Heat servos and ducting installed

I had to figure out where to attach the heat tee control servos so as not to interfere with fuel lines and cables (but still have the right angle and range of motion). This is what I came up with:

Fuel hose around forward heat tee

Servo (roughly) positioned to move the tee's flap without interfering with the fuel hose

Aft heat tee servo (roughly) positioned to move the flap without interfering with the rudder cable

I had the option of mounting the aft servo at the bottom, which would keep it out of the way, but decided that'd be not just harder to install, but harder to service, plus a broken servo attachment at the top means the rudder cable may rub against it (not great but probably doesn't lock the rudder), whereas a loose servo at the bottom could irremediably bind the elevator pushrod. This position also called for a slightly shorter actuator (you can see it's almost fully retracted above with the lever in the far position), so I switched to a 30mm equivalent, and in order to make it easier to run the wire to the servo controller on the center console, I switched it to the right side.

I also terminated the wires to the forward servo, and re-terminated the servos themselves to use Molex SL connectors that have a locking tab.

I replaced the arms of the heat tees with almost-identical ones, except with smaller holes for the servo (#8 instead of #10) and the aft one with a slightly smaller arm. I also made a doubler for where the aft servo bracket will go in order to use a countersunk screw to attach it (but the forward one is too far out of sight for it to matter), and will use the CNC shock mount from ServoCity as a bracket for the servos:

Heat tea servo arms, bracket and doubler

Securing the servos in place was slightly annoying (notably the forward one which is harder to reach), but they ended up in good positions, avoiding the pedals, cables and fuel hoses:

Forward heat tee servo secured in place

Aft heat tee servo secured in place

SCAT tube connecting the aft heat tee to the Aerosport fuel valve bypass

Center spar protective rubber layer where the SCAT tube lies

Forward heat tee SCAT tube secured in place

We also ran the forward SCAT tube from the firewall to the Aerosport fuel valve bypass, and secured it to the tunnel cover (which was a little annoying to do, but we managed it, and it cleared the pedal arms nicely):

Firewall-to-fuel-valve SCAT tube secured to firewall

Attaching the SCAT tube bracket to the tunnel cover

Attaching the SCAT tube bracket to the tunnel cover

Firewall-to-fuel-valve SCAT tube secured in place, well clear of the rudder pedal arms

We then had to calibrate the limits of all the servos so they don't stall - the aft tunnel servo was well within range even at its extremes, but the forward servo needed limiting, which I did by using a borescope to watch the flapper move towards its limit, while adjusting the tiny trim pot on the controller:

Heat tee right position during servo calibration

Heat tee left position during servo calibration

The tailcone servo for the overhead air also needed adjustment, to both the wires holding the arms, and to the controller, and we then installed the duct to the overhead console:

Tailcone overhead air valve connected to the bulkhead flanges

Finally, we riveted the forward NACA vents, with sealant and the metal doubler:

Forward NACA vent riveted in place

Forward NACA vent riveted in place, with metal doubler

With this, the only two things left for ventilation are the tailcone vent-to-valve duct (which we're holding off on installing since that makes it even harder to get into the tailcone), and connecting the forward intakes to the panel.


Time lapse:


Total cabin heat and ventilation rivets: 34
Total cabin heat and ventilation time: 19.9h