A little progress XL H-58

[Chuck in Indiana]

Called all around central Indiana to find the one store that had this one particular battery. Why? Well.. it's green. Probably over kill.. 280 cranking amps under 2 1/2 lbs. I'll need it shortly, with any luck at all.

[Chuck in Indiana]

This whole fuel tank build could be a tutorial on how not to do it.    I should have made the side flanges on the outside, then wrapped the top, bottom, ends around them. With the flanges over the sides like this..

as soon as you strike an arc, the flange opens up. More and more clecos had to be added and then the holes filled. Way too many hours involved in welding.
Live and learn, they say.. 
Fits nicely, though.. finally.

One last leak check, and I can bolt it in.

[Dan_]

That's a great looking tank..!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thankya Dan.. but I should have done a better job of designing it to make it easier to weld. I've always said that building an airplane is just solving one problem after another until you run out of things to solve.
The next problem will be designing an oil tank. I'll freely admit to shamelessly stealing another of Tom's ideas..

[Dan_]

Tony Bingelis seems to like the "external lip" edge weld flange...  Very easy to clamp especially if you have the small Cleco side grip clamps.  The process could be to make lighter 2 inch tacks skipping around until these are all connected.  Then make a second heavy pass, never stopping or starting at the same place as before...  Here is a link to the full article by Tony from Sport Aviation, December 1986... and a graphic I snatched.

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/builderresources/while-youre-building/building-articles/fuel-systems/how-about-an-aluminum-fuel-tank

[Chuck in Indiana]

If you haven't seen one before, this is a shrinker/stretcher. It has serrated jaws that either clamp and push the metal together or pull it apart. Bent up a piece of 4130 with 5/8" legs and proceeded to give myself a blister on my palm.   

Ended up with a couple of pieces that fit the curvature of the tank.

Since the mill was set up for an industrial job, I just clamped some high tech plastic down and cut two pieces to keep the tank from deforming when drilling the 1/2" and 1" holes.

It's also useful for jigging the tank in location to figure out how to mount it.
Like so..

I've mentioned before that I do my best work in bed,  so I'll sleep on how to *somehow* mount it to the engine mount tubing.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Ok, if I'm going to fly this summer, it's time to get with it. I had some .020 stainless from when I made the bungee box on the Pitts.. er.. 40 years ago. (!) Just enough, actually, so didn't want to screw this up. 

This is left over from the clear belly on the Pitts. It will be the windshield, some assembly required. 1/16" polycarbonate.

All this stuff needs to mount on the firewall. Guess I'd better mount the engine for the (ahem)    last time to see where it might go.

That coil pack is pretty large. I first thought in might fit above the oil tank, but it would interfere with getting the filler cap off, and draining the carb would put fuel on it. Nope. Looks like it will have to be above the battery on the inside.

The regulator can fit between the engine mounts on this side, and the fuel pump can be centered near the bottom.

Carb cables will go through a hole in the wind screen.
Beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Had a second Covid booster yesterday afternoon, and didn't feel much like doing anything today. Made a paper windshield, though.

Now, all there is to do is shear and break on the lines..

and another little project is pretty well along. It shouldn't take much to hold it on, slide the front under the firewall, and weld a few tabs for screws. I want to make it easily removable so I don't have to stand on my head to service the battery, etc.  I'm getting too old for that crap.

[Kamcoman77]

Windshield looks great! How large a sheet of plastic did it take?

[Chuck in Indiana]

Windshield looks great! How large a sheet of plastic did it take?

Minimum would be 36"X40"

[Chuck in Indiana]

Made some tabs and welded them on today. Clecoed the windshield.

 Now.. the acid test.  That paper has been on the plastic for.. uh.. maybe 40 years. It *will* be a trick to get it off. Naptha didn't touch it. That's what is supposedly used for cleaning. WD 40 showed promise, but while it attacks the adhesive, it softens the paper so it doesn't have enough strength to peel. Tried isopropl alchohol, and that may be the answer. It will be tedious, but at the very worst I have a template for making a new windshield with fresh plastic. 
Naturally, I've been experimenting with scrap. I'll let it set over night and make sure it's not doing something weird to the plastic before starting.
If anyone has any secret paper remover, I'm all ears..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Getting that paper off was a lost cause. I thought, "Oh, no problem, I'll just order a 48X48" piece and make one with fresh plastic.
No big box store locally has 1/16 polycarbonate. One guy did manage to beat Aircraft Spruce's price of $179.66  
Called around and found Piedmont Plastics on the West side of Indianapolis. "Sure, we have it, how many sheets do you want?" "One half."  Silence for a couple of seconds. Then.."Yeah we can do that. come pick it up." 30 bux.    Some days *you* get the bear..

[Chuck in Indiana]

While I was thinking about the plastic problem, I mounted the battery, coil pack, and voltage regulator on the firewall.

Made up a new windshield..

I may weld another tab on the longeron between the two mount screws. That is a fairly large distance. I'll sleep on that.
Having a windshield I don't care about makes it easy to lay out a hand hold.. hmm, about there. Make it plenty big. 

Tomorrow should see the windshield done, and the engine mounted again to make sure where the plug wires will come through the firewall and the fuel pump mounts.

[Chuck in Indiana]

The mount holes need to be opened up for thermal expansion in the windshield. Many years ago, I had an industrial job of drilling thin plexiglass. The accepted practice at the time was to grind a negative rake on the drill flutes and sort of melt your way through it. Then, you had to deal with serious deburring. I discovered these 1 flute drills for that job, and they have been my go to method of drilling thin plastic ever since.

I can see better through this windshield..

[Chuck in Indiana]

The last major bit of fabrication under way..