Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 26.

September 5, 2006:  When last night's session was over, I cleared Wendell to assemble the wheels and tires to get ready for tonight's session.  The Cleveland disc brakes were ready to go on the gear legs along with the wheels.

By the expression on his face, I don't think Wendell expected to see the airplane come up this high.  I reminded him that the gear legs will take the load of the engine, wings, full fuel tanks, etc. and come a little closer to the ground.  We also put in the tail wheel assembly and he had a chance to see the tail-low position of the airplane.

September 6, 2006: The Wednesday evening session saw the removal of the engine mount now that the airplane is on its wheels.  The mount made a good handle for rolling the fuselage over during the previous work sessions.   Wendell drilled the firewall for the main power cable going to the starter solenoid.  I also provided the guidance to get the gascolator mounted and sealed to the firewall properly.  Masking tape covers all the holes to keep critters out of there until we hook up the fuel lines later on.  The fuel vent lines are also taped up to keep out any nesting bugs.  The mounting holes for the cabin heat door are drilled, along with the pilot hole where a 2-inch hole will be cut in an upcoming session.   Wendell finally decided it was time to wipe off the black markings from Van's identifying the quick-build fuselage order number.

The left brake line is now formed and attached.  There is more to be done here, but that can wait until later.  Now that he sees how I shaped the line, he will install the other one unassisted.

Looking aft, you can see the tail wheel and the method used to level the airplane.  Those are antique warehouse pallets that Wendell once used when he was in the coffee business.  He has a manual pallet jack lift that he uses to move these things around.  His engine is sitting on one of these pallets, but not for too much longer.  When the major changes to the firewall are completed, the engine goes on the front of the fuselage.

September 7, 2006:   Wendell was ready to put the 2-inch hole in the firewall for the cabin heat door tonight.  The only problem was the knockout punch he had was designed for 2-inch conduit pipe to create a 2.375-inch hole instead of a 2-inch hole.  That was tabled for the time being and we turned out attention to putting in the fuel line and fittings on the fuel selector valve.  The fuel lines fabricated tonight were installed between the gas colator and the electric fuel pump, and the fuel selector valve.

After these first two fuel lines were completed, I reviewed the plans with Wendell, giving him the instructions to build the two fuel lines that will run from the fuel selector valve to the fuel tanks.  One thing that pleased me very much was finding #8 platenuts to clamp the right fuel line already mounted in the wing spar that runs through the quickbuild fuselage..

The annual inspection of Wendell's Aeronca Champ took up some of his time during the day today.  All my visits are in the evening, to provide mentoring on the project regarding construction methods and interpreting the construction drawings.   The focus of the drawing interpretation this evening was on the routing and securing of the fuel line from the right fuel tank to the fuel tank selector valve.