1977 Super Decathlon 8KCAB Rebuild

Should you need them Wag Aero has PMAed pedals for $106.00 each. The ones I received when I converted the Champ were good quality and nicely welded...
31534 is the part number in the Wag Aero catalog.

Chris
 
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I've always found Wag Aero, Univar and salvage yards to be my best, cheapest options when rebuilding a plane.
All these parts are PMA'd from Wag Aero as I got them. The master cylinders are Grove units.
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Chris
 

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I was on the Texas Air Salvage site last night and found a few Weldon 81xx series pump cores...
I remembered you said you might be in need of one.
Under fuel systems, way back on page 10...
Chris
 
thanks Chris, that is probably a safer bet than ebay. the guy at the overhaul shop said to be on the lookout for rejected cores on ebay.
 
Hiperbiper said:
I was on the Texas Air Salvage site last night and found a few Weldon 81xx series pump cores...
I remembered you said you might be in need of one.
Under fuel systems, way back on page 10...
Chris
Click to expand...
Just looked Chris but didn't see any 8110 spec pumps. They're asking a lot of money too for cores! 😬
I was figuring a core should be in the $100 to $250 range figuring you might have $800 at most in it by the time it's overhauled. Much more than that and the $1300 new one comes back into play. no?
 
Bartman said:
Just looked Chris but didn't see any 8110 spec pumps. They're asking a lot of money too for cores! 😬
I was figuring a core should be in the $100 to $250 range figuring you might have $800 at most in it by the time it's overhauled. Much more than that and the $1300 new one comes back into play. no?
Click to expand...
I didn't know what leeway the overhaul shop would allow on the core. If it has to be the exact part number then yea, you're most likely looking at a new pump...🤬.
Sorry for the wild goose chase...

Chris
 
this is what the Rainbow STC'd formers kit looks like. hardware is included, some wood needs to be sealed, fairleads are copper and already installed. the spruce reinforcing strips are going to have to be made and attached.

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stringers are in the tube.
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Bartman said:
Texas Air Salvage has a selection of Citabrias and one Scout that they're parting out and I've pulled a few parts from them. Airward.com has a small selection. I was actually surprised to see how many airframe parts WagAero has although some of them are out of stock and won't be restocked like the 8KCAB fuel tanks and fuel tank parts. The rudder pedals I have will probably be replaced. The holes for the cable and interconnect attach points are worn and I was going to ask my IA about welding them closed and then redrilling them. If that's acceptable then they're good pedals but at $106 each, the new ones approach the point of making my old ones not worth saving. Welding worn holes closed isn't in AC 43.13. :(
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I have repaired worn rudder horns by drilling out the worn hole and inserting a steel bushing.
 
Tangogawd said:
I have repaired worn rudder horns by drilling out the worn hole and inserting a steel bushing.
Click to expand...

i kind of knew if I kept it simple I'd be ok saving money by reusing parts that needed some work to be 100% but now that I've made the decision to go full Super Decathlon with what will hopefully be new factory wings, I'm leaning towards new parts wherever it's justified so I think I'm just going to buy new rudder pedals from WagAero and be done with it. I like your idea though and might do that with my Citabria pedals when the time comes.
 
well, with materials on hand to work on things for a few months I figured I'd get one of the bigger boxes checked off so I just ordered the aluminum gear and Grove wheels/brakes. The next big box to check will either be the avionics and instruments, the paint/fabric, or the new interior. Now to get stuff mounted to the frame and start checking off the smaller boxes.

the mounting holes in the formers weren't sealed so I used some epoxy to seal them up and will drill/ream the holes back to the right size before they go on the frame.

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Taking advantage of the cold and windy weather to learn new skills in the basement. Tonight's new skill is flaring fuel lines and the first try went pretty well! Of course I forgot to put on the sleeve and nut but the tool worked exactly how it is supposed to and there is one less thing to be nervous about now. :DC:

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Someone listed the basic flaring tool on FB for $25 but when I got it home it was found to have been worn out and then welded to make it keep working. As luck would have it, the parts to bring it back to original condition are still available. I found the de-burring part of the kit on ebay.

The weather is starting to improve here in NJ so it looks like fuel lines are finally going to be going in next week. 😀
 
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i forget at the moment. whatever it is for AN fittings. i looked it all up back when i bought it, i know that much.

next time I'll put a little 3-in-1 oil on the reamer and flaring bits to maybe get a cleaner mating face but I think it looks like it'll be all good. i had done double flares for auto brake lines but hadn't tried an aircraft single flare yet and wasn't sure if the quality of the flare would be good enough without having production grade tooling. so I was nervous because I bought all of the materials to do the fuel lines already!
 
Very nice! should be 37 degree. Little dab of grease on the reamer will make real nice job of the flare. Try to fight the temptation to over flare, you can squeeze the tube too thin and cause cracking. Let the collar and nut do there jobs. I love making my own tubing. if don't have them yet, buy a set of spring bending sleeves. cheap ones on amazon work good.

like these:

PAGOW 5PCS Spring Tube Benders Set for Pipe O.D. 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 5 in 1 Tube Bender Kit for Copper, Aluminum, Thin-Wall Steel Tubing - - Amazon.com

PAGOW 5PCS Spring Tube Benders Set for Pipe O.D. 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 5 in 1 Tube Bender Kit for Copper, Aluminum, Thin-Wall Steel Tubing - - Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
 
Thanks @Tangogawd , I'll give some grease a try.

The controls, tailfeathers, and engine mount have been making progress in the background. I dropped them all off at an aviation paint shop out in PA and they should be ready in the next week or two. If I can get to the hangar every day when I'm home and start doing fabric on the loose parts in the basement at night then we should start to see things moving along (which would be awesome).
 
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@Tangogawd Tried the grease trick last night and the flare was much nicer to look at. No scoring from the flaring tool and it mated beautifully to a fitting. What's nice too is that the grease being applied when the flare is made will keep the tool lubed up so extra oiling won't be necessary.

I'm just curious, if anyone has a 3/8 or 1/2" fuel line with a factory flare, would you mind posting a photo? I'm curious to see the general shape of it in case I'm over-flaring the end. Thanks in advance.

Current thinking for a paint scheme;
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hard to tell, there are rings showing in the flare, probably just lighting. I use scotchbrite pads to clean those faces up. I turn the flare tool down until I get that "sharp rise in torque", then back out and in 2 or 3 times. makes me feel like I get a nice even clean flare with over doing it.
 
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