Section 45: Cowling

RV14 Build September

Cowling

Liz came in to help work on the cowing attachment hinges. This is relatively straight forward. Measure and cut.

Deburring the edges

Trimming the upper and lower cowling half hinge pins.

Bending the hinges and pins to the approximate shape.

Trimming the interference after bending.

Final trimmed and bent with the hinge pin installed.

Checking that it was level across and not twisted. Fluted where needed in the curves.

Finally primed.

Trimming the cowl is simple enough, although nerve racking if you slip! Draw a sharpie line on the scribe line to make it easier to see and trim then sand to the line. I find a cutting wheel on the dremel is best for triming.

Same process on the sides.

And same process for the door.

Final, initial trim and sanding. I need the lower cowl to trim and match the 2 halves together.

Section 45: Cowling 10.0 Man Hours

Section 42: Miscellanea

RV14 Build October

Miscellanea

This section is mostly the interior panels. There is very little to actually do besides a few nut plates, debur, prime, top coat.

Getting everything primed. Mostly I did this and the topcoating at the same time as the seat backs so not all the parts you see are for section 42.

The flap motor cover and the fuel selector cover plate. This basically is all the assembly of this section.

Stewart systems for topcoating. I really like this stuff. I forgot how to spray it well so there was some re learning, but the end results i am very happy with.

Topcoat.

Last is to install the seatbelt harness straps.

Done and done, until I get seat belts.

Section 42 Miscellanea 6.0 Hours

Section 41: Wing Attachment

Rv14 Build September and October

Wing Attachment

Since Im not ready to mount the wings there is only a few things I can do in this section. I primed the wing walk gap covers.

Prime the support for the wing walks.

Riveting on the supports

Done and done, keeping the different support in the correct location proved to be challenging. I wish I was more careful in labeling when priming.

Found out these holes are not countersunk or dimpled on the tank to install the wing gap fairings so I had to do that.

Making the pushrods for the flaps.

Flap pushrods.

Ive decided to buy these from aircraft specialty. They have a mod to change these and add fuel filters in the wing area for easier service and to have a seperate filter on each tank.

Bending the vent lines. Had the plans printed to the proper scale, that should help with the fit.

Still haven't figured out the bender perfectly, but I was able to get these bends to scale.

Finished vent lines.

Section 41 Wing Attachment 9.5 Hours

Section 61: Canopy Harness

 RV14 Build October

Canopy Harness

From other post I found it was a good idea to wire the Canopy Latch switch during the canopy build process. So these were already in place for the wiring.

You can see the coiled wire at the front of the canopy assembly.

So definitely optionally added more work for myself here. I didn't like the way the wire were planned to run from the defrost fans. So I removed the stop wires and soldered in #22 and spliced with a solder sleeve the ground from the vans into the ground from the canopy switch. I also spliced the power wires together in a more logical way so there is just 1 power for the fans, 1 ground for the fans and the canopy switch, and 1 switch signal/power wire.

All I need now is the LED light strip to wire in and terminate the ends into the molex.

Section 61: Canopy Harness 3.5 Hours

Section 33 Rudder and Brake System, Parking brake

RV14 Build October

Section 33 Rudder and Brake System

I decided to install a Matco parking brake. I started with the cable to see how much control throw I would have.

Then put the valve o nte bracket and started to imagine how to mount it up. The L bracket it something I added during the build knowing I might install a parking brake.

This was the basic bracket mount that I came up with.

Its getting real, cut the tubes from the kit to install the valve.

Ordered some new tube components.

Started to measure and cut the tubes to length and installing end fitting and into the valve.

New lines are installed valve and ready to go into the airplane.

Valve temporarily installed to check the 3D mounting plate. You can see the black plastic below the valve. I had to reinforce it with fiberglass for now till version 2 gets printed.

The lines come from the left side brake cylinders into the Matco valve, then to the respective sides on the firewall.

All I need now is figure out the mounting bracket and the cable. This is the 3D bracket before I reinforced it with fiberglass. Gonna print another version that is more rigid.

Section 33 Parking Brake 2.5 Hours

Section 18 Fuel Tank Repair

RV14 Build September & October   

Fuel Tank

Just to recap, I dropped the wing and damaged the fuel tank and is caused a leak.

Luckily for me the tank was just repaired and the repair patch was right above this, so i drilled it out so i could remove sealant on the inside to reseal. This allowed me to inspect for damage as well and I found what looks like 2 tears in the metal down in that same corner.

I decided I am going to replace the part and possible the aft inboard tank rib as well. First things first, time to drill out the parts, CARFEULLY so I dont mess up the skin.

After drilling out the parts and getting a much better look at the support bracket It doesn't look town afterall and that was surface scratching possible from the plastic scraper I used to dig out the sealant. The skin in the corner where that rivet I drilled out was however was cracked in the dimple so I'm going to drill that up a size and put in an oops rivet.

Primed the new brace, only on the side outside of the tank.

New brace is riveting pro-sealed in and about to get riveted. I didn't need to use the oops rivets after all. But now I have them for the future if needed.

Made sure to tighten the vent line and added pro-seal around the fitting just to make sure incase the rotation loosened the old seal.

I forgot to get sealant between the nose rib and the new brace so I loaded the seam on the inside and outside of the tank to compensate.

Adding sealant to every possible place it could leak.

Sealant is done, just need to cure so I can test it.

Looks like I FINALLY have leak free tank again.

Installing the tank back into the wing. This time I'm not going to worry about the screws on the top of the wing until the wings come out of the cradle for install.

Reinstalled the torque tube and aileron pushrods.

Other end of the aileron push rod.

Fuel Tank Repair 15.0 Hours