Monday, July 30th:  Today the FAA designated airworthiness rep (DAR) was scheduled, a very nice guy named Brian Ingraham. Brian works on helicoptors and other aircraft as an A&P and constantly travels all over the USA and overseas in his work and can be hard to get a hold of.  We met at the hangar after playing telephone tag over the last week or so. He spent about an hour going over the plane and asked to see the paperwork, which I somehow managed to have in order. After reviewing the Operating Limitations with me, he handed me the pink copy of the Airworthiness Certificate which makes the aircraft legal to fly! I have to fly off the first 40 hrs. solo and stay within a 100 mile radius of the home base, which is a pretty generous chunk of real estate. Now I need to get 3 hours of dual time in another 750, get the insurance in place, and go fly!

Sat. July 21:   Today I pulled the 750 out of the hangar for the first time in a completed state. I needed to do some run-ins on the new engine, and the plan was to follow engine break-in proceedures spec'd by ECI, an engine parts manufacturer from whom I purchased most of the new engine components. The proceedure is to run the engine up to 1200 rpm for a couple of minutes and then let it completely cool down. Next you run it up to 1800 rpm for a couple of minutes and let it cool down again, never letting the cylinder head temps go over 400 degrees or the oil temp over 200. The last test is to tie the plane off and run it up full power to see if it makes proper RPM of 2150 -2250. She made 2250, so the required power is there for flight. From this point on there will be no more engine runs until the first flight, as the engine must be broken in while flying to provide maximum cooling until the rings seat. All I'm waiting on now is the Airworthiness Inspection scheduled for this upcoming week. Once I get that, I need to log 3 hrs. of dual time in another Zenith 750 to satisfy the insurance company, then it's time to fly. It was a great feeling getting her outside and run that engine good and hard. She looks better than ever outside in the sunshine, and needless to say I'm a little pumped up. I doubt if I'll sleep very soundly tonight.

July 7 & 8, 2012:   Completed the installation of the doors and hardware. Painted the doors. Added some "L" stiffeners at the antenna mount thru the roof. Installed the belley pan. Had some fiberglass work done on the engine cowl to smooth the airflow thru the inlets. Re-installed the cowling and laid out for painting. Will paint the cowl later this week.

I'm basically done now and ready for the FAA inspection. I have a call in to the D.A.R. inspector trying to arrange my Airworthiness Certification inspection.     12 hrs, 1011 total hrs. to date.

The month of June, 2012:

Sat., 6/9:  I had Curtiss Scheutzberg, a local builder-assist contractor, come down & help me fabricate & install the cooling baffles for the front air intakes on the engine. Curtiss did most of my engine and instrument panel work last year, and I have no problem asking for help when I feel I need the expertise. We spent a couple of days making & trimming aluminum baffles & rubber trim to create a nice air-tight baffling system for the air-cooled C-90 engine. 12 hrs.

Sat. & Sun. 6/17 & 18: Started on the installation of the doors and latching hardware. Trimmed both doors to fit the fuselage opening and laid out for the hardware fastener holes. got the pilot side door finished after 2 days of work as there is a ton of detailed measuring and fitting to do. 12 hrs.

Sun. 6/24: Continued work on the doors. 6 hrs.

Sat. & Sun., 6/30 & 7/1: Filled the fuel tanks with 20 gallons of Avgas and found my fuel gauges are not reading properly. After a lot of head scratching we came to the conclusion something is wrong with the fuel sending units in the tanks, and this is not easy to get to. I should have checked the operation of the sending units and gauges before I ever closed up the wing skins and put the wings on the fuselage, so now I get to fix it the hard way. Pulled the fuel sender out of the passenger side wing and found the angle on the float rod was not bent at the correct angle. I had bent it to 105 degrees instead of 125. All of this is boring detail, so let's just say I spent all weekend removing, repairing, and re-installing the fuel senders and now all is good. 13 hrs,  999 total hrs. to date.