7/3/06, 6 hours: cut the 2" hole for the heater control with my new Greenlee punch and then worked on installing the Garmin stack.  Determined the vertical location of the stack in the avionics opening of the Affordable Panels Slider XL frame and corresponding location of the necessary cutout in the rear panel support bulkhead.  Cut that and prepped the decking for reassembly and riveting once a bunch of work near the rudder pedals is complete.

7/5/06, 6 hours: installed the fuel supply line from the selector to the boost pump and then to the gascolator.  The usual pain in the ass dealing with getting everything cut, bent, and flared just right.  EZTurned all the fuel-related fittings in the cockpit.  Marked the location of the holes for the engine controls.

7/6/06, 4 hours: installed the cabin heat control.

7/7/06, 1 hour: drilled/cut holes for carb heat, mixture, and throttle.  Installed eyeball grommets.

7/10/06, 6 hours: moved the transducer manifold fuel line from the bottom inboard to the bottom outboard position, per Checkoway's experience.  Using paper tape measure from Ikea, tentatively confirmed that the hose will reach.  Installed eyeball grommet for the prop control cable in the position designated "fuel injected mixture" (DWG 19); that way there will be no interference with the brake lines going to the parking brake unit and the bend in the cable may be reduced.  I can always plug the hole and move it elsewhere if this decision turns out to be wrong.  Alea jacta est as Julius Caesar said on his way to the Senate.

Moved on to electrics, installing the starter and master contactor diodes, and the base for the current limiter.

7/11/06, 8 hours: finished the current limiter install.  Put rubber boots on the copper bars, as it should be to eliminate exposure of positive leads on the airplane.  Reassembled the panel decking and went ahead with the installation of the Garmin stack.  It looks kind of bare and lonely, but it's progress.  Next step is marrying up the wiring of the Grand Rapids EFISes, Garmin family, and Digiflight IIVSGV, per the GR diagram.  Piece of cake...

7/13/06, 6 hours: fit the top skin, drilled the middle instrument panel rib to the firewall, installed two more angles to attach rear of the Garmin docks to the panel pieces.  Tomorrow will clean up and dimple everything and rivet the forward deck structure.  If time permits, will move on to prepping the panel for installing the switches.  Still reflecting on putting a hinged platform on the underside of the left panel in order to install the main and essential buses, as another builder did below.

7/14/06, 5 hours: riveted the forward deck structure.

7/17/06, 8 hours: finalized the Garmin rack mounting and panel faceplate.  Also finalized the mount for the AHRS.  Started finding places for and reinstalling the buses, voltage regulators, electronic ignition, and encoder.

7/18/06, 3 hours: installed bus fuse blocks and other items.  Most importantly, installed the Garmin wiring harness made by John Stark.  I'm the first to admit I don't know anything about all this stuff, but the Stark harness looks like a high quality product.

7/19/06, 7 hours: inventoried the Stark harness and compared it to the Grand Rapids schematic.  Several questions.  Installed the trim switch and LED display and began installing the flap switch and position sensor display.

7/25/06, 8 hours: completed installation of the trim and flap electrics, tested everything, then took it all apart to paint the panel piece.  Began laying out the switches.

7/26/06, 8 hours: big day.  Laid out everything on the panel plate, drilled and cut, and installed as you can see below.  This is my "pre-IFR" panel; once I have flown off the hours I will deal with backup instruments.  You can see the notional location of these instruments on the panel pictures.  At the end of the day, installed the first wire to the first switch, a small step but a big leap for me.  Also, ran the wire from the contactor to the main bus.  I AM STOKED!!!

7/27/06, 7 hours: reinstalled the trim and flap switches/displays.  Panel color is pretty lame, but it'll do.  Installed the battery master/alt field, aux alt, and fuel pump/prime switches.

7/31/06, 9 hours : installed the battery and associated wires.  Tested that the battery switch energizes the contactor; all's well.  Researched placement of the fuel primer solenoid and determined it's best to wait until the engine is mounted; should not be a challenge.  Wired the mag/starter switch and tested.  Wired the Whelen strobes and prepped to connect to the switch.  Decided to wait on the electronic ignition wiring until the engine is hung.

