Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Thanks!

I've mostly wrapped up the significant work in preparation for leaving town this week. Probably no updates until I'm back in October. Got a little time today so I made a tray for altitude encoder and added a rear radio support. Hoping to hit the panel work hard in October.

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Going to miss working on this all summer. I've enjoyed it more than I could've imagined before I started.

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whittakerw
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by whittakerw »

Dang Asa! Looks good. I’ll miss the updates while you’re gone. Best of luck up north

asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Yesterday was my first day back from Alaska for the season, so time to dig back into the project. I had a lot of momentum going in the spring so hoping I can build that back up. First thing was inventorying all the parts I received while I was gone. A 4 month break was actually nice in that it let lots of long lead items show up, and I also would order things while I was in Alaska if I found good deals.

Right before I left (and of course after I had reinstalled it), I found that my right brake master cylinder shaft had an ever so slight bend in it. It was one of the older ones with a smaller diameter grooved shaft, where bending is apparently common. Only knew to check after Jeremy mentioned it to me - so thanks for that. Ordered a new one from Grove before I left for Alaska so I went ahead and threw it on and re-bled the brakes today. This time the brake bled very easily unlike in the spring. As nice as the new cylinder is, it's tempting to just order another for the left, but I'll refrain.
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One exciting thing that showed up over the summer was my EDM900. I'm trying to do all the panel wiring and such over the next month so I want to get everything mounted in the panel soon. Over the summer I did a lot of thinking and decided to move the EDM to the top of the radio stack, and move the Aera660 over to directly in front of the pilot, in portrait mode. Tomorrow I'm hoping to cut the final-ish left side panel so I can get wire lengths and such.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Another day.

Cut out "final" panels. There are some things I would've liked to spend more time finessing, but time to get moving. One of them is the Aera660. Would be cool for it to be flush but I need access to the power button to mark waypoints, and I'm not a huge fan of the airgizmos mount. Can always cut another flush or airgizmos mount version panel later and swap it in. The beauty of modular. The 3 holes on right side are heat/air controls. Switches under GPS are aux fuel transfer. I put those switches and their corresponding lights on a separate backer plate held to panel by 2 screws. Trying to do little things to make the panel very simple yet serviceable.

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Test fit in airplane. Upper/lower panel frames are just cleco'd to fuselage.

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Had to remove lower panel to add a hole for mag switch, them bolted it and the upper panel frame to the fuselage for (maybe) the last time.

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For some reason adding colored engine controls feels like a big step even though there's no firewall or engine.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

You all really thought that last panel design was going to stick? You clearly don't know me in person. Recut panels using the airgizmo mount I already had for the 660. Liked this a lot more so all the bare aluminum parts got dropped off at powdercoat friday

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Started covering the rudder in oratex, in my dedicated Oratex room that probably started its life as a bedroom. In my quest for all new hardware, ordered new cable guides from Maule. Love new parts, especially when they are under $10. Today I trimmed the first piece, put two coats of glue on it and the rudder. Glue will finish drying overnight and I'll hopefully stick it on tomorrow.

New Hardware
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My oratex room
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Initial trimming
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While the glue was drying I got back to wiring harness. Really enjoying this.The radio connector is complete. On the intercom, I've got to do the rear pax headphones/mic cables and then I'm still waiting on more headset jacks and music jack to come in. The ones that came out of the plane weren't nice enough to solder back in when new ones are $3. That stuff is arriving Tuesday so hoping this will be done mid week. What you see below is about 12 hours of labor that I believe I could repeat in 6 hours. I did not skimp when buying tools and it has paid off. I've had exactly what I've needed to complete every step in a professional manner. My aerospace engineering background is coming in handy.

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And of course, on theme, my dining table contributing to the project. Yes I live alone.
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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Busy busy busy. Lots of wiring and oratex the past few days.

Finished the radio/intercom harness. I'm confident that I did as high quality of work as any avionics shop. This picture is missing the rear headset jacks, those will get soldered on after the harness is routed through the airframe. Copilot PTT was taken off the yoke and will now be beside the copilot jacks since I usually have the copilot yoke out.

