Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2020 09

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Navigation & Acknowledgements

day	notes	hours
3	The delivery of Araldite Instant from Robert Dyas is in the letterbox today when we return from a short walking break.
4	The welding cable and terminals from CEF and the adhesive-lined heatshrink from eBay arrive today.
8	Ratchet spanners delivered from Heamar . Check how the 3/8" one fits on one of the more accessible bolt heads for the aft baffle - seems good. Abrade and degrease bonding areas on side of fuselage and clips for securing OAT sensor wires 332 & 333. Mix a batch of Araldite Instant (90 sec) and apply to the tabs of a clip. Place on top of wires and hold in position while trying to apply epoxy to a 2nd clip. That was unsuccessful and the mix gels before I can get it spread. Mix another batch and this time apply it to the fuselage side in the correct places for the next 2 clips. Place and hold them while curing, which works much better. Mix another small batch of Araldite Instant and apply it to the bonding area for the last clip. Hold the clip in place until it bonds. Draw wire 616 back out of the overhead conduit. Check the curve and the length of the piece of conduit previously bent against the inside of the fuselage. Shorten it slightly and open the bend very slightly with gently heat at a few places to make it better conform to the roof shape. Draw wire 616 through the curved conduit and into the overhead conduit again. Slide the braided sleeving over it, noting that more than one sleeve may be needed for the number of wires at that point. Also note that I will need to leave a service loop in the void above the overhead panel so it can be lowered for maintenance. Print out the routes with wire and cable listings from the FileMaker Pro wire database.	3359.9
11	Trim back the vertical section of conduit in the port footwell to allow access to the head of one of the aft baffle fixing bolts on the cockpit side of the firewall. Loosen and remove the 3 bolts on the cockpit face of the firewall. Remove the screws holding the aft baffle to the top of the footwells. One of the cable clips on the alternator lead is obstructing the movement of the aft baffle to take that out too. The baffle cannot be removed without dismantling the fuel hoses, but it seems there is just enough room to work under the baffle once it is un-fixed, without removing it completely. Remove the aluminium bracket holding the starter solenoid, ammeter shunt etc. Undo and remove the M6 nut (10mm AF) and spring washer from the solenoid load stud. Undo the 10mm AF Inloc stiffnut holding the cable lug on the M6 starter supply stud and remove wire 104. Looking at the various 25M6 termination lugs I have in stock, notice that some are much beefier then others, so choose the heaviest ones for making the new starter motor connexions. Strip a short length of the orange welding cable using gentle pressure with a razor blade. Make a trial crimp on it, but I'm not happy with the wire penetration in the lug so cut it off and discard it. I think my error was trying to close the hydraulic crimper onto the lug while holding the wire in place, and the wire probably moved. Instead, it's best to position the lug as desired and very lightly close the dies onto it so as to grip without deforming. Then once that is secure, the wire can be introduced and kept pushed fully home with one hand while the other pumps the crimper. The next attempt is much more satisfactory. Slide on a piece of the largest-diameter black adhesive-lined heatshrink and shrink it over the terminal and a short length of cable. Shrink on the label for the solenoid end close to that. Using the Nyvin wire 104 as a guide, cut to length and strip the end. Remember to slide on clear heatshrink for label and black for terminal before fitting 2nd terminal lug! Check the angles of the studs at each end of wire 104 before inserting the wire in the lug and crimping. Shrink black sleeve on lug. Insert label and shrink adjacent. Slight problem - the thicker lug is too big to pass through the SRBF bush! Try enlarging the hole a bit with the taper reamer but that is too slow and tedious. Check in the journal how the nut of the bush was locked, as I fear I might have used epoxy - but it was Loctite 243 so it should be OK to remove. Get the biggest adjustable spanner on the nut and the pipe pliers on the bush flats and loosen the nut. Clamp the bush in a drill vise and drill the bore out to 18mm with a blacksmith's bit. Chamfer the ends of the bore slightly with a deburring tool. Degrease the bush and nut ready for re-fitting with fresh Loctite.	3361.8
12	Start to undo the Inloc stiffnut from the capscrew on the starter earth lug. Manage to get it moving with a 5mm hex key on a long extension and a 10mm ring spanner on the nut. However, after a few turns it stiffens up and cannot be turned further with any feasible effort, so stop trying because of danger of damaging tools. Instead try cutting the screw between the cable terminal and the nut with the oscillating saw. Progress is slow. Try the TC blade instead of the ordinary toothed saw blade but the carbide coating wears off very quickly.	3362.6
18	As I hadn't managed to get to his place for collection, David Joyce delivers the sheet of memory foam that he promised to let me have for the seats.
28	After a long break because of a holiday and other distractions, return to sawing off the end of the screw on the starter earth lug that has the nut frozen on it. The toothed blade for the oscillating saw has also lost some teeth, so try instead with a hacksaw blade in a padsaw handle. Progress is slow but eventually get through it enough to wiggle the nut off with pliers. Remove wire 101 and the capscrew. Make up a new wire 101 with black welding cable, matching the length to the removed one and checking the required orientation of the 2nd terminal lug before crimping. Fit black adhesive heatshrink over the lugs and clear heatshrink over the labels as for wire 104. Clean up the threads of the nut and re-fit the SRBF bush for wire 104 to the aft baffle with Loctite 243 on the threads.	3363.9

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