Hey guys,
Maybe you have be wondering what happened to me for the past few month's. Well
let me tell you ( I love a captive audience). I took the N357CJ home over the
ThanksGiving holiday. I had flown her for just over 4 years and over 450 hrs. I
have been a little more than rough and I was certain that she needed some good
R&R.
When I got her comfortably resting in the heated work shop I sat down and
started a list of things that needed to be done and of things I wanted to do.
Keep in mind that those two don't have the same priority. I was very surprised
at the size of the list. I had know all along that if she was at the airport
that I would never do some of the stuff. I didn't get started doing much until
late December but have worked on her steady since then. Some days I would do
something simple like adjusting the landing and taxi lights because I now know
my landing attitude. Other times I just bit into projects that I dreaded to no
end. One of the major items was my split flap operator. I was getting a lot of
reflex of the flaps and I was concerned that it was from abusive wear. Like
taking off and flying for 20 min or so trying to figure out why I could only
manage 155 mph. Anyway I started by testing and studying each component. In the
end I cut into the bottom of the stub wings and removed the complete system. I
discovered a couple fatigue cracks in Aluminum parts and flex in other parts.
The original choice of materials to build my system out of turns out to be the
true mistake. The materials were picked with weight considerations. I changed
the torque tube to steel and the associated linkage. I also had to reinforce
the actual flap handle as there was the ability to twist slightly from the
pressure on the flaps being transferred. The result at this point is on tested
but the flaps are very stiff and now only two position of 25 deg and 50 deg. I
think this will be a considerable improvement.
I also decided that I may want or need to meet the ability to do night flight.
That meant mostly to get my panel lighted. I found a set of red LED strip
lights that stick on that fit really well on the bottom of a lip over my panel.
I wired another switch into the panel and all the other instruments that had
internal lights to it. Just for the record I removed the auto store wiring form
the lights and soldered in tefzel. While in the panel I cleaned up some of the
wiring in the back I wired in the ESI to a lap top connection ala Mark
Langford. I also installed a carb temp probe to round out the information that
I can retrieve. I wired the Lowrance gps into the Dynon D10A. I also tried
adding the remote compass and OAT to the D10A but there is something not right
inside and I will have to return it for service. Slaving th gps to th eD10A is
really cool though and gives another layer of flight information that in all
honesty I probably didn't have the knowledge to process before.
I also attacked my canopy latching which always seemed tight on the ground but
in the air it flexed open with enough space to suck my shirt sleeve out. This
has to be a tremendous amount of drag. I changed latch types and reset the
limits of the latch. I think I have that cured too. I really believe that item
was costing several miles an hour. The next flight will tell.
Next was into the engine compartment. I'm not done in there but I took apart
the carb and intake tube's and removed the flex connections and replaced with
new gas filler neck tubing. (note to myself: The service life of no hub
fittings from Sears hardware is about 400 hours- just bite the bullet and use
the right stuff). I'm in the process of rebuilding and replacing all the
baffling. I replaced the plugs and O2 sensors which I installed on both exhaust
last summer. Changing the oil and filter. Carb heat box was rebuilt and
reinstalled. check belts and wiring.
I also discovered more small items here and there that just needed tightening
or adjusting. This was a little surprising to me as during previous annuals I
checked all the little spots of finger nail polish that I put on ever nut or
screw during building to indicate #1 that I had in fact set that particular
connection to torque and #2 that in the future it had not moved or changed.
This is not a valid check for a wood structure. I now am convinced that every
bolt or screw into wood needs to be physically checked.
I also worked on the nose gear that I continue to beat the crap out of. I had
to replace a small backer for the bolts to the firewall and all new bolts while
I was at it. that started just because they were slightly loose. I cleaned and
shampooed interior but i have not gotten to any of the body work that needs to
be done. Not likely to get done now either. I plan on returning N357CJ to the
airport this week to depart for CC#17 this Friday.
Well gotta run, I'm wasting work time and I have to get the O2 bottle filled
today. N357CJ will not be the prettiest face on the block but I feel like I
have improved her safety.
See ya all soon,
Joe Horton,
Coopersburg, Pa.
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