Main oil system installed

I attached the oil pressure hose to the engine:

Original oil pressure hose, crossing the whole firewall

only to realize that there's no point in running a hose all the way to the other side, only to also run the sensor wire all the way there - so I removed that, and instead got a shorter hose to attach the sensor close by with the Show Planes clamp:

New oil pressure hose, connected to the sensor nearby

We tried to install the breather tube, it then realized the ANL fuse holders should have been maybe an inch higher up on the firewall to not interfere with it, plus the rubber tube clamp would've ended up right against the engine mount, so we instead got a longer (MIL-6000D) hose and trimmed/re-beaded the tube so they connect just above the top Adel clamp.

Breather tube installed in place

Breather hose connected to breather tube, immediately above an engine mount bar


Trimmed and beaded breather tube, along with the hose that will connect to it

Breather hose and tube installed in place

The main downside of this is that it counts on the Adel clamps not allowing that tube to rotate (which was previous assured by the top bend of the tube being connected to the hose), but I guess that's easy enough to inspect, plus the bottom of the tube is not low enough that it could turn backwards (which would create negative pressure and suck a ton of oil out in flight).

I also added a whistle hole, as described in various VAF posts and a Cessna AD:

Whistle hole, to relieve oil pressure if the breather gets iced up

With most of the near-firewall work done, I test-fit the oil cooler (without fully securing bolts or fittings), and realized that the hose lengths I have won't work too well:

Test fitting the oil cooler and hoses, iwth the hoses being too long


Too-long oil hose hitting the heat control cables

I replaced the hose to the outboard fitting with a shorter one, and we reclocked the engine fitting for the inboard one to give it clearance.

The bottom outboard bolt hole on the cooler was also impossible to use with a long bolt - it's just too close to the engine mount - so I trimmed that off as well:

Oil cooler, with two flanges trimmed to clear the engine mount

I also realized that the AN3-40A bolts that came with the oil cooler installation kit may be a tad too long for the bottom holes, as they were hitting the firewall - so they'll be replaced with -37As (for some reason there's no -39A or -38A? but 37A was the right length with one less washer):

Oil cooler bolts hitting the firewall (before even being fully tightened)


With that, we installed the cooler in place, and sealed the sides and corners with Permatex 27038:

Oil cooler installed and sealed in place

Last, we secured the hoses to the engine, engine mount and oil cooler:

Oil cooler with hoses connecting it to the engine

With this, the prescribed part of section FF5 is complete! Later we'll install the oil drain kit.

Time lapse:


Total oil system time: 5.7h

Panel vents and overhead air connected

I tried to install tubes and clamps connecting the forward air vents to the panel vents. When I did this, it became apparent that there's some contact between the vent extension tube (where the tube is secured) and the subpanel structure, since I couldn't get the tube in. . When we installed the panel it required a little bit of force to get it to align with all the screw holes vertically, and we couldn't figure out why - now it makes sense, when I originally assembled the panel I did not have the back part of the vent in place.

Interference between the panel substrate and the air vent

We trimmed that tip with the Dremel (awkward positions involved), primed the tip again, and finally installed the vent and connected it to the air intake (and at this point, we secured the tube to the vent extension before screwing the vent in place, which made it a lot easier):

Trimming the panel substrate to clear the vent extension

Trimmed panel substrate

SCEET tube secured between the left vent extension and the air intake

SCEET tube secured between the right vent extension and the air intake

We also attached Clickbond standoffs to the tailcone to the hold the overhead air ducts, and installed those:

Clickbond standoffs attached to top tailcone skin for securing overhead ventilation ducts

Overhead ventilation ducts secured in the tailcone

With this, section 50 is complete!

