May 16, 2003
After sleeping on the aileron dilemma for a week (and talking with Gus at Van's) I realized I simply needed to adjust the right aileron pushrod and things would turn out just fine. These are the final numbers after tightening things up this morning.
| Neutral | Up | Down | Up Travel | Down Travel | |
| Left Aileron | -10.3 | 19.9 | -26.8 | 30.2 | 16.5 |
| Right Aileron | -10.5 | 19.6 | -27.3 | 30.1 | 16.8 |
Being happy with the aileron's, Lori and I decided to move on to the wing root fairings and fuel tank vent lines.
I had already drilled the wing root fairings to the wings and I talked with Gus at Van's about how much room to have between the fairing and the fuselage. 3/16" was the minimum distance given, with 1/4" being the maximum. Here is a 3/16" distance marked out. I cut each fairing and then cleaned up the edges, deburred the holes, and dimpled them for the needed screw heads. The fairings are now stored away on the top shelf for a future painting project.
Next, the fuel tank vent lines. This is a picture of how NOT to bend tubing. Notice the kinks and sharp bends.
This is the second try at it. Much better.
And the left wing turned out even better. I measured 3 5/8" distance needed for the fuel tank fuel line and then I called Lori to help me remove the wings.
"Wow dad, you took the wings off." This is a picture of our master mechanic putting a little air in his tires and giving his 'ride' a tune-up.
Yep, the wings are resting once again in their temporary cradle.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the garage and getting things situated so the forward part of the fuselage was under the brightest of the garage lighting. I believe this is where I'll be for the next few months. I have a few small things to finish up on the wings (platenuts and dimpling), but I think I'll wait until some rainy day. Yeh right... it doesn't rain much here in Northern Nevada. I'm not sure where to start next. I'm going back to work tomorrow for a few days, so that should give me some time to think things over. I believe I'll be moving over to either the finishing kit or the fuel lines and elevator trim. Probably the later of the two. More later.
