A Bunch of Random Tasks

Since my last post I've been busy doing a bunch of unrelated tasks to keep things moving forward so I can finally get the wings on. I wanted to get as much done in the fuselage and cockpit area as possible first. Access to the cockpit is easier with the wings off. I can just stand next to the fuselage and lean in. One annoyance finally corrected was my crooked tailwheel. As originally installed it had an obvious tilt to the left of 3.8 degrees. This turned out to be from a mis-drilled tailwheel mount supplied by Van's. They send me an undrilled mount that a local machinist drilled square for me. Reassembling everything yielded a 0.35-degree tilt which I can live with. I then tackled 4 coax cables at my panel that needed BNC connectors crimped on. SteinAir provided both the right tools and YouTube videos in their use yielding excellent results. My interior from Classic Aero Designs included heated seats to keep the bride happy. Personally, I could have done without the extra weight and complexity. The generic seat harnesses provided needed to be chopped up and redone with Molex connectors and appropriate length wiring. After getting it installed, I jury rigged the aircraft battery to the seats and switched them on. Instead of a puff of smoke I was greeted with the panel switch lights coming on and warmth in the seats. At the engine I needed to finish my oil cooler installation. Due to space requirements for the larger 5" SCAT tubing and larger oil cooler for the EXP119 engine, Van's uses an odd shaped 8-sided flange on their oil cooler to attach the SCAT hose to. I had to carefully bend a traditional hose clamp into an octagon shape to match. This yielded an acceptable seal around the perimeter of the hose where hopefully air leakage will be at a minimum. Flight testing will tell. Another lingering issue was stick grip interference on my panel. I'm using Tosten CS-6 grips and their 5-degree grip insert. Kevin at Tosten suggested trying their Mil style grip that's more upright. He sent me a test RV-14 stick and Mil grip to try at no charge. Great customer service. This combo yielded a big but not perfect improvement. My good building buddy Craig in AZ sent me a nylon test insert he'd CAD designed for his RV-14 that tilted the grip back 10 degrees. This solved all my grip interference issues. I'm waiting for my custom CAD designed grip inserts to arrive soon so I can finish my stick install. I'll also be swapping my CS-6 grips for Mil grips.