14 Dec 09
Well, a slow month so far. I'm busy with honey do's.
I've taken the airplane apart, but haven't had time to work on anything yet. The interior is completely removed and all engine covers removed.
I'm looking at an idea to reduce drag on the wheel pants, so I've spent a little time on that.
I noticed the main tires are wearing most rapidly on the outboard edge, so I need to remove the tires and reverse them to even out the wear. It looks like I'll get only 80-100 hours per set of main tires. For the next tires (I think I'll go ahead and order them) I'm using Michelin and airstop tubes. Before I can rotate the tires, I have to grind down the tiedown rings to fit a jack.
I should get back to airplane stuff next week.
30 Dec 09
I've worked several times this month on the airplane, but progress is slow. The entire interior had to be removed and that alone took 8 hours. It has to all go back in also. I feel like I'm doing an annual inspection.
After getting the interior out, I used a 9v battery to check the aileron trim servo motor and it worked correctly both directions. So I continuity checked the wires from the stick and they were fine. I reconnected the DB connectors from the stick to the trim servo and everything worked fine!! That is frustrating. I'm glad it's working ... but I don't know what the problem was and it could recur - which would mean pulling the interior again.
The oil leak had not worsened. There was more oil because I used zero G on the last flight and the air-oil separator filled up and was overflowing. There is still a tiny leak somewhere. I'm going to tighten the hose clamps on all of the oil return lines and see if I can examine the front seal behind the prop.
I'm getting all of the wiring issues resolved. I'm also changing some wiring to heavier gauge. I bought a new starter contactor and will install it along with the wiring changes to 2 AWG going through the main power switch. The main power switch is rated to 500 amps and gives me a means to completely remove power from the starter. I'm also adding a warning light to indicate a run-on starter.
I'm making a fiberglass kneeboard because there is so little room in the cockpit. It will have a map storage pouch on the side.
I'm still stumped with the heavy wing issue. The aerodynamics of the ailerons appear to be okay. I've checked the bottom of the wings and ailerons with a straight edge and I can find no problems. I don't know. I guess I'll try squeezing the aileron trailing edge again.
Next update - next year