Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

I’ve been banging away on it each day. The short list is definitely getting shorter. I tested both COM radios for transmit. They both work from within the hangar “loud and clear” from local traffic. Note this includes the one in the wing tip :). I installed and tested the ELT. I put some wing walk material on the wings and steps. I finished up trimming and fitting the wing root fairings and vertical stabilizer intersection fairings. I’ve been going around and installing all of the access panels and stuff in prep for weighing which will hopefully be accomplished in the next two or three days.
I still need to put some fuel in it and do some flow tests and flush the tanks and lines before running the engine. This is a darn near complete airplane as it sits.

 

  

  

  

 

I got the rudder fully rigged. It is nice to be able to sit in the seat and actually push on the brakes and operate the rudder. I think this is the first time that I’ve gotten a good idea what the pedals are really going to feel like. I used a zip tie on each rudder linkage at the pedals to determine link length. Worked great.
Stu and Deene were replacing all four cylinders on Stu’s RV8 with new ECI cylinder assemblies in Stu’s hangar a few feet away. I ducked over there for a little while to soak up some top end overhaul wisdom. I learn cool new things every day that I’m out there just by being there. That is the whole goal of this project for me. Many thanks to those that are willing and able to share knowledge.

It was another one of those long days at the hangar that didn’t quite produce the results that one would expect, but it all has to get done somehow. Tanya brought lunch and headed for home around 5pm. She spent most of her time picking up the tool mess that I had made the previous week. She only comes out on the weekend while I’m out there every day. I warned her that I had almost emptied all of the tool chests onto the work benches :).

After the rudder was all squared away, I took care of other little stuff. I got a connector shell on the autopilot roll servo wiring and secured the wires. I installed the seat rib cutouts, and gapped and installed a new spark plug for one that I had dropped.

I do now have a “short list” that I’m beginning to consult.

 

  

  

 

I finished up installing the elevator trim servo. I wired it with molex micro-fit 3.0 pins with no connector shell. I left a little service loop with the connectors on it coiled above the servo in the elevator. Everything all neatly heat shrinked together. Elevator removal should entail removing the servo, cutting off the outer shrink tube and the shrink tube on each of the five connectors. Then the wire will be pulled through a snap bushing in the elevator spar. The wire will then need to be fished back through upon reassembly.

Moving on to the rudder. I double checked the hinge rod end bearing alignment and secured the rod end jam nuts on the rudder spar with some loctite. I dressed the rudder wires through a snap bushing and through some expandable wire sleeve for protection. It was very easy to fish the wires up through the permanently secured rudder bottom. I installed the requisite connectors and then it was time for a light show!

Now, for the first time, I have all three nav lights and all three strobe lights all wired up. Lets see if we can keep the blue smoke from getting out :). I put fuses in those two circuits. At about this time, Jim showed up from his hangar after having a little bit of a frustrating evening with aileron assembly. He already had a beer in hand, so I had an audience just in case anything went terribly wrong with the first test of these two circuits. I threw the nav light switch and they all came on just they are supposed to. Cool. Now for the real exciting part, I flipped on the strobe switch and we had a full on light show in the hangar. All the strobes came up and fired in the correct pattern. Those things are bright. Amazing, all that circuitry and everything worked just right the first time.

So, now all the big parts are on the airframe. I still need to rig the rudder controls but it looks like a complete airplane.

 

  

  

  

  

 

I got the elevator push tube secured and have been working on the trim servo hookup. I’ve also been looking at some other things like instrument communication and configuration.

And, we got the final FAA registration in the mail! Yee, Haw.

 

  

 

I started rigging the elevators. I got the hinge rod end bearings adjusted and secured and the hinge bolts torqued. The center pivot bolt went in without a problem, and I used my standard washer insertion trick of using a piece of scotch tape (actually the 3M rivet tape that I used) to put a little “handle” on the washers to put them in place while pushing the bolt through. Piece of cake. I worked out the push tube length and I’m very happy with it.