  In our ensuing discussion, Phil offered up taking a crack at really knocking the paint down (aka “orange peel”) first before doing anything more drastic.

Yep, good to collaborate and have folks offer up different courses of action other than going with the nuclear option right out of the gate <<why hadn’t I thought of that?!>>

So I ran back to my shop, collected up the ailerons and delivered them to Phil’s shop for round 2 of weight elimination.

After about 20 minutes of Phil whittling away on the top third of the left aileron, it was looking much better… and with the amount of white powder from the sanding and buffing I was beginning to think we might just be able to eliminate a good ounce by going much more aggressive on the top and bottom sides of the aileron.  He totally understood what I was needing and we agreed to at least try removing a good bit more of the undesirable orange peel and knock the paint down a good bit.  Again, giving it the ‘ol college try in eliminating as much weight as possible.

Tomorrow mid-day I’ll collect up the ailerons after Phil gives them the aggressive what-fer and check the balance.  I’ll assess and press on from there.

In regards to my schedule for the day, I had blocked out a few hours to go see the new Star Wars movie with Jess and my stepson, but then our plans changed at which point I was released from my virtual ‘holding pattern’ <wink!>.

I then engaged in another round of reviewing my past notes regarding my fuel system and jumped back into the shop to begin the process of finalizing my fuel system connections.

Now, a month or so back I had emailed Andair to ask them what the best method would be to clean up my fuel selector valve to get it looking all spiffy and new.  A bit to my surprise they told me to use 100LL as a cleaning agent to get the anodized aluminum parts looking new again… as the valve lever and cover plate had spent literally years covered by painters tape.  As you can see here.

And here… notice the gunk on all the pieces parts from both the tape and the exposure to both garden variety dust, and —moreover— micro dust that had seeped in under the tape, from all my building shenanigans.

Well, hats off to our British brethren because they hit the nail on the head!  I have a gallon of 100LL that I used for the initial calibration of my fuel tank probes many moons ago and it worked an absolute treat in cleaning up the anodized aluminum on my fuel selector valve.  Of course I followed up the 100LL fuel cleaning with some Simple Green to remove the fuel smell off the parts, but again, as you can see they came out spiffy clean!

I then set about to assess what all needs to occur to get the fuel lines terminating into said fuel selector valve and squared away for the final install.

Now, speaking of valves… I’m taking a page out of Marco’s fuel injection conversion by installing a fuel on/off valve that will allow me to cut all fuel off to one of the incoming fuel tank lines (via the GIB thigh support sump) since the line with the green tape on it has a little bit too much of a kink at the elbow below the selector valve to be called good for flight ops (I’ll have to review my notes/blog to ID as to which tank it actually goes to).

To be honest, I was going to forego these on/off cutoff valves at this point simply to get the plane in the air, mainly since I would have to engage in significant machinations to get them both installed due to the limited space under the thigh support in this area.

But since only one of the two fuel feed lines from the GIB thigh support sumps is good, I’ll have to cut the unacceptable line anyway… so I might as well get one of the two valves installed at this juncture.  I’ll note that I will PLAN both out now, but only the one will get installed:  Yep, one cutoff valve is better than nothing at this point, so to minimize build time I’m pressing forward in this direction.

As it stands now, the line showing just aft, right and below the fuel selector valve is good and will be connected with no cutoff valve.  Behind that and to the left underside of the valve is the line that has the green tape on it.  Again, that will be cut, valve installed and then a new short length of tubing cut, bent and terminated into the valve coming from the cutoff valve.

Finally, the length of tubing on the far left, adjacent the pilot thigh support rib, has been tweaked to work (I had considered installing a braided steel line here) and will be used as originally designed and configured.

One would think that this task should not have taken an entire evening to figure out, but then that is the general thought on this entire build!  In short, it did take ‘that long.’

And after getting my fuel line plan figured out, I called it a night and will press onward tomorrow.

Today was a bit of a split day, given that my elevators wanted to give me one last little bit of guff before finally settling in on the canard.

First off, on the left side the elevator outboard weight was catching on the inside front wall of the notched pocket in the canard.  It took nearly a full hour of judicious sanding (pic 1) to get a decent gap between weight and pocket (pic 2)… not quite 1/16″, but still good enough.

I will note a fix-it task I have on my to-do list, which is the left inside corner TE at the elevator outboard junction where my buffout guys somehow dinged the canard.  I’ll figure out the best fill for this and fix it after I’ve got the more important stuff knocked out.

I tried to install the set screw on the outer underside edge of the left elevator to secure the hinge pin, but the threaded hole was a bit too gunky with epoxy and paint to thread the screw in.

On the right side elevator I got the set screw to thread in, but I felt the 1/4″ set screw was too short… and this is how far in I could thread the 1/2″ set screw.  Clearly a 3/8″ screw would be just right.

Here we are a few hours later after I picked up some 3/8″ long 10-32 stainless steel set screws.

And here is the new set screw, with Loctite, threaded into place.

Also note the protruding hinge pin out of the end of canard.  I had notched the hinge pins to allow the set screws to be seated many moons ago, and for some reason both side pin ends are protruding far more than I had configured… weird.  But those protrusions on both ends will stay for now, because I’m not pulling the elevators off to regrind the hinge pin ends at this point.  That will have to be yet another future task to be completed.

I also picked up my 10-32 tap set up at my home shop to clean out the left side set screw threaded channel (and yes, note the slightly-less-protruding hinge pin).

That did the trick, after which I installed the left side elevator 3/8″ long stainless steel set screw with Loctite.

I must have picked up my phone and got cutting fluid on the lens (or something) because my next 3 pics came out fuzzy…  but I’ll add them here for you to decipher.

Here we have the elevators on the canard . . .

And (fuzzy) shots of the installed right (pic 1) and left (pic 2) elevators.

I then went to my home shop and assessed the ailerons’ weight and balance for nearly 2 hours in the shop, before spending another few hours inside finding out all the info I could on Long-EZ/canards aileron weight and balance.  I then developed my action plan… more to follow on that in the coming posts.

Pressing forward!