Time lapse:


Total cabin heat and ventilation rivets: 34
Total cabin heat and ventilation time: 22.4h

Coil packs, control cables and MAP tubing progress

I permanently attached the coil pack mount to the engine mount:

Coil pack mount secured in place

To secure the heat control cables to the firewall, I got a custom two-0.19in-hole TTP-S fitting. Installing it and then installing the dual Adel clamps with the engine and everything else already in place was...not easy, but we managed it:

TTP-S firewall fitting for the heat control cables

Installing the TTP-S in place on the firewall recess

We also installed the cabin heat control cables (I insisted on not using servos for this 'cause I want to be sure that the valve can stay closed in case of an engine fire, and servos would melt away pretty quickly):

Heat control cable routing on the firewall

Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that that was the wrong way to clamp the wire - it was even breaking the washer in half - so we instead switched to a 222-4 B nut, which seems much better:

Heat control cables attached to valves with regular washer/nut, showing the broken washer

Heat control cables attached to valves with B nuts

I installed some of the MAP sensor tubing, though the tube coming from the throttle body can only be trimmed to the right length once the bottom engine bracket gets here (and I'm still designing it):

Manifold pressure tubing connected to EFII sensors

Manifold pressure tubing connected to sensors and fuel pressure regulator (but not yet to the throttle body)

Manifold pressure tubing connected to throttle body

Once those brackets are here, I can secure those hoses and be done with this section.

Time lapse:


Total engine installation rivets: 63
Total engine installation time: 39.7h

ELT and overhead insert progress

We temporarily attached the vertical stabilizer and elevators, and ran the trim control cables through them (which was a lot easier to do with the borescope, since it involves routing the cables through small holes in the spars):

Horizontal stabilizer and elevators attached in place, with trim cables running through them

Routing the trim cables with the help of the borescope

With this, we could figure out the ELT install position - the space between the cables is almost enough, but can be made enough if the cables are secured slightly away from it:

ELT sitting in-between the two trim cables

Trim cables clearing the ELT if slight force is applied

ELT sitting in-between the two trim cables, viewed from the side

I attached Clickbond cable brackets to keep the cables away from the center, and added #4 nutplates for attaching the buzzer:

Clickbond standoffs for holding the trim cables away from the ELT

With this, we could also install the stick grips (part of another post), and try out different routes for the grip wires (I also considered just adding an Adel clamp to the landing gear mount, but that seemed too structural to mess with):

Stick grip cable routing underneath the seat

We finished up the overhead inserts, with enclosed Clickbond nutplates to make sure wiring above it won't be damaged, and assembled the components to them:

Marking overhead insert nutplate areas for sanding

Top side of aft overhead insert with all equipment installed

Bottom side of aft overhead insert with all equipment installed

We also spent an enormous amount of time trying to finish the forward overhead insert, and....we messed up :( we put a bit too much torque on one of the stud inserts, and it got loose, inbetween the metal and the carbon fiber layers - so we're back to square 1 for that one.

For the engine wiring, I CNCed a bracket from Delrin to test fit it (and test my CNC program, it was my first time using this machine for something serious):


An initial fitting shows that I didn't consider the that the hoses are not straight, and thus not at a constant distance from the cylinder - so more work is needed here.

Next will be closing up the overhead console and securing the ELT.

Time lapse:


Total avionics rivets: 185
Total avionics time: 459.6h

EGT/AFR sensor installation

I received the exhaust pipes from Custom Aircraft Parts (model 33279 with the studs for better heat exchange):

Exhaust parts after unboxing

Heat-exchanging studs around the exhaust pipes

I test-fit them on the engine, and took the opportunity to mark all the EGT sensor and O2 sensor holes:

Exhaust pipes attached to the right side of the engine

Exhaust pipes attached to the left side of the engine

Exhaust tube markings for the EGT sensor holes

Exhaust tube marking for the last EGT sensor hole

Assessing EGT sensor interference with the spark plug wires

I then drilled those holes and installed the EGT sensors in them:

EGT sensor attached to exhaust tube

EGT sensors attached to exhaust tubes

The O2 sensor hole is significantly larger (7/8"), and required welding a bung to it (I just paid someone to do the welding part):

Oxygen sensor bung, welded to the exhaust tube

Oxygen sensor and EGT probe attached to aft left exhaust tube

With this, the exhaust stack is ready to install in place.

Time lapse:


Total exhaust time: 5.1h