January 1999
"The Gadget" with her new wings. Brampton-September 98
Jan 19, 1999
Installed new AN4-16 (drilled shank) bolts and castle nuts on brake master cylinder pivot points per DABI request.
Begin work on pre-moulded Rand header tank. There has been some discussion as to which resin to use in assembling this piece. Several test pieces of 6oz cloth were bonded to the header tank. Half with West resin and half with regular polyester resin (Jeannette Rand advises this pre moulded unit was constructed using polyester resin). The West samples exhibited poor peel resistance although they did bond to the tank (both smooth and rough sides). The poly samples exhibited better peel resistance and seemed to bond better on both sides of the tank and therefore this material will be used to close the tank.. New plyfoam tank baffles were begun due to switch from west to poly resin.
Wow, is this stuff ever dull.
Jan 20, 1999
Bend flanges for inside tank. Material is .050 aluminum.
Jan 22, 1999
Lay up polyester plyfoam baffles (2).
Jan 23, 1999
Fit flanges inside tank.
Prepare welding flanges for inlet and outlet.
Jan 24, 1999
Install baffles and 1/2 of the flanges.
Using an old aft spar attach fitting fabricate an arm for the fuel shut off. This will allow switch to be located under the tank forward of the outlet (mounted horizontally to conserve space). By running a rod from the actuator arm to the panel the switch can be easily operated and it's position can be quickly determined (pull off) by painting red that portion of the rod protruding from the panel in the off position.
Jan 25, 1999
Complete install of tank flanges.
Prepare for firewall covering.
Jan 26, 1999
Wicks advises the firewall should be varnished prior to application of Fiberfrax cement.
Paint with resin all open foam inside tank. Test fit header tank top. Fit is bad, partly due to warpage of the tank top. The sides have pulled in making it difficult to get the center down. Rand Robinson alluded to the possibility that the tank would be challenging to assemble. It should however be possible to get a reasonable fit but a helper will likely be required.
Varnish (1st coat) the front of the firewall plywood.
Jan 27, 1999
Flox top of tank into position (center only from baffle to baffle). With the flanges already glued in and by using pop rivets to hold the top down this was less difficult than it first appeared.
Second coat varnish front of firewall.
Jan 28, 1999
Complete floxing of tank top into position. Fit is only fair even accounting for warpage of the top. The flanges helped make up for the fit giving an edge to position and secure (with rivets) the top. The process was relatively trouble free but without the flanges I dont see how it would be possible to assemble the unit. The flanges were floxed into position around the edge of the tank bottom without rivets and the strength of the assembly seemed quite good. Part of this I believe is due to preparation of the tank and flanges. During final assembly significant loads were applied to them (the flanges) without failure of any joint. The choice of polyester resin appears to have been a good one from a structural standpoint although I find the fumes given off by these resins quite offensive. The appropriate mask should be worn unless you're working under a fume hood.
Jan 31, 1999
Trim tank edges and prepare for fiberglassing. Fill with flox any areas of poor fit so as to obtain maximum strength and best seal with fiberglass cloth strips.
Three layers of 6 oz BID cloth, heavy on the resin were applied about 1-1 1/2 either side of the seam. Front seam only. Results look very good.
Filler neck and vent tube prepared for floxing into position.
Locate engine mount on firewall. Engine is symmetrical (L and R) around the Diehl case mounting lugs. The mount was slightly unsymmetrical in that the CL of the engine mount bolts are about 3/16" left of the CL of the engine mount pads.
