T5

A Record of important things…

Aux Tank Mounting

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I set to work fabricating the hold-down straps for the aux tank.  I didn’t like the way BJ called for the strap to be simply bent and bolted to the  back of the seat.  Seemed like there would be a stress point right at the bolt, so I riveted on a couple of pieces of angle to better handle the 90 degree force turn.

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The curve of the seatback also caused the straps to not sit flat, so I glued on some foam strips, poured in some flox, ground and sanded them flat and perpendicular, then glassed over the foam.

The close up shows a tiny little void in the glass in the lower right, but this is non structural, so we won’t panic.  I am learning fiberglass and my results are getting better, but I won’t be building a Long-EZ yet.

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I whipped up these little brackets to allow for snugging down the straps and taking up any excess slack in the straps themselves.  Not much weight and it should be easier to make sure we’re tight and not moving around at all.

Using BJs method would be lighter, but you’d have to have the strap length absolutely perfect to have them reach the correct tension right as they bottom out.  Probably not possible with the flexing  of the tank.

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One down.  One to go.  I need more of this jumbo shrink tubing and to paint them up on completion.


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12/31/11   This is the fuel pump mount pad.  The welds that mount the tabs to the frame extend up a little.  Instead of grinding them down (weakening the joint and breaking the powdercoat) I just made this 0.050 shim in the shape fo the fuel pump base.  It’s as thick as the welds and everything sits flat now.

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Done for now.  The tanks have been preliminarily fit, the hoses have been cut, and everything looks good.  I have a fuel flow gauge and sender on order.  When they get here I will seal it all up and do a leak check and be done with fuel until final assembly.

One note: I did elect to forego the Westberg sender and gauge since it seemed like a pretty expensive way to only measure the lower tank.  I saw a video on the web of one builder who ran a sight gauge in the cockpit along the back interior edge of the seat pan.  Pretty primitive, but an effective way to see the real level from the top to the bottom.  I am thinking this is the way I’ll go as a gauge of last resort.  The fuel flow meter will be primary with the visual sight level as backup.