Prepped for Stabilator Installation

In the morning - pretty late as I worked until midnight - I crawled back into the tailcone to measure the OAT resistance from the Molex connector end. Same result The OAT probe and the wires are fine. Here's a picture of the PFD with the problem showing itself ("OAT ---" in the lower right hand corner above "(HDG)").


After another trip into the tailcone with the same results, I tried to wiggle the plug a bit while it was plugged in and watch the PFD. Sure enough, when I was pushing down the plug, canting the pins a bit the OAT immediately got a reading of 34C which is close to the 94F I was measuring with conventional thermometer.
I contacted Dynon Tech Support and they are shipping me a new assembled connector with wire ends ready to crimp to the installed cable. I hope this resolves the issue. They say they never had to replace the male plug installed in the ADAHRS - yet.
So then I pulled the aft parts of the elevator cables ithrough the tailcone. Everything went well on that part,


I marked the threaded ends so I wouldn't confuse them while routing them through the fuselage part.


Connecting those dreaded turnbuckles turned out to be a major part though. Whatever I tried I could not connect the cables as the plans stated. They explicitly asked for the grooved side of the turnbuckle to point to the friont of the aircraft. The text is clear and so are the figures depicting the groove on the short side of the cable. The page 32-14 is revisioned and so I believe it to be true. However, the turnbuckle only goes in with the groove on the aft side. That's true for both cables and so I don't believe this is a coincidence. I searched VAF after this episode and it is confirmed that everyone had the same issue. I emailed Van's pretending I didn't check the forum and will see what they say.


Here you see one cable connected with the grooved side pointing aft.


The other cable is not long enough to connect it yet, so I tried the turnbuckle on each side separately. In the picutre you see it connected to the short F-1247A cable and the groove is pointing away from it.


In order to finish the rigging, I need to connect the stabilator and connect the cables to it. So I prepared the installation by setting up a rest for stabilator to sit on while will be fiddling the bolts and the WASHERS in.


As you can see the bolts are pretty well aligned with the bearings they are supposed to go through. This should be helping a bit and might even be able to connect it myself this way.


Tomorrow morning (after another work shift till midnight) I'll go to ground school and see if I can pass my BFR. I might try to connect the stabilator then as I don't know what else to do at this point. I need the rigging done in order to continue, so I better get this out of the way.
I haven't yet decided what to do about the wing electrical connectors. The old system was and is a joke, but I don't know if the new one is really much better. It certainly is work and it doesn't improve my idea of putting in trailer connectors with some slack to connect and disconnect them when putting the wings on and off. I am pretty sure I don't want to run an extra wire for the nav lights alone. It's extra weight and I have never ever used the lights without the strobe on my other plane. I don't think it's worth the effort and if I change my mind I can always add it at the first annual.
Things beyond the rigging? Trimming the canopy!