8/1/06, 8 hours: wired strobe/position light switch to relevant connections.  Finalized fuselage terminal blocks to the wings.  Punched the panel for the autopilot and backup airspeed indicator.  Also drilled the holes for the pitot temperature display LEDs.  Wired the autopilot power switch.

8/2/06, 11 hours: long day of wires, wires, wires.  Continued installing the autopilot but still need to finalize the servo connectors before I can power the unit up.  Installed the landing light and pitot switches.  Installed the encoder too.  Most importantly, routed many, many wires and portions of the Garmin harness into a pretty niftily organized series of bundles.

8/3/06, 3 hours: routed and connected most of the ground and power wires for the Garmin stack.  Faced with an unlabeled wire that logic suggested was the GNS430 nav power wire, I called Stark avionics and discovered that there are variations between harnesses based on which tech build it.  Ended up checking that the mystery wire was connected to pins 19 and 20 of the main connector with a continuity tester, thus establishing conclusively its identity.  Will do just that with every wire now that I am wiser.

8/4/06, 8 hours: wiring madness going on here.  Connected up the annunciator (VLOC, ILS, GPS, OBS) wires from the Garmin 430 to the corresponding wires to the GRT display units 1 and 2.  Very time consuming process, but it's done.  Began rewiring connector A for both DU1 and DU2 with a new connector and SteinAir pins.  Doing this because pulling out the Grand Rapids harness pins in order to trim the wires to proper length is too hard, and the wires interconnecting both A connectors and the AHRS are tangled.

8/7/06, 7 hours: more wiring madness.  Installed the battery bus wire as well as the wiring to the essential bus, to include the diode and ebus bypass switch.  Determined that I was running out of fuse positions on both the main and essential busses, partly due to five positions being taken up by the breakers to the alternator field wires, starter, and low voltage warning lights.  Having on hand an extra 20-position fuse block, I swapped it for the 10-position essential bus, and installed the 10-position block to play the role of "auxiliary bus".  I will connect the pull-breaker circuits and miscellaneous circuits located on the right side of the panel to it.

8/8/06, 9 hours: finished flap and trim wiring, leaving dimmer circuit for later connection once I settle on a dimming system.  Connected AHRS power wires.  Tackled the scary task of connecting the Stark-made Garmin harness to the GRT and Digiflight II, which began with a long phone call to Stark for clarification of several things.  Took extensive notes and called back for another long conversation.  Bottom line: the harness is high quality work, but the labeling is poor -- at least on my harness.  The guy who made it is serving his country in Iraq now, so the stay-behinds were left to sort things out.  Stark's Tony was very helpful and patient.  About halfway done connecting up all this stuff, a very time-consuming and tedious operation that left me bug-eyed from all the close-in work.  Hope to wind this part of the project up tomorrow and to start setting the engine up for hanging on August 16th.

8/9/06, 7 hours: more wiring, with the conclusion of the majority of GR to Garmin to Trutrak issues.  Also wired and connected the encoder.  Still some minor panel wiring to do, and then of course there's all the engine wiring and EIS connections...  The following pictures depict various aspects of the wiring job; the whole thing may look like a total mess, but it's actually pretty neat.  Tomorrow I tackle engine hanging prep issues listed in the timeline page.

