New Gascolator Bracket

 We have a perfectly functional Gascolator, but the bracket is assembled from several pieces and 2 bolts.  I like the glass bowl so you can see that the gas looks clean, and see if the water was all drained out.
It seemed I could easily make a lighter weight mounting bracket from a single piece of aluminum.  I know it's not much savings in weight but that attitude is how you get a plane 100 pounds over weight.

I started with a card stock pattern to see how it would all work.  I decided to reverse the clamp at the top because of where I wanted to mount it.

 With all the details worked out it was time to flatten the pattern and layout the blank on a piece of 0.040" 2024-T3 aluminum.  I could have traced the pattern but it really wasn't made that perfectly.  It was more just to work out ideas and get critical dimensions.

 The holes were punched and the cuts were made with a band saw so there would not be any distortion from trying to use snips.

Other than making sure there was an adequate radius in each bend the bends were not critical.  I left plenty of material for locating the mounting holes after it was all formed.

 I made up a pattern for the mounting holes using the old part and the holes in the firewall.

From the pattern the holes were punched in the mounting flanges.

 The finished part nicely replaces the old one.

 The wire bale which holds the gascolator together also hold it on the bracket.  It just needs to be screwed to the firewall.

2015 - Back to the Firewall

It's only been 7 years.  OK, I've been working a Cessna 140 project and a 1926 WACO NINE project while the Fly Baby sat collecting dust and filling up the attic.  I've realized the plane will be 50 years old in July 2016.  I need to get this back in the sky, and I need the attic space to assemble the wings for the WACO.  The Cessna long ago moved to a tent in the driveway but there is only so much room in the attic.

 I realized I needed to be able to easily move the engine out of my way and back as I work on the firewall.  I don't really have room for an engine hoist.  I have this old come-along to lift it with.  I screwed 4 eye bolts into the rafters to hold pipes for the come-along to hang from.  With caps on the end of the pipes they won't slide out of the bolts when moving the engine.  The hardware store had some nylon tube fittings which work great for bearings.  You have to lighten the load a bit for them to slide on the rough galvanized pipes, but it works to quickly move the engine to the firewall or out of the way.

 I did find it worked better if I balanced the engine with small ratchet straps at each end.  It was easier to align the engine mount with the bolts.

You can see the old holes in the wood former.  I wanted to use as many of them as possible rather than make more holes just to locate things a little better.

 Originally we stuffed several items through one hole and used putty to seal it.  I wanted a grommet on each item so I located more holes to make it all work.  I also wanted cabin heat so I needed holes for it.  I know it's open cockpit but a few degrees warmer can make a much nicer or longer winter flight.

 All the hole where a grommet was used were drawn to show the hole and the outside of the grommet.  It helped me keep it clear what I was doing at each hole.  I also made notes of what was going through the hole because each grommet needed to be sized to fit tight to that item.

Holes were drilled as large as could easily be done and the filed to size with progressively larger files.  The holes were then deburred to protect the grommets.

 With all the holes done, the firewall goes back on the fuselage to mark the new holes needed.  The curved line is the bottom of the tank.  The rudder pedals were also marked to prevent locating things in bad locations.

 The new holes were cut in the wood and sanded.  All the bare wood was varnished.

The large washers on the engine mount bolts are to help keep the mount from compressing the plywood.

The firewall with grommets.  I plan to make metal covers to seal the grommets against fire, and do fire protection for the hoses.

2008 - New Firewall

 Before we added the stingers to the fuselage it was 24' wide and flat on the sides.  You can see the firewall end of the fuselage here compared to the shape with the stringers.  We had a firewall which fit with the shape of the stringers.  The problem was that after years of changes it was riddled with holes.  The best solution seemed to be just to make a new one from 24 gauge galvanized steel.

