E Band clamps are used throughout the engine installation.  This is a simple way to safety wire them.  (11/4/07)

F A significant number of Adel clamps were used in my installation.  The purpose was to keep the wires, hoses, etc. from rubbing against anything.  Not only where the clamps used but so was lacing cord and zip ties as well.  Left to right, the pictures are: wiring behind the right cylinders, looking down at the right side of the engine mount, looking down on the center of the engine mount, and looking down on left side of the engine mount.

The thick black wire that runs across the top of the engine mount is not a wire but the vacuum advance line for the P-Mags.  Also note, due to the lighter weight of the O-290, the engine mount is 2" longer than those used for the O-320.  This provides a full 12" between the engine and the firewall.  I've also written the oil filter torque spec and Hobbs time on top of the filter for easy reference.  (11/4/07)

E This is a shot of the lower right firewall.  Note the Adel clamps holding the brake line as it crosses over to the right gear leg.  The second picture illustrates how I ran the brake line to the caliper.  Note how little wear there is on the tire after 65 hours.  That is one big advantage to the low takeoff and landing speeds that the -9 has.  (11/4/07)

F Side shots of the cylinder heads.  Note in the first picture how zip ties and some tubing were used to separate the EGT wires from ignition wires.  (11/4/07)

Cooling your engine properly is a challenge for all aircraft builders.  More so for those of us with tightly cowled engine compartments such as those found on the RV's.

After 147 hours and trying everything I could think of bring the temps of my #3 cylinder in line with the others I read an article in the RViator detailing how Dick VanGrunsven was struggling with the same issue on his new RV-10.  One of the things he tried was to smooth inside of the top cowl, where the airseal fabric mad contact.  The idea being that by smoothing the surface of the cowling, you will get a tighter seal and less air will escape between the cowl and the fabric.

E That made sense to me and when I pulled my top cowl off you could see where the air was blowing by the airseal.  Leaking air means less cooling air to go down between the cylinders.

F To solve this problem I sanded down the inside of the cowling where the airseal fabric made contact.  I then applied a layer of epoxy and micro-balloons.  When that hardened it was sanded down and a layer of pure epoxy was applied over the micro-balloons to seal it.  These pictures were taken before sanding down the micro-ballons.  (5/16/08)