8/10/06, 6 hours: first, secure the rear of the airplane so it won't roll off the table where the tailwheel mount is resting so the airplane is level (actually, 0.1degrees from level).  Then, with measuring tape and plumb bob, picked the exact spot where the engine needs to hang.  Next, a trip to the attic, Lowe's, and back to the attic.  Installed a 6 foot long 4x4 perpendicular to the joists, screwed it in so it can't shift, threw a chain over it with a screw through the top link to pin it in place, and hooked up the 2-ton hoist.  Betting $24,000 on the security of this arrangement, raised the engine and ensured it will locate correctly, which it does.  Then, lowered the engine so it's not pressing against the mount and began to install accessories.  First, the SD20.  B&C says to use Permatex Hylomar HPF or Loctite; couldn't find either and confirmed with B&C they have no alternate recommendations.  The Permatex company website doesn't show any Hylomar, so I called Mattituck -- who I assume knows something about sealing gaskets -- and was told they use EZ-Turn (Fuelube).  Sure enough, it says on the back of the tube that it is suited to gasket sealing.  Also was told they use a rubber roller to put a thin coating on gaskets.  In a later conversation with a Permatex engineer, confirmed that Hylomar HPF is no longer available and was told that 97 High Tack is an acceptable substitute.  So, armed with EZ-Turn and a roll of scotch tap and spindle from a dispenser to spread it on the gasket, installed the SD20.  I need to confirm that the orientation is correct, but it probably doesn't matter.  Installing the SD20 after the engine is mounted looks like a huge ball-buster since the lower inboard nut is almost inaccessible when you can actually get to it.  Crow foot and box wrenches solved the problem.  Next, installed the oil pressure fitting and fitting to and from the oil cooler.  Finally, sorted out the engine mounts and hardware and put them on in order to compare to other builders' pics.  Tomorrow, I'll tackle the governor and engine fuel pump fittings -- and then get back to panel wiring.

8/11/06, 8 hours: installed the governor and fuel pump fittings.  The governor, as delivered by Van's, needs to have the arm moved 180 degrees, which involves cutting the safety wire to and loosening six screws.  No biggie, but then you find that the AN3-11A bolt is too long to be inserted without pulling the governor arm off its splined shaft.  More safety wiring to redo.  Then there's the issue of the studs.  Mattituck included them in the kit but the nuts supplied are an extremely tight fit which means if you screw the stud into the engine case and then screw on the nut, the stud bottoms out and the required 11/8" protrusion does not happen.  5 hours of full-time work later, to include trying to confirm at what angle the governor arm needs to be in the high speed position, and connecting up the cable, I was done.  Do this when the engine is hung and you'd better keep a large bottle of vodka handy for the post-installation party.

Nothing more to install, so I though, what the fuck, I'll try and hang the engine alone.  I got the two top mounts in pretty easily, but as predicted, getting the right lower mount bolt alone is not easy.  So I moved on to the carburetor and installed it.  Monday, it's alternator time, and then it's back to wiring the panel.  Wednesday, Martin will come over and we'll tackle the lower mounts.

8/14/06, 8 hours: installed B&C's 60A alternator and starter, engine ground wire, starter cable, and took long look at the electronic ignition.  Also ordered the various wire and connectors for connecting the alternators.

8/15/06, 6 hours: installed electronic ignition module and associated power wiring.  Will wait to solder up the DB15 connector until I know for sure how I am going to route the cable from the crankshaft sensor to the module.  Installed a shorter belt on the alternator, per Van's recommendation (Gates 7360).

8/16/06, 11 hours: although the engine won't be fully installed until this evening, I am temporarily installing fuel and oil hoses, and other items from the firewall forward kit.

• VA-138 fits fine at the gascolator but the prop governor prevent connecting it to the fuel pump via the KB-000 fitting Van's provided in the firewall forward kit.  It seems that the KB-045 45 degree fitting will work.

• VA-139 from the pump to the carburetor works fine.

• Hoses to the pressure manifold fit fine.

• Breather tube setup looks like it will work; may need further trimming.  I am keeping the NAPA hose tag just in case I need to buy a new one, or one with a different bend.

• VA-135 hose that goes to the oil cooler will not fit onto the provided AN816-8D fitting because the oil filter gets in the way.  Ordering an AN823-8D (45 degree fitting), which should do the trick.

Also, worked on installing the engine control cables.  For knee room purposes, I moved carb heat down to the triangular mount above the fuel selector -- I knew there was a reason for keeping that sucker.  Since carb heat application and switching fuel tanks are part of rough/loss of power emergency procedures, this location seems to make sense.  Installed the rod-end bearings on the mixture and throttle control arms of the carburetor.  Finally, started installing the annunciator lights.

