Author Archives: Ryan
Fuselage Completion #11 (Windshield fitting)
Total Build time: 820 Hours With the fuel tank and glare-shield temporarily in place, I turned my attention to the Polycarbonite (Lexan) windshield. The typical (plans) method is to fit the bow first, then cut the windshield to fit the bow. Since I am tall, I decided to follow a method advised by some other Sonex builders, … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #10 (Fuel tank fitting)
Total Build Time: 806 hours. With my Aerovee engine build on hold due to cylinder head issues, I turned my attention back to the airframe. I moved forward with the initial fitting of the fuel tank. The very durable rotationally molded polyethelyne fuel tank sits beneith the glareshield (and in front of the pilot). It is held … Continue reading
Aerovee #6 (Cylinder Head Issues)
Total Build Time: 789 Hours. “During assembly of my aerovee kit, I was inserting the top spark plugs into the cylinder heads. I gapped and applied anti-seize, then fit and hand tightened all 4 top plugs. I set my torque wrench to the prescribed 12 ftlb, and torqued the first plug successfully. However on the … Continue reading
Aerovee #5 (Cylinder Heads and Valve Rockers)
Total Build Time: 788 Hours. For continuity purposes, this post will include my progress on the cylinder heads, rocker assemblies and valve pushrods. My next post will include the issues I’ve faced with the Aerovee cylinder heads. The cylinder heads were pretty dirty with shavings, I spent over an hour per head cleaning and filing out … Continue reading
Aerovee #4 (piston bolts and shims)
Total Build Time: 781 Hours. The pistons mate to the connecting rods via the piston bolts. I had some fitment issues between the piston bolts and connecting rods. I had a couple piston bolts that were just too tight with the connecting rods. I used an extension socket and emery paper to slightly file … Continue reading
Aerovee #3 (Crankcase assembly)
Total Build Time: 777 Hours. I cleaned out the crankcase using files, emery paper and a dremel tool. All burrs and loose material was removed, then the case was cleaned. I then masked off all machined surfaces and openings and painted the case with engine primer. I then assembled the connecting rods onto … Continue reading
Aerovee #2 (Crankshaft Assembly)
Total Build Time: 771 Hours. The Aerovee crankshaft uses a shrink-fit assembly. That is, certain parts need to be heated (and others frozen) to allow them to expand/shrink enough to fit onto the appropriate parts. Once the parts cool, they fit snugly. The first part to be heated and inserted onto the crankshaft is the … Continue reading
Aerovee #1 (Delivery)
I had the engine delivered to my office to save on residential shipping costs. Here’s the pallet in the delivery truck: Fitting all 5 boxes into my VW hatchback made for a tight fit! Putting a VW conversion engine into a VW hatchback did seem appropriate, though. Once home, I unpacked and inventoried the … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #9 (brake system)
Total Build Time: 745 hours. For the brake system I intended to use the system as called for in the plans, with an addition of a turnbuckle to allow for easy brake cable tension adjustments. Sourcing the parts for the brake system ended up being more of a chore than I’d imagined. There were several … Continue reading
730 Hour Project Update (Timelapse Video)
It’s now been 11 months since I took delivery of my Waiex kit last November. I took off 3 months of building during the summer, so I essentially have spent 8 months of actual building time on the project. I previously made an update at 500 hours and included a time-lapse video that showed the … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #8 (Flight Control pre-rigging, VIDEO)
Total Build Time: 730 Hours. With my wings still attached, I decided to do as much as I could before removing them once again. Space in my basement is limited, so eventually I will need to remove the wings both to continue working, and to get the plane out of the basement at the end … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #7 (Wing Rigging)
Total Build Time: 722 Hours. Finally, the big day has come. My wings have been sitting on a rack in the corner of my basement for the last 7 months. Now I will finally be able to pull them off the rack put them onto the plane for the first time. To prepare the fuselage … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #6 (Rudder Pedals and Flap Drive tube.)
Total Build Time: 705 Hours. The rudder pedals are held in place using phenolic blocks. I used a 1″ forstner bit to bore the holes in the blocks, and then used a brake hone to ream out the holes for a good fit. I removed the powder coat from the pedals where they will be … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #5 (Control sticks and mixer assembly)
Total Build Time: 698 Hours. The Waiex comes standard with dual-control sticks. For roll input, each stick is connected to its respective aileron, and the sticks are linked together. For pitch input they are both mounted on a frame that pivots fore and aft. Basically the parts are fit together, clamped in place and drilled to … Continue reading
Fuselage Completion #4 (Rear spar carry-though assembly)
Total Build Time: 691 Hours. I pulled out some of the last remaining aluminum laser-cut parts from my aircraft kit that arrived last November. It was nice to be working with aluminum again after having done so much work recently with steel and titanium. Once I had these parts on my workbench I realized how … Continue reading