Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

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Andy Young
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by Andy Young »

Heck, if the hangar was only 1000’ from the garage, you should have put the prop on and taxied it over…
:wink:

asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Andy Young wrote:
Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:48 pm
Heck, if the hangar was only 1000’ from the garage, you should have put the prop on and taxied it over…
:wink:
No prop/engine required. I think I have enough potential energy being on this hill I could've just rolled it straight out of the garage. No steering, just straight line into the FBO hangar. The fences might pose a problem though. If you look past the ugly Maule and the beautiful immaculate Tercel, you can see the destination.

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whittakerw
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by whittakerw »

Just re-read the forum getting ready for an overhaul on mine. What ever happened to the Kydex siding idea? Thanks again for putting this all out there, it's an invaluable resource as stated earlier!

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

whittakerw wrote:
Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:30 am
Just re-read the forum getting ready for an overhaul on mine. What ever happened to the Kydex siding idea? Thanks again for putting this all out there, it's an invaluable resource as stated earlier!
To get the weight savings aspect, you have to go thin. On the large spans of interior panels, it’s not stiff enough for my liking, rattled around alot. Adding closed cell foam insulation to the back side might fix that. I ended up going with 0.020 aluminum. It’s 25% heavier than the 0.028” kydex that I originally planned but significantly stiffer and stronger. I think kydex has some amazing uses but not for me currently. Thicker kydex would be perfect but weight doubles. One of those ideas I had that I decided to skip out on haha, there were plenty of them.

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Have been doing prep for wing mounting which I am planning on doing Saturday. My friends work normal jobs like assholes so have to wait for the weekend.

Pulled new 20/3 shielded wire through wings for Pulsar NSP nav/strobes. Connectorized (is that a word?) all the wires at wingtip/wing interface as well as wingroot/fuselage interface with molex connectors. No more cutting wires to pull tips or wings. Still need to cut holes i wing root oratex for fuel lines and pitot.

Before:
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After:
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Drove a forklift down the highway to the airport to make the wing mounting easier. Obviously the fine work will be done by hand but the forklift is nice for being able to pause the work if something comes up. I have fork extensions/pads made of wood and carpet to go on the forks.

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1:1 Scale
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by 1:1 Scale »

We used a sheet rock hoist to install my wings: https://www.harborfreight.com/150-lb-ca ... +rock+lift

Drilled an extra hole to get the angle just right, and they went on EASY.

Obviously you have a tool and plan, just thought I'd throw the idea out there for others.

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Those definitely look handy. Here's what I ended up with. I had thought about the angle and while the forks tilt a bit, I think I'll raise the tail to get the plane closer to level.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Major visual progress today. Thankful for my local dirtbag aviation community, including my Dad.

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drak130
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by drak130 »

Holy Crap! It's got wings! Nice!

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

The way my brain works (not sure how exactly it works), something methodical like rigging isn't too bad, and I got lucky today.

Studied the Maule maintenance manual and Jeremy's more detailed procedure yesterday. Started the morning getting the plane leveled. Was surprised how high the tail was and how low the prop flange was, no wonder the long props require extended gear. Used tire pressure to level laterally based on the forward spar bolts.

Checked dihedral and washout as-is. Left wing looked damn close, the other had low dihedral and high washout. Removed rear struts, adjusted right wing's front strut 2.5 turns to increase dihedral. This brought both wings right on, the string was 2.75" above the spar cap per maintenance manual.

Increasing dihedral on that wing made the washout too low, so elongated the rear strut to 1.5 turns to get the 0.5 degrees difference from root to tip. Now the struts on each side are showing approximately the same amount of threads which feels like a good sign, although it means nothing on a maule. We'll see how it flies like this and then go from there.

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Got the wingtips on and strut cuffs on. Pulsar NSP lights hooked up and tested, they look great. Also tested aux fuel pumps and pitot heat. Seems like all my wing connections are good.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Cowl sanding complete, have been doing it here and there late at night when the hangar gets cold. What you see here is a thin guide coat of primer sprayed in less than optimal conditions. Can't see the stripes and scratches so I think I've sanded enough. When I get warmer weather and time I'll get setup for the "real" prime/paint. Would've preferred to not paint the camlocks but I couldn't figure out a great way to mask them and they are not removable so I just sprayed over them.

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Wing root fuel lines connected. Took much longer than expected to do all 4 due to the angle of the rear ones.

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Flap torque tubes installed and hooked up. Took longer than expected. Felt like someone was playing a bad joke on me, I could NOT figure out how the ends fit through this rib hole, was starting to think I should have had them in the wing before putting the wing on. Just wasn't working. Then it worked and it was done. Which is how it seems to happen.

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Ailerons are on an hooked up. Not yet tensioned/rigged but they're roughly adjusted.

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Lastly, went ahead and replaced air filter to get ahead of the game for the annual coming up.

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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Got the flaps hung. Tensioned/rigged/safetied flap and aileron cables.

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Prop and spinner installed. Prop is freshly overhauled right before starting this project. Went ahead and put on a new alternator belt while the prop was off. Cleaned and gapped the plugs, those also are recently new. Turned the engine through by hand, was first time it's moved in a year - it’s been pickled with desiccant plugs and preservative oil (in sump and fogged cylinders) since. Hoping to run it in the next day or so, but want to get the wing root fairings installed first.

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asa
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

Got my insurance lined up through BWI. This one took some back and forth for justifying the hull value (modification receipts) and also having a training requirement since I've never actually flown an M6. Heading out to do an M6 checkout on Saturday if the weather holds. Got $135k hull value for $3000.

Got the wing root fairings fitted and installed. New fuselage makes this take some time. I'm going to add some soft weather stripping underneath to help keep out water since the fairings sit atop of the skylight fasteners.

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After tensioning the flap cables to the requisite 60lbs, I found that when in the 0deg and 20deg position, I could wiggle the flap handle and it would come out of the detent and go to 40deg flaps. Not good. Went digging in my parts room (basement) and found the new old stock pawl I thought I lost. Did the minimum amount of disassembly to swap it out but still took an hour or so.by the time I got the cables all tensioned back up and everything. Fixed the problem. The old one didn't look too bad (pictured below), but the new one has no wiggle in the ratchet slots at all. Very thankful I was able to find it, ordering a new one may have delayed me a week or so.

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gdflys
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by gdflys »

Did you seal the top wing gaps with some wide adhesive tape to keep water out? Might be able to use the same elevator gap tape without sticking it to itself.
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Re: Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

Post by asa »

gdflys wrote:
Tue Feb 21, 2023 8:59 am
Did you seal the top wing gaps with some wide adhesive tape to keep water out? Might be able to use the same elevator gap tape without sticking it to itself.
Haven’t done it yet but that’s the plan. Drawing says masking tape but I’m going to see what Lowe’s has they might be longer lasting and waterproof. My mechanic wants in there every annual so don’t want anything permanent or that would leave residue.

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