But...the big moment arrived, so Martin and I tackled installing the two lower engine mounts.  To make a long story short, no go on getting the lower bolts to line up, so we yanked the top bolts out and started on the bottom mounts.  We were done in 30 to 40 minutes.  Simply put, the lower mounts are much harder to handle and it makes all the sense in the world to install them first.  The top mounts are easy to reach, the rubber pieces stay in place naturally -- whereas the bottom ones are just begging to slip out of position.  To borrow a line from Slim Pickens, "Ah heard you wuz hung!".  That's what they say...

8/17/06, 8 hours: installed the engine control cables.  The throttle and mixture cables were too short to install in the way mapped out by Van's, so I moved the Adel clamps to the rudder brace.  Van's confirmed it's fine as long as the controls work the way they are supposed to, which they do.  Prop control cable, on the other hand, is way too long, so I routed it through the Adel clamp where it's supposed to.  Everything works well.  A sharp observer would notice in the third pic that the fuel pump cover is not on, implying that the cables will have to be removed at some point so they can go through the cover's holes.  No way!  Installing the cables is way to big a pain.  Instead, I'll cut slots in the cover and install a small plate over the slots to hold the grommets.

Van's confirmed the order for future work is fit spinner flange, cowling, baffles, and then exhaust.  So, first I fabricated the spacers per Van's FAQ so the spinner bulkhead is in the proper position for fitting the cowling halves.  Then, I called Skybolt and ordered the full kit. 

8/19/06, 7 hours: day off yesterday to clear my mind.  Installed - temporarily - the exhaust to aid in routing the alternator and other cables which I want to hook up in order to energize the voltage regulators and associated annunciator lights.  Exhaust seems to fit perfectly.  Installed the B leads and field wires to both alternators, and connected them up to the voltage regulators.

8/21/06, 7 hours: finalized the connections to the voltage regulators.  Completed the over-voltage test directed in the instructions for the LR3 regulator because the fuse on the aux. block blows.  However, even if I put in a 10A fuse (for a 5A) breaker, the fuse goes first, meaning the breaker's only function is as a switch.  Need to determine a better way to bet power to the circuit breakers that avoids the use of fuses, seems to me.

Connected the pitch servo wires to the servo and powered up the autopilot.  No smoke.  Connected the SL30 wires from the Stark harness to the GRT connector.  Powered up the Garmin stack and everything came on fine.  Quick attempt at setting the configuration tells me I need to have Stark talk me through it, which I will do in the morning because it could take some time.

8/22/06, 8 hours: installed the fuel primer solenoid.  Took some time to figure out the ideal location, but I think I got it.  Installed a 3"x3" doubler behind the solenoid to stiffen up the firewall at that location.  Screwed the solenoid to the firewall and doubler with Loctited 3/8" screws and secured with inspection lacquer.  Ran copper tubing as shown the pictures.  Had to solder the copper tube to the brass fitting provided by Mattituck; that went fine.  Decided to wait on connecting the wire from the crankshaft sensor to the Lightspeed box, since it looks like the former will have to go through the baffles at some point.  Better to wait.  Ran the magneto wire through the firewall but did not connect it, since it might need to be disconnected when I install the upper cowling.

8/23/06, 10 hours: installed the Ray Allen G307 stick grips.  Wiring is pretty easy and installation is generally simple, if time consuming.  Had to cut the sticks down quite a bit, not only to clear the panel but also so the grip fits comfortably in my hand while my forearm rests on my leg.  The grips do bump into the throttle and mixture knobs but that's probably because the aileron pushrods are not attached and roll travel is way excessive.  Will have to check that when the wings are on.  Switches will control: radio push-to-talk, autopilot disconnect, GNS430 comm flip-flop, GNS430 nav flip-flop, SL30 flip-flop, and transponder ident.  Except for the radio transmit, all functions are pull-to-ground, so both grips will function identically without having to resort to relays.  

