N994PT (IVPT) in extensive rebuild now.

[Tom Sullivan]

Wow, cool story Rock!!

[Tom Sullivan]

I headed back to Florida yesterday (driving, argh) to bring my ‘63 Chevy Impala SS and Harley back for the summer. This last session back home we were able to complete a LOT OF WORK on the project. The last challenge was completing all repairs to the belly tank from the “no gear” rough terrain landing. I had 3 penetrations into the tank and one spot with enough evidence of damage I had to open it up and inspect it (ended up being fine). Two of those repairs were fairly extensive, with one requiring repairs to the fuselage below the wing fairing attachments.

I ended up making a Styrofoam MOLD to reproduce the destroyed lower front area of the wing fairing, which ends up being part of the sealed area of the belly tank. It turned out great. This past Monday we closed out the last two large repairs, after extensive cleaning of the belly tank using various toolls, mirrors, flashlights, and a borescope.

I also repaired the bulk of the wing fairing, performed micro bodywork on my intake transitions for smooth air flow into the intake plenum. We fitted one gear door and are ready to fit the other one. When I get back to Michigan my next project will be leak testing the tank.

[George Wehrung]

That’s quite the extensive work!!!

Did you drive the lizard back down to Florida?


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[Tom Sullivan]

I drove my truck down this trip to pick up my ‘63 Impala, my Harley, and Joe Trepicone’s engine in Deland.

As far as “the lizard”, I think you’re referring to Rock’s encounter with one in his IVPT. That wasn’t me.

Tom

[George Wehrung]

Sorry. I guess I got the posts missed up


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[Ryan Riley]

Lots of work, but looking like great progress.

[Tom Sullivan]

My New Engine for the airplane rebuild saw it's first run by Quentin Cook on Friday, June 7th. Quentin commented it was a VERY STRONG engine, seeing really high torque without hitting max ITT !!! Hopefully it makes for a FAST IVPT !!



Tom

[Tom Sullivan]

I have had little work completed since my last post. I spent the summer and fall finishing a huge EAA Chapter Hangar project (I’m the president) that has been ongoing for 5-6 years.

I filled my belly tank with Avgas (yes, it’s a turbine but avgas leaves no residue if you need to fix any leaks). That was in July and I had numerous leaks to deal with.

I finally got on it seriously just after New Year’s and have completed 3 more leak repair sessions, with one left requiring rotation of the fuselage to upright. These were found with minimum vacuum cleaner “out pressure”, not even one PSI, and a soapy water solution squirted over the tank. Hopefully I’m nearing the end and can try avgas again.

We’ve made significant strides on the slow build wings by being able to use nearly all the original wing structure between the two spars. The right wing sheared of about 65% outboard from the root, so some structure has been built new. This week we pulled the lower skins down and installed all 4 wing drain points, laid up (and vacuum bagged) a new pitot mounting flange, and bonded all into the skins. We also installed the 4” fuel cap rings.

My last work session we cut out a new Ventral “lower” fin from 3/8” prepreg and bonded it to the lower fuselage as long as the plane is upside down on the rotisserie. That will get 4 bids of carbon fiber added and a tie down extended through the fin into the inside of the fuselage, at the original location at the aft bulkhead member.