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Panel pieces back from paint/powder and installed. Grey turned out a little lighter than I intended but I think it looks good.

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Wiring the aux pump switches/lights on their little panel below transponder. Love this stuff.

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Have been covering my control surfaces. Started with rudder and one elevator and have been pushing them through in unison. Will be ready for rib stitching tomorrow. Waiting on a part for the other elevator so will start on it in due time. I have a ton of pics of this process but just chose a few various ones. A couple show the same piece of oratex glued on (unshrunk), and then later once I shrunk it tight. Pretty cool stuff.

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Second side of rudder glued and trimmed. Fabric puckers around edges from the heat of glue activation. I actually like this because it helps me know where I've achieved good temperature for glue activation.

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Second side of rudder after shrinking with heat. Smooth smooth smooth.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

aaaaaand the wiring is done*. Everything in the panel is fully wired except things that need to go through the firewall. Those things are: mag switch, JPI probes, and alternator/starter circuits. All the wires going to wings are pulled as far as wing roots. Will be doing molex connectors there.

Here she is:
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Hopefully it'll be nice for the next owner. Made sure everything had service loops, labels, and tried to route in understandable ways.

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When I got that wiring done I threw in some interior panels I had made previously simply to switch it up. Since I had the rear pax headset jacks wired now, I could place my jack housing on the panel. These will get pulled out to get powdercoated down the road. Another shade off the grey scale I'm sure.

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Leaving town for a couple weeks tomorrow so no updates for a bit.

whittakerw
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by whittakerw »

Woohoo! Glad to see the ball rolling again, can’t wait to see it finish up

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TxAgfisher
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by TxAgfisher »

Let me know when it is for sale!
TJ Van Matre

whittakerw
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by whittakerw »

TxAgfisher wrote:
Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:20 am
Let me know when it is for sale!
😂

asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Have been hard at work every day, haven't had much time for posting.

After lots of work getting the firewall and baffles up to snuff, I now have he engine on the plane. All engine controls are hooked up and operational. All firewall passthrough/penetrations are done and in place. Wiring aft of firewall is complete, forward of firewall I still have to add the connectors to the JPI transducers but all the transducers are in place and mounted. Got all the hoses built for transducers. With a vacuum system gone and my alternator controller taking the place of 3 original boxes, the firewal is much simpler now. Of course the EDM900 adds a billion wires to keep it interestin. Did a little work on some interior panels when I got bored, and also have the rudder mounted and rigged. Aileron loop cable is tensioned and ready to add the rudder tab interconnect cable. Pitot & static lines (went with push-to-connect style) are ran to instruments. Carpet and glareshield cover material ordered from SCS! Went with featherweight carpet not so much for the weight savings but also the price and color options. Weight savings is a bonus too. I like carpet over slick floors in fabric-bellied planes to keep stuff out of the belly. I'm sure I've done a bunch of stuff I've forgotten.

Moving along. Pics from various steps. Engine is about 800 hr engine, good shape but dirty.

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drak130
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by drak130 »

As a,

Love the attention to detail! I really like the firewall pass throughs. I have looked for something similar with no luck. If I may, where did you get them?

Cheers
Tim

asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

drak130 wrote:
Wed Nov 16, 2022 8:37 pm
As a,

Love the attention to detail! I really like the firewall pass throughs. I have looked for something similar with no luck. If I may, where did you get them?

Cheers
Tim
Those are actually the stock maule ones. I just cleaned them up, painted black and replaced the seal material. You can’t see it but basically it’s a 1” hole in the firewall with a hard plastic snap in bushing to protect the edge. Then there’s one of those black metal rings on each side of firewall. Baffle seal material is under the forward ring.

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by Kirk »

Never seen the push connectors for the pitot/static. What make are those?

Kirk

asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Kirk wrote:
Thu Nov 17, 2022 3:11 am
Never seen the push connectors for the pitot/static. What make are those?

Kirk
I got them from SteinAir (one of my favorite online shops, they make how-to videos and are super helpful on the phone) but they are widely available. One of the reasons I went with them over barbs/hose is that the AV30 comes with permanently mounted push-to-connect fittings. They require the more rigid tubing, not soft hoses like barbs.

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