8/24/06, 6 hours: ran some of the wires for the stick and tried to connect the remote ident pin in the GTX330 connector.  Need a thinner pin (high-density pin), but also discovered what a pain in the ass it is to mess with the harness and disassemble the connector.  I'll just have the autopilot disconnect, remote ident and PTT on the stick for now.  Tackled the headset plugs/air vent issue.

8/25/06, 8 hours: installed the headphone connections and air vents.  Completed the wiring of the sticks to the connection block and tested AP disconnect, ident, and both PTTs.  Have not run the wires to the comm/nav flip-flops because I don't think I'm going to wire that stuff at this time.  Probably should run the wires for future use, since all the switches on the grips are wired and tested.

8/28/06, 6 hours: installed static system but will probably need to alter the routing before the top skin goes on.  Just a suspicion.  Probably will have to have the left wing on before I can finalize the pitot hookup, as the routing of the line from the wing through the fuse skin is hard to visualize without the hardware in place.  Next, connected the two remaining annunciators, EFIS warning and EIS warning, minus the connection to the EIS which I do not possess thanks to GRT's glacial production tempo.  Finally, tackled the issue of a bent pin on the GTX330 harness-side connector.  Identified it as pin 42, a second power-in source for the unit; turns out it's a redundant power source with its neighbor, pin 21.  Since the pin scheme shows 56 and 60 as two other power sources, and the available service loop would make using either one easy, I checked with Stark and was given the go-ahead.  Have to be very careful when docking the 430 and 330 because they use an array of high-density pins which are easily bent -- with the potentially onerous result of having to replace the connector.

8/29/06, 6 hours: installed the GTX330 connector, redocked the unit, and powered it up.  Seems to be fine.

Next, worked on the Digiflight II VSGV setup.  Had to clip the jumper between pins 1 and 2 for the pitch servo to work in the right direction.  Adjusted the servo and elevator pushrods to maximum length in order to get the servo arm nearly vertical in the elevator neutral position (summarize notes).  Will redo the checkout tasks before the first flight, but at this point I only need to do the GPS verification portion of the checkout (p. 8).  Rest of the day was messing with the 430 and 330 so they would talk to each other.  With John Starks patient assistance, things work, save for a portion of the setup for which GRT holds the key.  Done for the month.  Back to it after Labor Day.

9/5/06, 8 hours: installed new fittings for the oil line to the cooler and between the gascolator and fuel pump.  First one involved removing the oil filter, which I found was installed by Mattituck without oiling the O-ring; hmmm.....  Installing the KB-045 fitting, however, was not possible because it bumps into the prop governor base.  Easiest solution is to remove most screws from the upper part of the fuel pump, but I will check with Mattituck whether I need to replace the cork gasket if I do that.  Answer in short is: "don't mess with the fuel pump!"  Recommended solution is to loosen the prop governor mount nuts and achieve some clearance that way.  Worked fine that way, but had to go buy a set of stubbies.

Also, installed the cabin heat control, which involved lots of pretzeling (body contortions).  It is imperative to have as much firewall rearward stuff installed before riveting the forward top skin on; access thereafter looks to be very time consuming, difficult, and even painful.  Concluded the day by a partial installation of the parking brake control.  Tomorrow I will find a place for it on the panel or in the cabin and cut the cable to the right length.

9/6/06, 10 hours: finished installing the parking brake control.  Installed the first comm antenna under the copilot seat.  Then, ran into a brick wall.  I should have given advanced consideration of how I was going to route five separate lengths of RG400 from the fuselage to the panel, but it just got lost in the shuffle.  After a bunch of thinking and looking at the various options, I decided to go through the center of the cabin, necessitating the drilling of a pair of 3/4" holes.  Shortened the 4 foot drill extension I used to drill the conduit holes in the wings to about 9 inches and will be able to drill both holes in one shot.  Also, discovered that the throttle and mixture cables are woefully short when I tried to install the center cover.  Something else to work on.

