Yeah, I’m getting behind on build log posts yet again. Haven’t had any real extended work sessions, but I’ve been chipping away.
Last week, after getting my new crimpers, I got the connector done for the MAP sensor – which gave me the opportunity to fire up the panel and see an actual functioning engine readout. It’s not much, but it’s something!
Beyond that, I’ve been a little hung up on some parts on order, and I kept forgetting to place those orders, which didn’t help. But now I have some terminals coming from Stein, plus an order with Van’s for the standoff pieces I’ll use for routing wiring near the sump. Not sure how long it might be before I get the Van’s order, though – I’ve heard they’re running behind on shipments, and they had messaging on their site to that effect as well.
I did get the CHT sensors installed; these are pretty easy. There are threaded holes in the cylinders to accept fittings, to which the actual sensors mount bayonet-style. I had to go in and clean up these holes, thanks to mud dauber activity…which in turn required removing the exhaust, as well as the #2 intake tube.
Then there was the matter of the EGT sensors. To mount these, I need to drill a hole in each exhaust pipe. Which means I have to decide where to drill that hole. After a fair bit of research, I ended up going with a position about 2” from the exhaust flange. Then I had to ensure that the probes – which project out a few inches – wouldn’t interfere with the spark plugs or the lower cowl. So I got to hang the cowl again briefly just to check clearances, which turned out to be fine.
So finally after a lot of thinking I took the drill to my expensive exhaust. In the end it was undramatic, but it’s always fun going with these sort-of irreversible actions. So now I have the EGT sensors mounted all around:
Finally, I did some other prep work for that upcoming sump routing. I decided it would be a good idea to put the prop governor oil line back in place, since it’s a potential conflict for the wires I’ll be running. When I removed that before, it was a real pain to snake it out around everything. I was smarter this time, and just went ahead and removed the exhaust and intake pipes on that side of the engine, which made things go a lot better. I’ll have to remove the line again at some point when I’m finalizing the baffles, but such is life.
Now I’ve just got to figure out what I can work on while waiting for those standoffs to come in. I suppose one thing to be thinking about is the lower spark plug wires – those will have relatively long runs from the mag pad on the back of the engine. Plus there are some other terminations I can still work on in the meantime.