Air Regulator and Water Seperator

We've been hearing a faint hiss the past few days and it finally grew to a loud hiss.  We noticed that air was coming from the bottom of the water separator where a drain cock was installed.  Upon further investigation it was discovered that the how internals of the unit was corroded and was probably best if we replaced the unit.  A quick order from Amazon and the new (and higher quality) unit arrived and was installed.  Hours: 0  this wasn't airplane project related so no hours counted toward the project time!

Old corroded Harbor Freight Regulator / Air Separator

New Ingersoll Rand Air Filter-Regulator

Bottom Stringer Repair

After removing the bad portion of the bottom stringer, a new piece of 1/2" aluminum tubing was cut to the same length.  A pipe bender was used to (intentionally) bend up one end where it enters the back of the fuselage to match the original profile.  New 5/16" holes were drilled in the stringer for the supports tubes.  Three new stringer support tubes were also made as three of the originals were also damaged (bent) in the incident.

New section of stringer, 3 new support tubes, and inner sleeve

To splice the new stringer to the old one, we used a small 4" section of 7/16" tubing as an inner sleeve (The piece on the left in the image above).  The 7/16" tubing actually had slightly too large of diameter to fit inside, but it also had a fairly thick wall so it was filed and sanded down until it fit nicely inside of the 1/2 inch tubing.  The two sections of stringer were connected together with the sleeve and Hysol epoxy.

The three new support tubes were drilled, deburred, and riveted to the fuselage, and the new stringer was then epoxied to the support tubes with Hysol epoxy.  Looks good as new!  Hours: 5.0

Bottom stringer repair completed

Firewall Forward Worries

Michael has been learning Solidworks (THANKS EAA!) and has been getting the firewall pieces drawn up.  Rotax was nice enough to provide 3D files for the engine and ring mount as well.  The reason we are looking at this with such interest is that we found out recently that there will be an interference issue between the engine mount that Just Aircraft provided and the nose gear support weldment, also provided by Just Aircraft.  In the attached images you can just barely see the interference near the bottom of the engine mount where the ring mount attaches. There is also one other location that will have to be modified as well.  We are still waiting to hear back from Just Aircraft with any recommendations or fixes they might provide.  In the Meantime, we'll continue to investigate all possible alternatives. Hours: 4

Solidworks Engine with Firewall, Engine Mount, Ring Mount, Nose Gear Support, and Rotax 912IS

Bottom stringer repair

As mentioned in the last post, the bottom stringer incurred some damage when we transported it back to the house.  Here's an image that shows the bend in the aluminum tubing.  Two small aluminum support tubes for the stringer were also bent as a result of the incident.

Unnatural bend in stringer.  That's not supposed to be there!

We considered replacing the entire stringer, but then figured it would be simpler to just cut off the rear section that was damaged and splice in a good piece.  The stringer is epoxied to small vertical support tubes, which are riveted to the fuselage.  We cut the back end of the stringer with a pipe-cutter, and then drilled out the rivets on the support tubes.  This allowed us to remove the damaged section of stringer as well as the damaged support tubes.  Hours: 1.5

Damaged section of stringer removed