9/7/06, 7 hours: ran the comm antennas coax, installed the left side comm antenna and tested both the GNS430 and SL30 with both headset connections.  Heard the Dulles ATIS with squelch off, and even heard an aircraft talking to Dulles Aviation at Manassas airport -- which is about 17NM away.  Looking good!  Installed the transponder antenna and ran the coax; will terminate at the GTX after I get the 90 degree adapter and check that there is adequate slack.  Finally, installed the marker beacon coax and cut it at the wing root.

9/8/06, 6 hours: ran two lengths of RG400 between the wing roots and SL30/GNS430.  Also, installed the center floor cover and disconnected the throttle and mixture cables to see how much longer these need to be.  Ordered a 3" longer throttle cable and 2" longer mixture cable so that I can attach them to the forward engine control bracket as called for in the Van's plans, and have them properly go through the fuel pump cover.  I find that just operating the engine controls in a normal manner makes the aft engine control bracket flex, so I determined that I can eliminate that undesirable feature by attaching a bracket made from a piece of 1.5x1.5 aluminum angle (from Home Depot) to the back of the bracket.  Something else to work on.   Started to fabricate the mount for the GPS antenna.  TGIF!

9/11/06, 9 hrs: five years ago I was at Virginia International Raceway enjoying a motorcycle track day when I learned of the terrorist attacks.  There are many islamic terrorists left to kill, so godspeed to all our troops out there, especially in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, back in the garage, I finished the GPS antenna platform but did not install it.  Will do so after the upper cowling is fitted, in order to ensure I allow sufficient clearance.  Will also keep in the back of my mind the possibility of installing the antenna on the glare shield or even on the forward top skin, ahead of the canopy.  Other small things: trimmed and routed the rear strobe cable and magnetometer wires, and installed plate nuts on the electronic ignition module so it'll be easier to get out of the way in order to access the battery bus.  Also, fabricated a backing angle for the aft engine control bracket; the action on the controls is definitely more firm, but there is still some flex, which I attribute to the limited stiffness of the panel frame.

On to the canopy.  Drilled the pilot holes for the roll bar and fabricated the two forward spacers.  The diagram on DWG 42 shows a front and back, but does not specify that these are for the left side; that's important, because the right side spacers are mirror images.

9/12/06, 8 hours: continued the canopy installation.  Installed the roll bar without much fuss, except that it exceeded the nominal width by about 1/16".  Van's says you can stretch or squeeze the roll bar easily in order to get it to fit exactly, but don't you believe it.  I used the two-ton hoist as shown below, compressing the frame by up to 4 inches without it budging a hair.  If you replicate this experiment, use two loops of thick climbing rope, as thinner rope will give way and you may walk with a limp afterward.  Anyway, I was not about to take a blowtorch to anything, so I simply compressed the roll bar a little more than the instructions say and all went well.  I did glue the nut and washer to the rear spacers, as it is practically impossible to get that assembly together otherwise.  Apart from that, just moved along per the instructions.  Tomorrow evening's installation of the aft top skin will be very timely, as by then I will be ready to install the center track.

9/13/06, 12 hours: long day, but productive.  Assembled the canopy frame track and put the frame on for fun.  Then, prepared the aft top skin for riveting later in the day (evening).  Installed the diplexer that splits the VOR antenna signal into glide slope and nav components for the GNS430.  Punched the hole for the backup altimeter too.

With the invaluable assistance of Martin Gomez, riveted the aft top skin as well as the Whelen and pitch servo mounts.  Ready now to move on with the canopy installation.

9/14/06, 8 hours: installed the backup altimeter.  Moved on to installing the canopy frame.  Before you start working on this, read the instructions and then call Van's.  Ask them what is really important and what is nice to have.  This is an important question, because it's simply impossible to fulfill all the requirements laid out in the instructions.  Don't believe me?  Try it.  Turns out all you really need for the front bow is for it to symmetrical to the roll bar and the distance from the top of the roll bar to the center of the front bow needs to be as specified in DWG 43.  The side bows simply need to not protrude past the edge of the fuselage; 1/16" is important if you absolutely, positively plan to use the metal canopy skirts, but irrelevant if you accept the probability that you'll be making fiberglass ones.  Finally, the rear bow's profile needs to match that of the top skin, but again as long as it doesn't protrude outside of the skin you're good.  When you tackle this job, remember that what you do to the front bow will affect the rear, and vice versa.  You have to devise a way to work one end without losing the fit you've achieved on the other.  Good luck.  Finished the fitting and am now ready to tackle the canopy itself.

