Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

Still chugging away at the baffles. I think I pretty much have the oil cooler cutout and mounting worked out.
I worked a full 9hr day on Sat. on the baffles. Sunday yielded very little building in favor of actually flying for a change. Tanya and I (PIC) rented the Diamond DA-40 G1000 and went to San Antonio, Austin Bergstrom, then back to GTU for a few laps around the pattern. It sure is nice to have a fully functional copilot to manage frequency changes and nav inputs. With the fully coupled A/P, all I had to do was turn some knobs and talk to approach control. I really needed the seat time and pattern work. Some stinky cobwebs have been knocked off.

Tonight was an abbreviated build evening as an RV Dinner was arranged at a local joint. There was a full crowd of at least 12 people. It is nice to catch up over a beer and food. The best part of building an RV is indeed getting to BS with people of similar interest. It is great how easily new people fit in (myself included a couple of years ago) when there are riveting stories to tell and everyone can nod with full understanding. One thing we learned this evening is that no RV builder is safe driving down the interstate with a full wing kit in the truck. They will be immediately identified by another builder and assimilated :). I also found amusement that others are enjoying following my build log so much. Ok, more pictures when Tanya starts labeling the panel.

Build on.

Still at it every day. I’m just plugging away at the baffles. Not nearly as baffling as some suggest, just very time consuming.

I got some new tools! One of which is a new Sioux 90 degree drill. What could be more fun.
I constructed the little contraption that fills the opening in the lower aft cowl behind the nose gear leg. Not really a very fun part to make because it is a pain to fit and mark under the fuselage with the cowl on.

I finally worked out the engine breather line. I gave full consideration to ditching the tube as designed for a air/oil separator for the breather and decided against it. I’m going to install the standard Van’s designed breather tube and see how it works. I had looked at this setup a number of times before and was lost as to how I was going to make it work. Now was the time to finally figure it out. I used a spring tubing bender to put some very slight bends in the tube (very stiff stuff). I did end up getting it to work out quite nicely using all of the Vans parts including the the elbow hose, aluminum tubing, and the firewall clamp location. I’m super excited that I got all this worked out, and it “just looks right”.

Time to dive into the engine baffles.