Oil cooler elbow work: 2 hours

• Sanded and scuffed the new fiberglass reinforcement in preparation to apply some microballoons to the whole elbow.
• I also added some flox to reinforce the flanges where the elbow will mount to the oil cooler.

Flox (on inside of elbow) curing:

Oil cooler elbow: 4 hours

• After the oil cooler elbow had cured I removed the metal valve / hose adapter then broke up the mold foam inside of the elbow and pulled all of it out.
• I spent a good bit of time cutting off excess fiberglass and sanding
• I prepped the elbow and added a another layer of fiberglass around the edges, patched a few spots on the body of it and reinforced the ring where the metal piece fits.

Oil cooler elbow with additional layer of fiberglass applied:

Good fit on the oil cooler:

Happy with the initial results:

Oil cooler elbow: 3 hours

• I got the first layer of fiberglass on my oil cooler elbow duct. I waxed the mold then glued it down, followed by some packing tape around the edges then more wax.
• I did the lay up with several layers of fiberglass tape followed by peel ply.
• As usual it took longer than I thought it would. I'm planning on adding another layer of fiberglass after this one cures.

Oil cooler duct in process:

Firewall forward and empennage fairing: 6 hours

• After reviewing the various options for oil cooler mounting I have decided to change strategy and mount the oil cooler on the engine mount using adel clamps. This keeps the firewall clear for the control cables. The only downside is that I have to fabricate a 90 degree elbow adapter out of fiberglass for the oil cooler air input.
• After finishing riveting the battery boxes and doing some sanding on the empennage fairing I started working on the mold for my oil cooler duct.
• I had some foam from an Aircraft Spruce fiberglass intro kit that I glued together into a block then shaped into my duct.
• This foam is very similar to floral foam and will be easy (I hope) to break out of the finished fiberglass duct.
• I coated the mold with e6000 adhesive which will be waxed before doing a wet layup over it.

Sacrificial mold for oil cooler air duct:

Getting there on the empennage fairing:

Last step for battery boxes is to drill mounting holes and paint:

Firewall items: 6 hours

• Fabricated adapter plate for oil cooler mount on firewall.
• Marked the firewall with the standard locations for the throttle, mixture and propeller control penetrations. After looking at the oil cooler mount and the control layout I have decided to not make any permanent holes until I can temporarily hang the the engine and make sure everything will fit properly. I will finish these current firewall items then switch to working on more empennage items, rigging and avionics wiring. After that it will be time to get the engine out of its crate!
• I spent some time modifying the battery boxes with a bolt down aluminum bar to securely hold the battery. I made a lot of progress and I'm happy with the results.

Battery boxes have been trimmed and I fabricated brackets for the hold down bar:

Firewall oil cooler mount:

Firewall oil cooler mount and empennage fairing: 4 hours

• Prepped, primed mating surfaces and did initial riveting on firewall oil cooler mount. This is a part from the RV-10 which is designed for a larger oil cooler. I will make an adapter plate to fit the smaller oil cooler for the 360 engine. However if I need to I will be able to swap to a larger oil cooler.
• Sanded and cleaned empennage fairing, waxed vertical fin, then applied a flox gap filler layup to the vertical portion of the fairing. I also added a few pieces of cloth to the right side of the fairing.

Flox filler and some extra cloth curing (the tape pieces are peel ply):

Oil cooler mount riveted and  ready to fit adapter plate:

Empennage fairing work: 12 hours (?)

• This work was done from April 27 to May 9.
• Sanded ( a lot ) and trimmed empennage fairing
• Waxed fuselage and applied a layer of flox to horizontal part of fairing
• More sanding
• Fabricated fairing and inspection panel combo. I used the original inspection panel and paper as a template and made a new piece that covers the rear portion of the empennage around the elevators. This is a newer technique that Van's uses on the RV-14 ... except on that one you don't have to make the part yourself.
• After the new inspection panel / fairing piece was ready I did a flox layup to fill gaps in the vertical part of the empennage fairing.

Empennage fairing after sanding and trimming:

Flox filler layup on horizontal part of fairing:

Making the paper template for the new inspection / fairing panel:

New panel before cutouts for elevator horns:

Once the left fairing panel was done it made a quick template for the right side:

Getting ready to use the hole finder to locate screw holes: 

Good fit with the elevator:

View of the right horn and main bearing from the left:

Both new panels done, doing a flox gap filler layup on the vertical portion: