Using Stewart Systems with Ceconite to cover the fuselage. Starting with the bottom.

What weight fabric on the belly? Tall grass, waterskiing tires, gravel all seem to take it out on the belly.

Karmutzen wrote:What weight fabric on the belly? Tall grass, waterskiing tires, gravel all seem to take it out on the belly.

It's Ceconite C102, the medium weight fabric that is standard for this application.

Thread Count: 73 x 65/inch
Weight: 2.79 oz/sq yd
Breaking Strength: Average 105 lbs/inch
Tear Strength: Warp 98 lbs, Fill 113 lbs

This plane won't be subject to anything besides nice grass, smooth dirt, or asphalt.

It's definitely not a bad idea to put the heavy fabric on the belly if you plan on thrashing into hostile conditions! [emoji1360]

Got the bottom fabric all the way glued on and shrunk it to 250F.

Also got the main gear legs installed and the axles, wheels, tires, and brakes in place.













Bolts and washers for attaching the gear have to be installed directionally to accommodate a matching radius on the bolt and washer near the head.



















I didn't get much else done because I got my ass kicked removing the mags, alternator, governor, accessory case, oil sump, fuel servo, and all the other associated bits on the Lycoming IO-360 on our Christen Eagle. We need to replace a bad idler gear that mates with the left magneto.

Took me 4.5 hours to get it all off. I wasn't sure if it could be done without pulling the engine off. The governor to firewall clearance was close but I made it work.

Really putting this A&P certification I just got to work!









The idler gear you see held in place with safety wire is just a placeholder to make sure the cam/crank don't go out of time.

The photo essays you post up are fantastic; wonderful stuff, thank you.

You are doing nice work. What caused the gear damage and how did you find it?

Mapleflt wrote:The photo essays you post up are fantastic; wonderful stuff, thank you.

You're very welcome, glad you're enjoying it!

bush master wrote:You are doing nice work. What caused the gear damage and how did you find it?

The left magneto case cracked/failed and let the magneto get slightly out of axis which chipped the idler gear tooth. An oil leak at the mag prompted the discovery.

Found the missing pieces of the gear in the sump and of course will cut open the filter to inspect. Overall it seems like we dodged a bullet.

Weird failure. The mag was bolted down securely and failed at the seam located in the middle of the housing.

Had to wheel it out in the sun for some motivation.

The flight school that this plane lived it's entire life at still has this plane's weight and balance posted on their website.

It will be fun reweighing it after we're done.

Elevator cable had a small fray on it. When I bent the cable, it unwound pretty dramatically.



Rudder cables are trash.



Replacements from ACA look nice and should be much safer.



The Rainbow Ron wooden bulkheads lacked the reinforcements found on the ACA ones, so they were ordered from ACA and glued on.

Have you received any sort of a response from on the clear and obvious differences. Are one set overkill or the others the minimum required, the differences seem to be stacking up. I like that YOU have gone above and beyond I'll say, tough to do after the fact !!

Mapleflt wrote:Have you received any sort of a response from on the clear and obvious differences. Are one set overkill or the others the minimum required, the differences seem to be stacking up. I like that YOU have gone above and beyond I'll say, tough to do after the fact !!

They do warp over time, especially in a more humid climate, without the reinforcement. I highly recommend adding them. We usually make our own.

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What about brushing some spar varnish on them when you’re done?


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Mapleflt wrote:Have you received any sort of a response from on the clear and obvious differences. Are one set overkill or the others the minimum required, the differences seem to be stacking up. I like that YOU have gone above and beyond I'll say, tough to do after the fact !!

Rainbow Ron is a good guy. His stuff is airworthy and cheaper than the goods from ACA, but it isn't exactly the same. A1Skinner gave you a great response!

Also yanking this thing around the sky doing aerobatics, we don't want to leave anything out that could possibly add to the strength or durability. In honesty, these birds are way overbuilt to begin with but why not err on the side of caution to make sure it has the same stuff as when it was new?

Tom wrote:What about brushing some spar varnish on them when you’re done?


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Oh yes, this is standard practice to seal up every pore of the wood to make it as ruggedized and resistant as possible to soaking up moisture. [emoji1360]

Sounds like a solid endorsement, your happy with the product in general and the "added" insurance is a good addition to the impressive work you do. Proceed as cleared, loop and roll to your heart's content in comfort and peace of mind.

I rarely post or comment much as I don' t know that much. I don't own a 7 but I do own a fabric covered plane. I do (did?) have an A&P (50 yrs ago) but never used it. I just have to say that this is without a doubt the best damn thread on any forum....ever. It's like a refresher tutorial no matter what particular fabric covered aircraft one owns. Considering the time you have involved keeping everyone up to speed on the project, I just wanted you to know how valuable and entertaining this thread has been to us lurkers that hardly ever speak up.

Mapleflt wrote:Sounds like a solid endorsement, your happy with the product in general and the "added" insurance is a good addition to the impressive work you do. Proceed as cleared, loop and roll to your heart's content in comfort and peace of mind.

Wilco!!! [emoji1945]

WYflyer wrote:I rarely post or comment much as I don' t know that much. I don't own a 7 but I do own a fabric covered plane. I do (did?) have an A&P (50 yrs ago) but never used it. I just have to say that this is without a doubt the best damn thread on any forum....ever. It's like a refresher tutorial no matter what particular fabric covered aircraft one owns. Considering the time you have involved keeping everyone up to speed on the project, I just wanted you to know how valuable and entertaining this thread has been to us lurkers that hardly ever speak up.

Wow, that is absolutely the best compliment and most wonderful thing I could ever hope to hear. Thank you sir!

I've been wrenching on planes for 30 years, but I'm a newly minted A&P.

I consider myself basically a parts replacer with a credit card, and Zane has provided a wonderful outlet for me to really enjoy sharing my hobby/passion with others like you.

More to follow until this bird is airborne!

Many of us are living vicariously thru your adventures please don't stop dude

Well, I'm gonna kinda blow it, but just for one post! [emoji51]

Warning: off topic...skip now if you don't want to be bored to tears! [emoji58]

It was a scorching 105F inside the hangar today so I didn't have much motivation to get any work done on the 7ECA.

My wife and I took our two girls to Pier 3 in San Francisco to attend the coolest 1 year old birthday party ever. Her parents work for the Hornblower Cruise lines, so the kid had a whole floor of the boat to herself.

It was also one of those rare summer days in SF where it was actually warm and sunny!

Bay Bridge driving to the Pier


Salesforce Tower - tallest building in SF


Here's our boat


Little Frankie is 1 year old! [emoji512] (I'm sure she will remember every minute of this epic party [emoji1787] )


Beautiful summer day on the water


Yours truly


We drove back home across the Bay Bridge


When we got home, the girls took a nap and I had the urge to aviate, so I decided to stretch our 170B's legs for a bit in the heat.

Still enamored by the beauty of this bird after 25 years of flying her.







I departed Livermore and decided to make a run for the cooler temps at the coast and go see what was happening at my old airport, Half Moon Bay.

Typical coastal fog for the summer was present


Half the field was VFR so a few touch and goes were in order


There's a secret 700' dirt strip south of here which is a blast, I refer to it as 29 [emoji6]

I had my fun on it, and then I was bummed to see that the airport was totally deserted. Not a soul in sight.



Half of the field was IMC/IFR so I decided to go home instead of parking and letting the slow motion tidal wave of coastal fog swallow me up and strand me there.


A quick stop at San Carlos airport to stretch my legs seemed like a good idea. I visited my buddy Hans that runs the airport supply shop in the Terminal.

He always saves neat stuff for me and today he had this cool valve (dunno if it's intake or exhaust) from a Wright Cyclone on a B-17.

I should have put something in the picture for scale. It's huge!








This is the Oracle towers at Redwood Shores. The pond in the middle has Larry Ellison's America's Cup winning boat in it. I saw a Skycrane lift it out of the Bay and set it in the pond after it reclaimed the title for us. [emoji631]


Passed over this sunken ship which has been in the middle of the Bay since WWII. I've been told it was scuttled there on purpose and P-38's used to use it for target practice, strafing it with bullets.




And back at home in Livermore at last. I was #2 to land, so I parked it on downwind abeam the numbers to give the other fellow time to do his thing.


Not a bad day, but wished I had some flying buddies around to share the flying fun with. I'm alone in my airplanes 99% of the time. Pretty lonely, but kinda special in a weird kind of way...being able to focus on everything without distractions.

Hope all of you had a great Saturday too. [emoji482]

Mapleflt wrote:Many of us are living vicariously thru your adventures please don't stop dude

I promise this won't end up as one of those zombie threads that get abandoned by the OP and never goes to completion!