She's Got Legs! HOBBS 1214.0 hrs

Over this past weekend, I really started getting back into the groove...it was a productive weekend. I spent some time working on my empennage fairing, getting closer to getting that thing done thankfully. But...the coolest part, by far, of the weekend was attaching the engine mount, the gear legs, main gear and tailwheel. I couldn't help but drift back to days of my youth and think about the ZZ Top song, "She's Got Legs" as I stood back and smiled at seeing my baby on her legs for the first time. The milestones are coming fast and furious lately and its a lot of fun...this was another big one. Put an engine and wings on her and she's ready to fly! ;)

Attaching the engine mount...I started by drilling the first hole (upper left) directly through the existing hole in the firewall. I then checked for alignment with the other holes to match drill. The upper right hole was just slightly "off"...but instead of match drilling, I drilled directly through the firewall hole again and just flexed the engine mount into place. The bottom two corners I did have to match drill...its not going to flex in that direction. But, I'll tell ya...they were damn close to being right on, they do a good job welding these engine mounts so they don't warp. The two center holes (6 total) were a non-event...match drill those too.

For the -7, you will need to notch the corner of the firewall and fuse sideskin here for clearance. Standard practice. Here you can see a 'before' pic.

And notched...do it like this or a round radius to match the contour of the leg, doesn't really matter...just remember, no sharp inside corners...radius them. I'll also tell you, this wasn't enough clearance...I had to go back and trim this further back later. I added a little extra clearance for gear flex too.

The plans say something to the effect, "mounting the gear legs could not be more straightforward". Well, this is true to some degree...there is amazingly only one one bolt holding each leg. But what they don't tell you is its not entirely easy to get those buggers (the legs) in place. I had to use Emory cloth and some hand tools to polish the inside of the mount tubes and some of the powder coat on the gear legs...plus some LP3 lubricant (you can use grease too), to get them in place. Just took a little elbow grease...they are, by design, tight. Once you have them in place...again, the plans don't mention this, but you have to ream the mounting holes to size. I used my 5/16" undersized reamer, bought specifically for this task...worked nicely.

So shoot, I was only planning to mount the gear legs...and then disassemble it all since I am going to have my engine mount powder coated red to match my paint scheme. But, all of a sudden...a light bulb went off and I said, how can I not attach my wheels if I have legs in place??? Well, I cant...I had to throw them on for a look see. Oh yeah baby!! nice huh? This was cool...even though I didn't attach any other hardware for the brake assembly.

Again, I was ready to call it a day...happy to have it sitting on its main gear. Then, that same damn light bulb went off and I said..."how hard would it be to now attach the tailwheel assembly?" "Well, not hard at all", I told myself...this was my ongoing discussion in my head...I do this a lot. :) And sure enough...5 mins later it was sitting on its tailwheel too! Ah, behold, the beauty of a tailwheel aircraft in its tail low orientation...soooo cool.