Large cutouts, Jan. 30th, 2001

The following picture shows the forward fuselage sidewall. Large openings have to be cut into the metal where mainspar and control tubes enter the cockpit. Round openings are relatively easy to make using the flycutter. The irregular cutouts I have firstly drilled/cut (very) roughly.

Then using the largest file available (the larger the file the easier straight edges and round corners can be manufactured)...

... and with lots of elbow grease the holes have been dressed up nicely

After filing, the edges will be sanded with grade 80 sandpaper, then finished with maroon Scotchbrite pad (3M 7447+). The whole affair took about 3 hours. (the rectangular opening top and bottom are not crucket! there is a 7 degree angle downwards in the middle at the top and a 3 degree angle upwards at the bottom. This corresponds with the sparcap's shape. ============================================

The Engine is (almost) clean, Jan. 19th, 2001

After steam pressure wash and two evenings of scrubbing, half case from the outside:

If you haven't seen it you wouldn't believe how much crud collected inside the engine. Have the cylinder and other studs removed. These are 8mm outside diameter, the threaded ends are 10mm (M10). One stud resisted removal so I heated the surrounding alumn with a heat gun. This worked well. This studs are of a high strength type ('10.9' stamped). This is a tensile strength of at least 1000 N/mm2 (American friends may now scratch head and convert to non-metric units ;))). One thing surprised me: at one hand the VW fitting parts are of very close tolerance and of high workmanship, at the other hand almost all drilled holes had some burr inside the case (even after 200,000 km of roadwork). Next step I will deburr all edges.

The case half from the inside:

and at last from the bottom:

there's significant fin aerea. I think about routing fresh/cool air over it (cleaning between this fins is a nightmare).

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News from the Type 4 Engine, Jan. 14th 2001

This is my newly acquired oil sardine. Next I'll send the whole bunch for cleaning. Next will be line-boring and widening the 100 mm cylinder openings for 103 mm jugs. The cast-on breather case will be removed, closed and an adaptor for breather tube will be inserted. Maybe I'll let them install 'case savers' for the cylinder studs.

The rod looks quite O.K. for my (untrained) eyes and probably will be reworked and used. I'll have to send it to GPAS for fittind a Force-One prop hub.

The rods I also want to use. Apropos Bob Hoover (VeeDubber) from the VW engines mailing list rote made some interesting contibutions about weighing/balancing(matching all of this moving parts.

This cam is worn out (see the big groove) and ready for the junkyard.

Surprising how may parts go into such a simple machine (however these are parts for 1 1/2 engines). Most of them will be replaced. I'll let them clean anyhow and then check/measure for wear limits.

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 Panel Layout, Jan 08, 2000

I think for every homebuilder it's a natural habit to layout the instrument panel even before the first rivet has been set. So it's with me. So folks, that's my first layout:

the center part is a natural wood insert!

Some comments:

• I'm in favour to bolt an electric trim servo into the left horizontal rudder (activated by a two-way switch at the MAC stick grip). The instrument board contains a homemade LED-array showing the current trim position.
• Comm will be MicroAir (if LBA allows it, otherwise for at least another year I have to save money to afford a 'Becker' 'certified' Comm)
• PS is a usual handheld, no decision made yet.
• The FlyComm displays flight data (altitude, airspeed etc.) as well as engine data CHT, EGT, RPM. Oil temp etc.). I think the FlyComm is the most advanced one you can buy for money today.
• All switches will be guarded by resettable fuses. Switches and fuses are mounted on a removable unit (primary bus bar)
• At far left and right are sockets for headphone and mike (FlyCom also contains a intercom)
• Throttle and mixture knobs and ignition switch are located at a sub-panel below the instrument panel. Probably also (electric?) primer will be found here
• the lefthand (where Sonex suggests throttle) and righthand corner plates will be extended a bit and will hold fresh air swivel vents (the 'RV' style).
• open points: where to locate the transponder (required in Germany if flying above 5000 ft ASL)

My flyer will be a 'left-hand-stick/right-hand-throttle' type with dual stick arrangement. Right-hand stick being removable. So now that I have eliminated the trim and the brake lever (differential hydraulic toe brake) there's only one disturbance left over: the flap lever.

My thinking goes now to split the seat bench into two separate seats with a gap of about 2" between tem. The flap handle will be located at this gap (the same way as in my beloved PA-28).

There's ony one thing left to decide: where to put the CD-player???

Suggestions always welcome.