Plumbed Up

With another day off from work after Independence Day, I used the cooler (or better: not so hot) mornings to continue work on my RV12.

First I replaced the plastic lock nuts on the throttle cables with ones from metal - MS21042-3 to be precise. This is the better lock nut in hot environments and the engine compartment is certainly such an environment.

Then I had to reroute the flex hose that runs fresh air to the voltage regulator. As you can see the way I had routed the hose before, prevented the air filter from sliding on.

Routing the hose so it would run under the water hose in this critical area did the trick.

While working on that water hose, I noticed a possible chafing area between the hose and the forward motor mount as it touch it. I put a cushion in form of a leftover piece of that water hose over the motor mount and tied it down.

Then I safety-wired both air filters.

Considering how tight it is around those air filters, there is literally no way how they could ever fall off and away from the aircraft but it's easier to do now than during certification when they might require you to do it anyway.

So, finally I felt like the engine compartment was good enough to be left alone for a while. The next step was to open up the avionics cover and finish the plumbing of the Pitot line and some fixes to the wiring.

Thanks to the Stein quick connectors, the plumbing was quickly done - including the splits for the hook-up of the additional steam gauges that I will add after certification.

This is the T for the static line which will run to the ALT and ASI instruments

This T is for the Pitot line that runs back to the ADAHRS and the ASI

The open ends are plugged for now and both pneumatic systems should be ready for testing now.

In this VAF article I had learned that there was a wire missing between the Garmin radio and the AV-50000 black box that made it impossible for the SkyView system to read the currently selected frequency from the radio. The rest of the wiring between the black box and the SkyView system was in place however, so it appeared that adding the missing wire should fix this little "problem".
It is indeed a bit tricky to add that wire as space is extremely limited but others had tried to use a pair of needle nose pliers and succeeded without removing the radio tray.
So I followed those tracks to do the same.

With the help of a small mirror and my smallest needle nose pliers I was able to insert the female socket into the plug (pin 3, red wire is pin 1) without removing the tray.

The question now just is, if I used the correct size socket. I used one that is for male .040" D-sub pins which is on the other end of this wire and hooks up to the AV-50000's COM/NAV port (pin 6, red wire indicates pin 1). I put this wire together from two cut off pieces from harnesses that were not used anymore. So the wire that is yellow on the radio side turns white/orange on the AV-50000 side.

I was even able, after years of pulling my joints out of their sockets working in all the tight spots on the plane, to figure a way to get a couple of tie-wraps installed to secure the wire behind the radio tray.

By then it was approaching noon and the temps their usual uncomfortable level of 100 or more and I decided to seek shelter from this searing heat inside.

I think the additional antenna installations might be next. At least the small ones for the ADS-B receiver and the PCAS. I might leave the APRS one off for now as it is really large and very visible.

Oil Reservoir Installed

I had had one issue with the RV12-EGT harness that I had installed in section 45A earlier. The issue was that the harness didn't come with a backshell mounted to it but the instructions did nowhere reference the installation of a backshell nor was one provided in the various bags that came with the Powerplant Kit. So I decided to resort to the last instance to ask for help, Van's Builder Support.
I emailed them and yesterday and this morning I already had a one line response. I wouldn't exactly call it a full sentence but it was a response. Here my email:

Hi,

I recently received my RV-12 Powerplant Kit and when working on 45A-04 I found the RV12-EGT harness missing a backshell. I am not surprised about that as during Avionics installation the builder had to put these on after adding more wires to the plug. However, the figures on 45A-04 show the backshell installed and I couldn't find a backshell in the bags that came with the Powerplant kit. Also I couldn't find any reference to installing the missing backshell at some later time in the instructions after section 45A. I've attached a picture of the EGT plug as installed.

Please advise,

I even added a picture of the backshell-missing harness.
Ken S responded precisely but somehow minimalistic:

In avionics kit.

So when I got home I searched the bags of the avionics kit (or better the inventory list) to find a backshell that hadn't been used yet. And sure enough, I was successful:

It had no label or a tag that indicated what it was supposed to get used for, so the ordinary builder cannot really have any idea this would get used with a harness that's part of another kit. Particularly if the instructions don't even tell you to install a backshell to begin with.
Anyway, problem solved. I just love the comment Dave had to say about Ken S.'s response, which I will not quote here as we are a family friendly blog and we want to keep this rating.

Here the installed harness with a handmade label on the backshell.

