Today was quite the milestone! I spent a good amount of time priming the system with Oil, Coolant and Fuel in the morning. Once the engine was burped and all the indicators looked good, I went for engine start! The first time cranking it up, I had the throttle set a bit too low, but once I gave it a bit more it started purring. Once I did the initial run for a few minutes, I took off the cowling and inspected for leaks - none! What did I do wrong? Hehe I decided to go for a short taxi around the hangars with my Mother. The engine stats looked good and the warning light eventually went away at higher RPMs. It was mainly flashing because of the fuel pressure, but it worked itself out. Just a bit more to go on the interior. - Connect Joysticks - Connect and configure fuel tank sensors - Connect the pitot and AOA tubes - Tighten up a few bolts here and there - Clean up the wires under the dash - Finish gluing the upholstery - Install the wing light covers Not too much, but going on hiatus for a bit as I’m expecting my 2nd child any day now. 🐣😉 I am working to finish up the firewall forward electrical and any final placement of the wires that will be covered once I put the front fiberglass piece on.
I had to reroute some of the heater ducting and also remembered to attach the heater control cable. I also routed the brake line through the firewall forward gromet. One thing to note, and I've heard about this from another builder, the bottom muffler bracket that mounts over the muffler shroud is a manufactured incorrectly - it's a bit too big. The fix is to shave off some of the metal where the bolt joins them, maybe a quarter inch total. It didn't take too long with a grinder and it fit just fine afterwards. When mounting the engine, the bolt that is nearest to the turbo needs to be trimmed a bit.. maybe a half centimeter. Be sure to measure 125mm from the bottom of the bolt head instead of the top. I initially cut mine too short and had to order another M10x130mm bolt from Bolt Depot... oops!
Once that was done, I swapped the coolant outlet at the back of the engine that comes with the kit. Otherwise, you can't reach the bottom bolt with the wrench as that is in the way. Next up was connecting all the oil lines. Be sure to twist the AN fittings to the correct direction before tightening them with the ear clamps. Also, be careful when you remove the yellow stoppers - there's a good cup or so of oil left in the engine from when the factory tested it. Just have a collection cup ready and 10 mins to spare to catch all the oil that drains out. It's a tight fit on the left side getting the wrench in there to tighten the AN fitting. The right side is impossible to get to unless you remove one of the exhaust pipes. They detail how to do this in the manual. It's pretty simple removing the pipe clamp and loosening the bolts on the engine. I wanted to start fitting the cowling, but first needed to get the propeller mounted. Be sure to follow the Airmaster manual for this. You'll need Aeroshell 22 grease and some anti-seize grease. The firewall forward kit does come with Copper Slip, which is what I used on the propeller lugs to prevent rust and ease of future disassembly when needed. However, when inserting the lugs, make sure to insert them with the bolts, otherwise you won't be able to fit the bolts through later. I also recommend using the lug fitting tool that comes with the kit, don't push the bolts from the back, use the bolt threads to pull the lug through with a straight even force. These aren't easy to get in and require some decent pressure to get them set. I was surprised that the propeller doesn't use any thread locking fluid on the bolts. Instead, they use the Nord-Lock washers. Apparently their design prevents any loosening from vibration and require more torque force to unscrew than to lock in. After that, I put on the propeller hub and loosely fit the bolts for now. I need to get a crow foot wrench adapter for my torque wrench because the wrench won't fit between the prop flange and the engine. Next up was some grinding.. removing the pipe below the welded section was easy, but it's not so easy getting to the section below the piece that sticks out. With that thickness in metal, it's going to take quite a few dremel metal cutting heads... I'll get to that eventually, but at least now I can fit the cowling! I drilled the 4 holes on each side where the manual says to do. Not a perfect fit, but will trim that later. I fit the latches to the front so I can put the coolers in front. I also drilled the hole in the top of the air filter and fit it to the plastic element provided. I was inspecting the fuel pump on how the connections are fit. The stock 915is fuel wire doesn't have enough length to reach to the other side, so I'll have to splice and extend that to fit. It feels great to finally see the engine mounted! Starting to feel like a real plane. Before mounting the engine, I wanted to revisit the nose wheel movement. It was still a bit stiff and took a few pounds of force to move it. I was thinking I don’t want the rudder to stick during flight, so it was timely there was a discussion on the Sling Builder’s Facebook group on the issue. The idea is to take a 2” dowel, about the same size as the nose wheel, sand it down a bit so you can staple some sandpaper to the dowel. From there, insert it into the assembly and rotate it until you get smooth turns. What a difference! From there, I torqued the nose gear assembly to the firewall and it was time for the big moment - mounting the engine! Note: the engine did come with a bolt, mounted to the fairing just above the turbo that is held on by a rivet. Be sure to drill that rivet out and remove the bolt, it’s only used for mounting to the shipping crate. Once the engine was mounted, I started assembling the oil hoses. It’s nearly impossible to get them on without any loosening. To help with that, I just put one end in boiling water for a minute or so and then lubricated the barb and hose with some oil. Be sure to slide it on in one quick movement.. it’s really hard to get the hose off once on the barb.. trust me. ;-) The intercooler assembly is pretty straight forward, just connect the hoses and mount it in the approximate location. Next up, mounting the propeller and fitting the cowling. It’s like Christmas Morning when you get that phone call.. “the truck will be arriving in the next 30 minutes...”!!!!!! I’ve been anticipating this day for a while since this final shipment contained the finishing touches that transform the plane from a aluminum form to a luxurious efficient fast flying machine. 😎
Soon after the parts arrived, I began inventorying and stapling them to the parts board. Everything is there (except the fuel system 🤨 ugh..). Apparently the factory is revamping the fuel system kit and it’s a “TBD” on shipping date, but I have plenty to play with until I press on that subject. I’ve made quick progress on the Firewall Foreward, despite having a Sling 4 Firewall - basically just had to move the oil tank to the right side and drill a few other M5 Rivnut holes. They did send me an extra silver adhesive foam, so I decided to double it on the front and back of the firewall for some extra sound protection. The Upholstery looks awesome with the grey tones and red trim along the edges.. looking at paint schemes to similarly match! Next up, finishing up the firewall forward items and lifting up the engine for mounting! |
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