Fuel, Brake, Static Line Install: 18.0 hrs

Let’s start with the simple one, static line install. My first install wasn’t going to cut it. I ran the static lines down and put a water catcher loop at the bottom that would hopefully keep the line going forward dry. After looking at it, I didn’t like it, and my tech advisor agreed.

Kacy volunteered to crawl back into the tail and redo the static lines in a better way. Now they go up and the line running forward is tucked under the left longeron.

Then we moved on to tidying up the brake lines. This one was also super simple and didn’t take too long. Just a few spacers, rubber hose, and zip ties to stop anything from chafing.

And then there was the fuel lines. These took by the longest. I started with mounting the pump and filters to the center console. I decided to go with nut plates for these so I can remove the pump later if needed without having to pull the entire cover plate. I also swapped all the fittings on the Andair valve and mounted that in the top plate. All the fuel lines were made by TS Flightlines. The really short line from the selector valve to the filter was just a little too long, and he sent me out another one in a day that fit perfect.

I made up some foam collars that will stop the fuel line under the center cover from chafing along the bottom skins. I also spent a while modifying the spar close-outs and drilling out the side skins for the fuel return hoses. I couldn’t located these as low as I wanted to without hitting the lower longeron, so hopefully they line up good enough to hit the fittings on the tanks. It also took a while to open the holes up in the support brackets on the front of the spar to accept the braided fuel lines. I used snap bushing as the anti-chafing devices for most of this install.