 The firewall has a flange formed on the edge for the fasteners to screw the cowl together.  I made a form block to bend the flange over.  As you can see it is not a full block.  The reason is I'm not planning to fully bend the flange to 90 degrees on the form block.  The flange is 1-1/4" and therefore needs a lot of flutes to take up all the slack in order to form it to 90 degrees around the curves.  Normally you would put an angle on the edge of the block to allow the metal to over bend, past 90 degrees, so it will spring back to the desired 90 degree bend.  In this case the edges are just 90 degrees with a small radius on the corners.  I'm just going to bend the flange to about 45 degrees and then finish the bends with a hand operated fluting tool.

 The first engine mount bolt hole was drilled in the blank sheet of steel.  With a bolt holding the blank to the fuselage the next hole was marked.  I like using a Portalign to hold the drill when I can't use a drill press.  The blank was then mounted with 2 bolts and the third hole marked, drilled, etc. for the fourth.  It's slow but minimizes location errors.

 With the holes drilled the form block was used to layout the cut lines, edge of tape.  To prevent cracks, 1/4" holes were punched in the corners of the cuts along the bottom.  The flange will bend forward and the bottom, which does not attach to the cowl, will bend aft.

 The flange was bent forward to about 45 degrees.  You can see the wrinkles developing

 Locations for the fasteners were marked.  I wanted flat spaces for the cowl fasteners.  The original firewall was fluted by machine all the way around.  It made attaching the fasteners more difficult.  Since I don't have a machine I can put flutes where I want them and leave some spaces flat.

You can make the flutes as deep as needed to pull out the slack and leave the flange at 90 degrees.

The bottom 2" flanges were just hammered back with a block of wood to get a smooth bend.

I still need to locate all the holes for cables, hoses, etc.  The holes for the cowl fasteners will be added as the new cowl panels are made.

2008 - New Instrument Panel

 The old radio still works but is no longer legal to use.  I also wanted a slightly different arrangement for the instruments.  The airspeed is top center with the compass and clock beside it.  This leaves room for the Altimiter and Turn/Bank neatly below them making a tight triangle of the most critical instruments.  They actually set a little higher this way and closer to your line of sight while landing.
 To the left are the engine instruments, near the throttle quadrant.  This leaves room for a future radio on the right.
I made a new aluminum panel from 0.063" 2024-T3 to get reasonable strength.  It's covered with an overlay from 1/16" mahogany plywood.  I stained it a little darker and varnished it.  I like the look.

 The old military surplus throttle quadrant was rebuilt.  I relabeled the mixture control for the fuel shutoff.  It had been done with a Dymo Labeler.  I also made a knob for it with a stack of rubberized washers.
The big change was a new mounting bracket tilting it and moving it up slightly to get some more knee room.  My knee always rested against the corner, now it clears nicely.

2008 - Struts and Brakes

The landing gear axle and all the fittings were removed from the landing gear and wing struts.  The metal parts were sand blasted, Zinc Chromate primed and painted with Black enamel. The wooden struts were sanded to remove the old varnish and re-varnished with Marine Spar Varnish.  The fittings were then reinstalled with new hardware.

The landing gear was assembled and bolted back on the fuselage.  The landing gear bracing cables take a lot of abuse.  New 1/8" 1 x 19 cable replaced all the old.  I used the same method we used originally which was 2 Nicopress sleeves.  The first takes the structural loads.  The second just covers the loose end of the cable to prevent snags.  For the second sleeve have the cable installed and rigged tight.  Make the 3 crimps starting with the end toward the first sleeve and work down the cable

 Originally we ran the brake tubes along the front of the gear strut.  They really get beat up in front.  I decided to move them to the back and inboard corner of the struts.  That meant reversing all the fittings from the CUB brakes to turn aft.

I then routed the lines out of the bleeders and around the back of the struts.  There is no hose because the gear is rigid.

 I liked the use of cotton twine to hold the brake lines to the struts.  The twine was varnished after tying it tight.

 Because I'm working in my attic I wanted the gear easily removed.  A union was added in the fuselage where it wouldn't snag moving the fuselage down the steps.  From the union it's a short line to the CUB heal brake cylinder.