What a turnaround this morning .. trying to source a stainless Comms ariel for the ‘plane and finally got a response from one firm that said, yes, they do stock them but they couldn’t provide a quote as I wasnt a business AND the minimum order was £750 AND (therefore) I would have to order a minimum of 4 !!!

Then, I get a contact through a great chap who pops over here to do Jersey avionics (Adrian) who kindly gave me the contact of Adams Aviation … One ‘phonecall …

https://www.adamsaviation.com/en/

Amazingly helpful chap called Mike Ball asked in I needed one capable of Mach 2 before we both laughed and agreed the Sherwood would probably come just under that on normal approaches 🙂

Mike took the VAT off, asked if I was LAA and discounted for that and hey presto, its in the post.

Why cant everyone in the world work like this ….

All pipes drilled and sensors in

  Pin Holes at 100mm from manifold

  Then cut the trailing tag off and clip the edges so you dont slash your finger the next time you put your hand inside the cowl !

Demon Tweeks box arrived with my replacement parts yesterday and also Ray at Marine Fabrications drilled the exhaust and manifold pipes so busy night last night !

• Drained the W80 oil out of the engine and replaced with straight 100
• Re-wirelocked it all up
• Fitted the Exhaust Gas Temp (EGT) probes in both rear manifold pipes – nice fit
• Re fitted both rear manifolds – probe and cable runs look good and clear of cowl and bits
• Checked the oil injectors fit in the exhaust outlet pipes, again looks good
• Oiled the Aeroquip fittings and re fitted the oil cooler underneath
• Routed and trimmed the two braided oil pipes away from exhaust and through to the Temperature controlled filter unit (TOCA)
• Drilled the new ply mounting plate for the smoke oil remote filler

  Pre tape to prevent fraying when cutting

  EGT probe – flush fit

– Probe in position – same the other side

  Proper sized Aeroquip right angle to route it neatly over inlet manifold

Becks has come up trumps with the propellor cover and, thanks to Karen and Paul (Johnsons) kind donation of the excess sail fabric cover – we now have some very sexy looking red propellor covers. Rupert from Hercules would be pleased 🙂

Drilled out the brake lever arms last night and cut the outer cable, greased and ran the bowden cable through and started to plan the routing through the open Undercarriage leg. This will all get covered and the exit tube will run through a leather patch. Time to get my green covered cow out again ! I also need to start cutting sections out of this for the panel covering.

Removed the two rear exhaust manifolds from the Jabiru to get the holes drilled for the Exhaust Gas Temp (EGT) sensors.

Need to be 100mm down from the manifold.

Also, this is how every self respecting ‘plane builder goes to work .. on his motorbike .. with a Jabiru exhaust stuffed down his front … this is going to have two holes drilled for the smoke atomizers (10″ from the exit hole)

Looking good with teh Oratex matched paint

Just need a final top cover coat on the spinner .. and maybe matt the tips down a little

Kit arrived from Smokin Airplanes … wow … what a fantastic top quality kit it is …

Everything very neatly and securely boxed up. All the pipes finished and cut o length with appropriate bushes and ends in place. Very very clear instructions and a very neat end to end connection system that simply leaves you drilling a hole through the bulkhead, securing the anodised T bar which then splits off two braided feeder tubes. The end of the feeder tubes have atomiser spray heads that cloud the oil into the top end of the exhaust.

The tank, I went for the smallest they do, looks like it could withstand an atomic bomb .. very sturdy with loads of pre fitted rivnut style fixings to cater for however you may wish to mount it or its associated pump.

The pump, well that also looks built to last a million years. One concern I had was it felt quite heavy but I quickly decided to reverse my planned install and instead of the pump installed next to the tank and ‘pushing’ – I am going to flip ends and have it on the bulkhead and ‘pulling’. Quick email to Scott in the US and he said lots of people do that so no problem !

Next plan is to trim down the light dural I have (from Marin Fabrications – Many thanks Ray for sorting so quickly) and make a small supported shelf behind P1, light and secured – must withstand 9G according to LAA rules !

Also, went for the remote fill option .. don’t want to be sloshing diesel around .. I plan to put this small screw cap into a ply surround and mount just next to the pilot head bubble.

Watch this space !!!

No .. not what you were thinking …. Had drained the delivery oil from the engine and put the standard oil in ready for initial use before my Sherwood Pilot mentor James – eagle eye – spotted I wasnt using straight oil which you MUST for the initial 30 hours.

Picked up my first bottle of straight 100 … not sure the exact quantities a Jabiru 2200 takes as the PDF manuals that litter the internet don’t actually give volumes ! Have a dipstick and know it will be at least another bottle or so to fill the filter and oil cooler and associated pipework.

Just waiting for Demon Tweeks to source my 90 degree angled pipes from the TOCA connection. I managed to order the next size up doh ! Demon were really good and took the slightly opened packet back.