9/15/06, 7 hours: set up to trim the flanges off the canopy.  Put an electric space heater under it and cranked up the garage gas heater on high while I fiddled with running the pitot line from the wing root to the instruments.  Once I hit 80 degrees I was ready to start.  It was then that I realized that I was not sure whether to cut over or under of the ribbed portion of the canopy, shown below in the first picture.  Answer from Van's was above, so I set about cutting.  Not a big deal, just a lot of noise, a big mess, and fair amount of sweating.  Gloves, respirator (to eliminate the smell), ear protection, and - most importantly, eye protection.  Even with glasses I caught a shard in the eye early on.  TGIF.  Will tackle the big cut and all the other stress-inducing plexiglass stuff next week.

9/19/06, 8 hours: began by drilling the canopy latch handle hole.  Only issue is reaching the spot from both the inside and outside of the canopy.  Also, the weld on the tube that fits into the hole prevents the canopy from snugging right up to the frame.  Next, trimmed the canopy sides and rear per the instructions.  Only challenge there is marking the cut line accurately.  Then, proceeded to clamp the canopy to the frame and to mark the line for the big cut.  Because there seems to be no way to get the canopy to snug up to the forward bow, I decided to make the big cut first, clean up the edge and then to remount the frame in order to better trace the lines along the upper edge of the side rails.  One difference between the big cut and the previous cuts is that you care about the condition of both pieces, whereas in all the trim cuts you only care about following the line.  In my case, the cut on the canopy was good but the windscreen's edge was pretty ragged.  Luckily, with a flat file and 220 grit and 400 grit sandpaper any piece of plexiglass can be easily made to look good.  My strategy to improve on the fit of the forward bow to the canopy was to no avail, so I cut the sides per Van's instructions, understanding that when the canopy is clecoed to the forward bow the lateral edges will drop below the upper edge of the side and I'll have to take things apart to make yet another cut.  So, there's the canopy.  This part of the project simply sucks; hot, smelly, tedious, and messy.

9/20/06, 10 hours: proceeded with the canopy installation by first securing it to the frame with clamps.  There is a surprisingly high amount of resistance on the part of the plexiglass, but with 20 spring clamps, the garage at 80 degrees, and lots of elbow grease I was able to get things lined up.  "Things" refers to the forward edge of the canopy's alignment with the forward bow.  The plans call for the canopy to stick out 1/16" to 3/32" past the bow, which is how I made the big cut yesterday.  That worked out ok but there is quite a bit of excess plexi sticking out past the rear bow, in spite of the fact that I carefully measured and cut a 1" lip.  Anyway, drilled all the holes without problem, and once the clecos were all in, marked a line on the canopy 1/2" from the rear bow -- which will result in a lip halfway between the min/max figures of DWG 43 -- and even with the top of the side bows.  Removed the canopy and set out to countersink and drill 5/16" the holes.  Attachment to the forward bow is by rivets that connect the plexiglass directly to the bow, whereas attachment to the top tube and rear bow involves rivets that first go through dimpled aluminum.  Therefore, the countersinking of the forward holes is much shallower than the others.  Also, match drilled the top strip.  Finally, drilled the frame holes to #30, all this per the instructions.  I did not take a picture of the countersunk canopy because I didn't think it would look significantly different from the un-countersunk version. 

9/21/06, 8 hours: getting things ready for the windscreen installation and cut, I made a few observations/discoveries based on my own work and review of two builder websites but most importantly, Phil's RV7 project which contains before and after pictures of the windscreen being fitted.  I also used Mark & Dave's RV-7 chapter on the windscreen for the good idea to mark a grid on the top skin to ease in aligning the screen.  On my own end, I decided that positioning the top skin exactly the way it will be riveted might be important to getting the same fit of the windscreen months down the road as today, so I put in every single cleco.  Scrutinizing Van's drawings 41, 42, and 43, I found that DWG 42's top view gives some hint of where the windscreen ends up in relation to the top skin rivets, and DWG 43 info regarding where the lower aft edge of the windscreen ends up in relation to the top skin.

