Thursday, September 29, 2022

Wiring Continues

Wiring of the aircraft continues.  It looks rough now, but will be cleaned up once all the wiring is complete.  Wiring of the Garmin ADHRS (GSU25), Garmin Engine Box (GEA24), Garmin GPS Antenna GPS35A, Garmin  OAT (GTP59) and ELT were all worked on.

Garmin GSU25 getting OAT Sensor connected.

Garmin GEA24 Getting Current and Fuel Pressor sensor connected

Drill template for the GPS antenna Backer plate.

40Amp Fuse install at battery for main panel power

ELT Buzzer box with custom 3d Printed Mounting Bracket

Hours: 20

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Landing Light wiring

Landing light wiring was completed.  We also installed a wig-wag module made by Perihelion Design.  When enabled, this module alternately pulses the landing lights.  Wiring this module required adding a few diodes and surge suppressors to the circuit as specified in the circuit diagram.  Hours: 8

Short clip of functioning wig-wag lights:


WigWag module

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Wiring and Misc

We had sent our fuel pumps to Lockwood Aviation Services due to a Rotax Service Bulletin.  The pumps were turned serviced and sent back to use rather quickly.  Once received the pumps were remounted in their stainless steel case.  The mount to the fuselage was reworked to make it easier to service the fuel pumps in the future.  It is also a much cleaner installation. 

Fuel Pumps received from Lockwood

We decided to install two pass-throughs in our gear tunnel for electrical cables to run from the rear of the fuselage into the cabin area.  Two plastic reinforcement rings were made and glued to the front and rear tunnel walls.  A piece of SuperFlite fabric was glued on top of the reinforcement rings and allowed to dry.  The area was repainted with gray primer.  The four holes were cut out and grommets were installed.  The grommets are there to keep cold outside air from entering in the cabin.  Finally two plastic tubes were installed, thus allowing wires to pass through.

SuperFlite Fabric over Reinforcement Plate

Grommets install (Baggage side)

Grommet and Plastic Tube installed (Cabin side)


We purchased an EarthX ETX-900VNT (vented) battery along with a matching battery box/holder.  The battery box was mounted to the battery tray provided by Just Aircraft with 8 flush mounted solid rivets in the base of the battery box.  The battery contactor was installed on the battery tray just forward of the battery box using AN4 bolts. An 4 AWG was run from the battery to the contactor as well as from the contactor to the starter solenoid running through the recently installed pass-throughs.
Battery box and contactor installed

Battery installed in battery box

4 AWG wire being installed to Starter


A ground bus block was purchased from SteinAir and mounted to the firewall in the cabin.  On the engine side, the engine block and airframe ground on the Rotax Fusebox were grounded to the ground bus block via the passthrough bolt.  The engine block was grounded since it is the return path for the starter.  A 4AWG wire was routed from the ground bus block though the cabin pass-throughs to the battery in the aft fuselage.
SteinAir ground bus block

Engine block and Fuseblock grounded

The Garmin GSB15 USB charger was wired with power and ground.  A third wire was run to turn off the internal LED by grounding it.  Looks like our GSB15 unit is defective as the LED's would not illuminate with the cable open or grounded.  Not as issue since we wanted the LED's off anyway.

Garmin GSB15 (blue unit) wired

The power and ground for the Cabin Heat fans was wired.  In the L (low) setting only the left side fan is powered.  In the H (high) setting, both the left and right fans are powered.

Cabin Heat Fan Switch

Cabin Heat Fan Installation

Wiring for the switches to control the Rotax engine was started.  Switches wired included Rotax Lane A, Lane B, Fuel Pump 1, Fuel Pump 2, Engine Start Power, EMS Backup, and Engine Start Button.

Rotax control switches being wired

Hours: 25

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Exhaust and Muffler

 Added a few additional heat sleeves for coolant lines running adjacent to the muffler and exhaust pipes.

Additional heat sleeve

Heat sleeve on radiator hose

Next, some high temp anti-seize lubricant (Permatex Nickel #77124) was applied to the ball joints of the exhaust, and all 8 exhaust springs (2 on each exhaust pipe) were installed.  The exhaust springs were safety-tied (prevents the spring from falling off it it ever breaks) using 0.041" stainless wire.  Finally, as recommended by Rotax, we applied high temperature silicone to the springs (we used Permatex Optimum Max Torque).  Hours: 10

Spring attached, wire tied, and silicone applied

Side shot of attached muffler and exhaust