-2 F (-18.9 C) this morning.....  Staying under the covers....

Due to the depicted polar vortex, building is suspended until probably the weekend... :-(

My cooling thoughts are with my friends in the Land Down Under who have the opposite problem of extreme heat... Wow, deep red!!

But, people did notice that the polar vortex is forming an amazing set of.....umm, err,.... low pressure regions... :-)

1 hr. measuring a brake line and working on the spar inspection cover.

In place temporarily to measure out the hose length for the line from the master cylinder to the reservoir.

Just another view.  When I look at this view, with the sticks in the center of it's range, it certainly seems like I should bend the sticks...  Back and then up to the grips.  Hmm...

Measured the length based on my expected routing of the brake line.  Sent the measurement to Steve  at Aircraft Specialty.

Drilled out the floor pan and installed rivnuts.

I've added a Tightening & Torquing Page for everyone's use.  It's also accessible from the Other Stuff drop down menu above.

I'll add to that page as I come across more useful info.

3 hrs. misc.

Got 2 of the 3 hoses I need (I need to send the mock-up measurement for the 3rd, which is to the brake reservoir).  Nicely done!

Put the NPT fittings in the brake cylinder.  According to the torquing guide (I'm going to make a page for torquing and put the info there) these get finger tightened and then 1.5 turns more (it says a range of 1.5 to 3, but no way I wanted to go past 1.5 since that seemed quite tight).  Loctite 567 was applied.

These flared fittings get finger tightened and then plus 1/4 turn (which was hard to get to).

Just a test fit of the other hose to the valve.

Connecting up the Tee.  Hard to tighten these without some mechanical advantage - otherwise you'd never get it past the finger-tight stage.

Tightening the hose to the valve.

Since I finally had the correct nut, I was able to install the dimmer.

Put the fitting on the reservoir.

I'll use a straight fitting here.

Put one of the NPT fittings in.  Very hard to get it to the 1.5 turns past finger-tight.

Looks like I can use the supplied cover, just need to drill new holes for the screws.

I don't tire looking into the lit up cockpit. 😁

With a family event happening this weekend and the expectation that I help out....:-D   This week is going to be pretty light on plane work unfortunately...

But, I did finally get a nut that fit the cabin lights dimmer!!  Shipped all the way from China, it is an M10 x 1mm nut and this is what I ordered.  I've got way more than I need, so if you pay for the shipping I'll send you one. ;-)

I do plan to update my Fuselage Build Order page today or tomorrow, so I'll let you know when that's done.  I figured I should do that since I've made a lot of progress since first putting that together.

32 F (0 C) in the garage today...  No way my heaters could get that to 50 F (10 C), my personal minimum for working in there.  It'll warm up on Wednesday, so hopefully I can get back in there then.

Until then you can enjoy a brand new video made by Mojogrip who got a tour of the Sling Tsi:

He also posted a video on the Sling 2 taildragger a few days ago:

He's posted several videos in the past on Slings, so he's a big fan!

2 hrs. on mocking up the brake lines.

Needed to re-thread the fittings that go into the brake valve.  Used this die.
Here I'm starting the re-threading.  Just get it engaged and then....

Turn it slowly while applying light pressure to keep the die level and engaged.

Works like magic. 😁

And it's done!

Applying the sealant.

Wrench tight (but not too tight).

Mock up of the short piece connecting the master cylinder and parking brake valve.  Had to use a right angle on the left side of the brake valve because there wasn't room to do a straight.

Kind of chilly in the garage (8.9 C)....

Working out the routing of the line from the brake valve to the Tee.

Goes under the top part of the main spar.

Back to the Tee where I cut it to length.  Note that this is all for mocking things up.  Steve at Aircraft Specialty will make the actual final hoses based on my measurements.

Cut and connected.

Put in place so I can check that it fits well once in position and it does.

Airplane building is dangerous... 😜

It's going to be crazy cold tomorrow (holiday here in the US), so I won't be able to heat the garage enough to work in there...

Along with EAA Chapter 106 I visited Sling 4 builder Rodney Lippold up in New Hampshire yesterday.  Drove there with the other area Sling 4 builder Pat Shine, also from New Hampshire.  So, there are 3 Sling 4 builders in close proximity!

Rodney got a quick build 4, so that's going to save him about 2 years of building!  That's Rodney in the back with the apron and Pat closest to the camera.

Speaking is Keith Young the 106 chapter program coordinator.  I'm thinking of doing a chapter visit maybe in a couple of months.

Big turnout!

Now let's see if my garage is warm enough to work in....

1 hr. misc.

Well, I was told I could find the piece that spans the gap between the canopy and rear fuselage in the upholstery, but I could not find a piece like that in the bundle of material.  Or anywhere else.  Add that to the list of parts I need...

I did confirm that I can easily move the brake line through the conduit if I need to replace it at some point.  So, once I determine the rivnut locations and fabricate the new cover I can rivet down the floor panel.

In lieu of a posting of work today here's a good video from HomeBuiltHelp:

It's been very cold here in the Northeast and the portable heaters in my garage can't keep up...  Hard to work in the garage when it's in the 40's (4 C).... :-O

Hopefully it'll warm a bit later in the week so I can get it comfortable in there.

1 hr. on the brake lines.

Returned late last night from a bit of a week-long family emergency, so didn't have much energy to work long on the plane today.  Besides the fact that the garage was fairly cold since it was in the 20's outside...

Working with parts sent by Steve @ Aircraft Specialty I worked on mocking up the complete brake system.  Here are the fittings for the brake fluid reservoir.

Current fittings to be removed.

Have I mentioned I don't like hex heads?  That remaining one stripped easily...

So I drilled it out... :-)

Hmm...  These AN fittings don't screw into the parking brake valve.  They go no more than 1 or 2 threads in, so I assume they are not the correct type.  The type that was in there before is on the right.  Straight vs. tapered issue?

These fit.  Quick test fit here, so they are not tightened at all.

1.5 hrs on rear interior skins.

I've seen on factory photos this gap covered by a strip of aluminum.  Is this in the kit (I don't see that anywhere) or did people fashion their own?

Too far off to ream or enlarge, so I just....

...drilled new holes.  This is covered up, so no big deal.

Some other holes where closer, but still off enough to enlarge to the next size.

The access port enlarged so I have better access to the brake lines.  I'll test pulling out and pushing through the brake line so I feel comfortable closing up the floor.  Any other reason not to?