As soon as I got the garage up to 79 degrees, after a 63 degree start on this 45 degree OAT morning, I went back to the final (?) trimming of the canopy.  Clecoed it on the frame and sure enough, I needed to trim a couple of 32nds off the front -- on the right side only, as well as in the rear because it was sticking up above the skin.  Also, need to spread the front bow by 1/4" so that the rollers will travel in the center of the tracks.

9/22/06, 7 hours: trimmed the canopy at the front and rear bow and along the side bows.  Needed to make adjustments a couple more times on the frame and plexiglass, but eventually everything fit right.  Moved on to the windscreen by first warming it up before making the first cuts laid out yesterday.  This meant cutting it at the forward flip all around.  After that, basically nibbled a little off at each iteration until it looked good.  Fabricated the clips and installed them using existing rivet holes, sometimes adjusting the location of the hole in the clip so it would hold the screen correctly.  Satisfied with the fit at the forward skin, I fabricated four clips out of .064 aluminum to secure the sides of the windscreen, since the pressure from the plexiglass is higher there, and the forward skin less stiff than the area near the rivets.  The next issue was to trim the windscreen's edge at the roll bar in order to achieve a 1/64" gap with the canopy.  I dragged a marker along the edge of the roll bar to mark a line for a lip of about 3/32" and made that trim cut.  Retired for the week.  The next challenge will be trimming/filing off a couple of 32nds to achieve the right fit.  The problem is that the three spring clamps keep the windscreen in position but also prevent the canopy from sliding fully forward.  Because there is some "spring" in the windscreen, I don't believe I can keep it in precise position with duct tape, so the only solution may be to drill it in a few positions to the roll bar.

Next week, the Grand Rapids EFISes and the EIS arrive.  Hopefully I will have enough self control to spend the whole week finishing up the windscreen and canopy work -- short of final installation -- before shifting gears and getting back to the avionics.

9/25/06, 6 hours: easily the most frustrating day yet.  Spent all six hours making small cuts on the windscreen in an effort to get it and the canopy to fit correctly.  The problem is that the vertical position of the windscreen's aft lip, is affected by the fit of the front portion to the forward skin, and the vertical position affects its horizontal position, how much is protrudes rearward.  Basically, any movement anywhere on the windscreen changes the fit elsewhere.  I believe I am ready to begin drilling it tomorrow, but I will confirm that in the morning when my head is clearer.

9/26/06, 8 hours: drilled the windscreen to the roll bar, using as many as 4 #6 washers per hole.  The windscreen to canopy relationship is within Van's parameters, so I'm moving on to installing the canopy latch handle assembly.  Only afterward did I realize that I did not have the center strip on, so there'll be more to this later on.  Started on the pin blocks.

9/27/06, 10 hours: completed assembly of the pin block brackets and the blocks themselves.  Drilling the vertical angle is easy because tracing it is simple, but the horizontal angle is another matter because it is impossible to get a clear tracing.  Van's instructions have you trace the pin's relationship to the track, but my experience is that was off by several degrees (8 degrees versus the drawing's 5).  I re-drilled at about 5 degrees and things mated ok.  Continued by fitting the canopy skirts and got started on the inside canopy skirts.

9/28/06, 8 hours: installed the inside canopy skirts.  Instructions have you drill from front to back, which seems like a recipe for the inside skirt to follow its tendency to drift downward, so I match drilled in the middle and end before moving front to back.  Result is inside skirts that stay even with the outside skirts, as required.  Prepared the canopy skirt braces, punching 11/8" holes instead of the 11/4" holes called for in DWG 41 because that's the punch I have on hand.  Installation of the left side brace went fine.

9/29/06, 1 hour: installed the left side skirt brace and began the installation of the Meske Tip-up Slider kit.

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