You've obviously given it some thought, and it sounds good--
simpler is usually better in my experience.

Still working on the FWF. I'm not great with sheet metal so the baffles are taking forever. Sorry for the poor quality pictures.







The engine cowl is basically ready to be fastened together.


My pops has been working on everything aft of the firewall. He has most of the wiring and plumbing done and has started working on the windows. I'm pretty excited to see that part come together. Hopefully it turns out like we envisioned.

I’ve been concerned about how much this thing is going to weigh. Originally I was hoping to make it super light but then the rear seating and seat rails added some weight, then I wanted big windows and a skylight, then dual batteries, etc. I think she’s going to be pretty heavy. The skylight glass weighs 9lbs, the door glass is 7lbs per door. The rear windows are pretty big but I didn’t weigh them, I’d guess 4lbs each. The rear seating added about 15lbs over the standard seating. I guess we’ll see how much it weighs when we weight it. I might have to toss some of that heavy stuff. I’m excited about how it looks and how awesome the view will be.

https://flic.kr/p/25Q8PF8



We are having some frustrating issues with the radio/intercom installation. We are getting major RF feedback and I’m sure it has something to do with our installation and use of a internal antenna. Hopefully we get it figured soon.

FYI, the image you just posted isn’t showing up.

Thanks. I still haven’t figured out how to post pictures from flicker using my phone.

Flickr on the phone isn't a great experience. It won't copy/paste the bbcode like it's supposed to. No fun.

Man your plane is looking great! I could stare at those rocker covers for an hour!

Nice job Whee!

Man your plane is looking great! I could stare at those rocker covers for an hour!

Ha me too, those look awesome!

We are having some frustrating issues with the radio/intercom installation. We are getting major RF feedback and I’m sure it has something to do with our installation and use of a internal antenna. Hopefully we get it figured soon.[/quote]


Fluorescent lights will cause the feed back.. move the antenna to the floor...feed back should be less or disappear.....I had the same problem.

Thanks guys. It's a 20ft paint job. I'll try to keep some mud on it so it doesn't look os bad up close.

Mark, Thanks for the idea. I've recently discovered our RF issue is a intercom design issue. We have a couple things to try before we toss it and install something else.

I’d say the heck with the dash-doodads and get it flying first. Looks like an awesome plane when it’s done.

whee wrote:Thanks guys. It's a 20ft paint job. I'll try to keep some mud on it so it doesn't look os bad up close.

Mark, Thanks for the idea. I've recently discovered our RF issue is a intercom design issue. We have a couple things to try before we toss it and install something else.

Sounds like a good paint job to me! It's not easy to do by any means. I'm hoping a scuff sanding and another wet coat will hide most of th tiger stripes I have on a fuselage I painted yesterday...

Been busy so far this summer NOT working on the plane but some progress has been made. Now that I broke my boat I should get more done on the plane. [emoji38]

Gave up on the intercom and yanked it. Hooked up the two place intercom that’s internal to the radio. Seems to work fine. We’ll install a Garmin GMA 245 audio panel after the plane is flying.

Here’s a couple pics.

It might not feel like it, but you are getting closer and closer Jon! I see progress.
It's looking good.

How close is the exhaust to the motor mount? From the photo, it looks like its going thru the lower triangle vs under.

Thanks Battson. Progress is being made just not as quickly as I’d like. Too many summer family activities.

Bagarre, The exhaust is close and is certainly something that will need to be watched. There isn’t room between the lower engine mount tube and the cowl to fit the exhaust pipe without putting a big ugly blister in the cowl. Cessna ran it this way on the T-41 but the triangle is bigger on that mount. If the exhaust ends up touching the mount I’ll have a header system made.

Maybe a no-brainer but I'd suggest heat shields on the engine mount adjacent to exhaust, a la Cessna.
Maybe also heat-wrap like the rat rods all seem to use.

I'm curious about your engine mount-
did you fabricate one yourself, or maybe adapt one from a T41 / Hawk XO or other factory airplane?
Or....I see from their website that Bearhawk Aircraft offers an O-470 engine mount--
does this mount also fit the IO-360?
The IO-360 is kind of an interesting engine design-wise, it seems like kind of a cross between the O-300 and the O-470
with some of the features from each.

hotrod180 wrote:Maybe a no-brainer but I'd suggest heat shields on the engine mount adjacent to exhaust, a la Cessna.
Maybe also heat-wrap like the rat rods all seem to use.

I'm curious about your engine mount-
did you fabricate one yourself, or maybe adapt one from a T41 / Hawk XO or other factory airplane?
Or....I see from their website that Bearhawk Aircraft offers an O-470 engine mount--
does this mount also fit the IO-360?
The IO-360 is kind of an interesting engine design-wise, it seems like kind of a cross between the O-300 and the O-470
with some of the features from each.

Heat shields are in progress. I have one off a Cessna that I'm copying for the other positions. I thought about wrapping the pipes but decided not to bother with it unless there is a future need.

One of the engines I bought came off a T-41 and came with the engine mount. The Cessna has a much taller firewall than a BH so I cut the mount apart, reused the bed portion and welded on new tubes that fit the BH. I followed the same form as Cessna but since the tubes are at different angles I resized the tubes to support the new loads. Turns out that my mount is very similar to the BH O470 mount but the O470 and IO360 sit on the bed a little different so they are not interchangeable.

I think rather than wrapping the pipes I would get them ceramic coated. Sure works good on snowmobiles and the like...

Progress looks great Jon!

On Bearhawk#357 we had the exhaust headers for the Landrover motor ceramic coated. They used a special high temp coating on the inside and the silver looking stuff on the outside of the pipes. It dropped the temps way down in the motor compartment. It stopped the white motor mount paint from turning brown.