FuelSystem

Finished the fuel connections from the fuel filter structure to the firewall (andair fuel filter and return fuel line bulkhead). I also received some stuff from Steinair today that I checked out in more detail: trays for the radio stack, antenna's and Ameriking AK-451 ELT.

More work on the cabin fuel lines that run from the fuel selector to the sides of the fuse.

Got a long day in the shop today. Actually a good weekend overall. Although my camera has started to make really shitty pictures lately and I probably have to get another one. I started out with drilling a 1.5 inch hole in the firewall for the Andair high pressure fuel filter. Initially I started drilling small #12 holes around the perimeter of the hole with the idea that I would smooth that out with the dremel afterwards. But then I though to try this with a simple holesaw and guess what, it worked great! I'm going to do as many holes as possible with this method. The filter itself gets installed with rivets and some type of high temp sealant to make sure engine fumes won't get into the cockpit.

Next was the heater. After contemplating the best location for this, the consensus is that the center of the firewall on top of the rudder pedal structure is really the only place where this contraption fits. So that's what I did. First measured the holes for the coolant tubes, followed by the screw holes. I want to find some nice nylon washers to make sure vibrations from the engine compartment don't make it into the heater itself. The hose connections on the bottom are awfully close to the rudder pedal structure, but I tried it out and somehow this will fit. Or maybe I will only use hose for the windscreen heater opening and leave the cockpit connections open. That will give me nice warm feet in the winter :-)

Next was the brake reservoir that gets installed on the front of the firewall and sticks through to connect to the passenger side rudder pedals. This was easy to do with a unibit to get the 3/8 inch hole made, followed by match-drilling the #12 screw holes. Just for fun I put the nylon tubing on as well to see what it would look like.

Last but not least I fabricated some mega-washers to cover up the fuel supply and return line holes in the side of the fuselage I made earlier. Initially I planned for grommets there like in the plans, but I have decided that it will be easier to install with bulkhead fittings so that I can finish the fuel line routing in the cabin before the wings go on. I need to order some more parts from spruce as I don't have enough AN5 bulkhead fittings.

Drilled the holes in the top gussets that will hold the vent lines. Fabricated four pieces of fuel line that will connect the supply and return lines of both fuel tanks with the fuel valve. These are going to be connected to unions to make it easier to put on the wing side parts.

Finished bending and flaring both fuel vent lines in the cockpit. Not bad for an hour!

I put the fuel return line in from the fuel pump assembly to the fuel valve.

I also started again with the fuel vent line on the right side. The bending went much better this time and it shouldn't take a whole lot to finish this.

Rest of the afternoon I cleaned up the shop a little and spent some time rearranging things to get ready to hang the wings and engine for the first time.

Today it's snowing like crazy because of a big north-eastern storm that moved into the area. I don't think we ever had so much snow in Delaware; seems to be at least a foot high! It's even tough walking to the workshop. It is pretty though this white world and the dogs love it.

To connect the fuel-in side I put the assembly back into the fuse and started bending a piece of 3/8 tube to make it all fit together with the fuel valve. I used the new spring tube benders I bought a while ago from Spruce. They work pretty well to bend some tight corners.

Last but not least I put some tubing in the same assembly for the fuel return line. This will have to be connected to the fuel valve as well.

Also fixed the harness scrotch strap so that it would fit in the brackets that I fabricated a while ago.

Quite a frustration to get the fuel pump assembly AN fittings connected to some tubing! Worked for 2 hours and tried different things but no luck as of yet. I do have a heap of failed pieces of tubing though :-)

Now wondering whether I should have not used some other type of bulkhead fittings like the AN804 and AN833?? Something I'll have to look into.

After some time to fight off a flu and a good Supercomputing conference in Portland it's back to the plane. Today I drilled the small back and front bulkheads that will hold the AN fittings and primed all the pieces. Riveting the parts together was easy and followed by a whole bunch of AN3 bolts to bolt the pumps on the floor cover. This thing actually looks pretty nice now and hopefully functional too!

I've also inserted the structure in between the floor stiffeners on the floor of the plane (just for shows and too see if it fits). The plan is to make a nice cover from some alu sheet I bought recently from Spruce.

After ordering the wrong components the first time around I finally received the correct 5/16 hose diameter barbed hose to AN-6 fittings to connect the fuel filter and pump assembly to the fuel valve and firewall. The ends will be hooked together with an AN-tee.

Worked a little bit on the fuel pump/filter assembly today. I did order barbed hose fittings for the conversion from hose to AN fittings, but I overlooked that my fuel hose is not 3/8 inch ID but 5/16 inch. So I had to reorder the parts today and send the previous batch back for a refund. I think I know how I'm going to do it: the hose on the output of the pumps and the input of the filters are all going to be connected to their own hose-to-AN fitting through a small bulkhead on each side of the center floor part. This will also keep fuel contained if a leak occurs. I will make a hole with a small screen in the bottom of the floor skin to get some fresh air in there and a chance for leaking fuel to get out. The AN fittings on the others side of the bulkheads will be T-ed together and go to the fuel valve on the inlet side and the firewall filter on the outlet side.

Also tried a first vain attempt at bending a cabin vent line. I think I'll have to do that again...

Worked on the cabin fuel pump structure today. I'm going to try to imitate the fuel pump setup from the Egg installation manual with some mods to make it fit in my cabin. First I cut some angle and drilled it to the floor cover that Vans uses to route the fuel and brake lines under.

Then I used the gold-colored bracket that Eggenfellner provides with the pumps and drilled it to the angle. Underneath the bracket I drilled and flush-riveted two shims.

The end result with the pumps will look like the following:

Later this whole structure will be covered by a custom bend piece of aluminum. To end the afternoon I riveted the small angle pieces to the front deck sub-panels.

Started with the modification of the fuel valve cover. I need to make this a little bit longer to ensure a good fit of the Andair valve and t's. I'm going to make a larger top cover and will extend the side cover with some alu sheet. First thing was to cut the flanges off.

After a long break because of some family visits and a work-related trip I got some time in the shop again. Today I cut the piece trim piece of the F-983A fuel selector plate and drilled a 1 and 1/4 inch hole in it for the fuel selector. Also deburred, primed and painted it and riveted nutplates on. The F-983C piece was also deburred, primed and painted and had four nutplates riveted on. By the way, this white creamish color is what I am going to paint the inside of the cabin with.

Temporarily put the AN elbows on the fuel selector to get an idea of what it would look like.