Over the past few days, I fabricated and fiberglassed the cooling duct attached to the lower cowl and detoured for a day to solve an electrical problem, my fuel pump did not work.
First, the fuel pump problem. Mine did not work when I powered up the electrical system (with the voltage regulator UNPLUGGED). (There is another problem related to the voltage regulator/rectifier as 2 fellow builders have observed smoke coming from the regulator/rectifier when they powered up the electrical system.) With regard to my fuel pump problem, with the assistance of John Bender, we determined one of the wires in the 37 pin tunnel harness connector was in the wrong position. The pin was in position 30 and it should have been inserted into position 29. This problem was confirmed by Stein via a post on the VAF forum. The early harnesses were mis-wired in this manner. The subsequent harnesses should be OK.
Since I was now implanted in the electrical mode, decided to check the rest of the electronics and electrical system. All seems to function normally. Adjusted all of the audio level potentiometers on the rear side of the switch panel in accordance with the plans. The only potentiometer left to be set is the pot for trim speed. It is hidden under the Dynon. Getting a screwdriver on this pot requires partial removal of the left panel section. Otherwise there is NO way to get a screwdriver on the potentiometer. (This was confirmed by a couple of fellow builders). The left panel section MUST be raised a bit and/or the upper part of the panel tilted aft. Then you can get at the pot with a screwdriver.
Then started working on the cooling duct. Trimmed the cooling duct and its adapter to the scribe line. Then after trimming it, and re-fitting it to the lower cowl a number of times, the cooling duct was cleco'ed in place. The adapter is to fit 0.25" from the face of the coolant radiator. Two days of work.
Today, I bled the brake lines in the morning (used the bottom up method with a hand pump oiler at the bleed valve, used Aeroshell 31), went flying in the early afternoon and then fiberglassed the cooling duct and the adapter to the lower cowl. Everything, including the upper cowl was then installed on the airframe. Such allows the fiberglass to cure to the correct shape.
Time Over the Past 4 Days - 27 hours (includes 8 hours to troubleshoot and correct the fuel pump problem)
