10 hours.
Today and yesterday.
My motivation this week was at an all-time low, and the anxiety factor was at an all time high. Some of these tasks that look like nothing turn out to be major headaches. I’m currently working on the forward baffles, and there is no way this could have gone smoothly. This front-governor nonsense has proved itself to be a recurring pain, and fitting the O-540 baffle elements to the O-360 kit is a pain.
But yesterday I sucked it up and made attach brackets for the left front baffle. This is hard, because the angle has to match the inlet ramp and the baffle at the same time. I got it done though, and put a bunch of platenuts in it so I can detach the baffle from the inlet ramp to facilitate working with the prop governor. It should work OK, but it bears watching. I also riveted the inlet ramp and baffles together, where applicable, plus set up the air dam that attaches to the main angle bracket of the left front baffle. Fortunately on VAF, there was a post about putting this on with platenuts, because it will probably need to be shaped a little during flight testing to adjust cooling properties. I also finished the snorkel/inlet ramp interface, and bent the leading edge of the inlet ramp down to serve as a barrier for the air filter. It all works.
With the exception of one of the brackets, and the sealing of the area around the corners of the snorkel intake, the left front baffles are done.
Today I worked on the right front baffle. I drilled in the conical gusset, plus the air dam got the same platenut treatment, and I started fabricating the bracket setup for the front baffle/inlet ramp connection. There’s no governor to get in my way, but the retention system is different, so I have to fab a couple of brackets for it. I did one, but I need to do two more. I might be able to finish that up tomorrow.
The goal is to get the baffles in a state where I can start cutting them down to fit the cowl. After that, it’s plumbing, cabling and wiring.
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