Next was the continuation of section 49 where I had left off yesterday. The gasket for the heater door had to be fabricated. In order to prepare the door for the RTV application, I removed the door from the frame and used the SB wheel to rough up the stainless steel (I know you are not supposed to do that due to possible contamination but it was just too tempting to do a quicky with the whell).
Wax was applied to the firewall front and I reinstall the door prior to the RTV application.

Then I pushed hard on the door to fully close it and attached clamps to hold the door shut while the RTV is setting.

The following step, the installation of the water radiator, couldn't be done as that required the RTV to be set, which won't happen before tomorrow evening.
So I skipped to prepping the coolant overflow bottle for its installation.

I cut the hoses for the following coolant installations.

And I installed the oil reservoir with the provided clamps. Please note that it is possible that the clamp on the top rim could interfere with the right carburetor when you try to insert the can into the holder. If this is happening, just turn the can until it passes the carburetor, tighten the clamps and then unlock the top rim lock so you can adjust the top to the position that's best for the hoses and lock the top clamp back down.

It's really coming together now!

Hopefully, I can install the radiator and the oil cooler tomorrow.

Wiring Along the Firewall

After finishing the canopy trimming it was time to remove the top skin again and get access to the wiring.

I added the last missing harness to the Van's Control Module.

Which resulted in more dangling wires in front of the firewall.

The first step of the hook-up was to connect the fuel pressure sensor to the harness. The splice connectors had already been crimped on before I installed the sensor, so the rest was easy.

Then the EGT sensors got updated and different spade connectors were crimped on.

The firewall harness was hooked up to the Ducati regulator, and the EGT harness received the matching spade connectors to get later connected to the EGT sensors.

The MAP got connected to the harness and the the master relay was taken care of. The screws for the relay were actually not on the stubs but in a bag that was taped to the relay itself.
I am mentioning this because when I got to the starter relay and the manual asked me to remove the nuts and washers from the starter relay, there were none. But there also was no bag or any hint as to where the required hardware might be. I browsed the inventory list but couldn't find anything revealing.
Fortunately, there was extra hardware from installing the battery. And, surprisingly, the nuts and split washers fit the starter relay perfectly. No need to stop and contact Van's.

So, I finished the starter relay connection and some additional cleanup things with tie wraps and then called it a day in what felt like 80% humidity at 97F. And this is not Louisiana, baby!
Expect more wiring in the next days. Now that I don't need a helping hand to keep on working, things should be back to a faster pace.

Engine Arrived

The engine arrived around 10am an had a big boo-boo on one side. I was just hoping that nothing inside was damaged.

Anxiously, I took the box apart.

Peeking at the hole from the inside, I could see that it was unlikely to have caused any interior damage as there was just air behind the hole. Still, the Rotax box could have gotten a bit of a blow but that would probably not do anything to the engine.
I continued unpacking...

Wow! This must have been my lucky day. The little, lengthy box on the opposite side of the damage is the propeller. Had it been hit like on the other side, the prop would have certainly taken some damage.
I cleaned out the shipping crate until only the Rotax box was left.

I turned the crate on its side and let the engine box slowly slide down.

Then I helped the Rotax out of the shipping crate by sliding it out, pulling away the shipping crate.

Then the dolly came into play by providing a nice, movable platform for the engine crate.

That's when I noticed that the Rotax crate did get hit by this punch that caused the hole.

I cut off the steel tapes and inspected the interior. The tapes are the only things that hold the box together, by the way. There are no additional screws or clips.

I removed all the extra goodies that were in the box and unwrapped the plastic. Obviously the crate did a good job in protecting the engine. No damages visible!

Wow, there's the monetary equivalent of a new truck sitting right in front of me. I still can't completely believe it that I spent that much money on a little 100hp engine.
I will spare you the pictures of me inventorying the shipment. It's really the least enjoyable part of the build by far. Nothing was missing, not even in the bags. Good job, Van's!
I started building right away. Installed the battery in the tray.

Then manufactured the stand-offs for the bolts and bolted it down.

Following where the problem child in the form of the voltage regulator from Ducati.

Then the relays and the MAP sensor.

And finally, the battery cables and the fuel pressure sensor (on the right).

I had skipped the page that asked for installing more wires under the "hood" behind the panel. I do not want to take off that cover before finishing the fitting procedure of the canopy. So the plan is to do that tomorrow morning and then hopefully finish it, so I can move on with taking the cover off and installing those wire harnesses.