Brake lines

Yeah I know it's been a long long time since I posted! Progress has been slow lately. Among other reasons, the commute to the hangar is a factor that doesn't help in winter time. Just to give you an idea, here's the view I have through the hangar window:

Not a time to fly a Pitts.

The long time readers of my blog will remember that I rotated my brake calipers back. I took a pause from the wing rigging exercise to work on re-routing the brake lines which accomodate the new caliper location (see original post here). I hesitated between leaving the original 45° AN823 fitting on the calipers or put a straight AN816 nipple. Wherever access allows it, I prefer installing AN816's over angle fittings since they can be torqued properly without wondering about the fitting orientation.

I was happy to find that I had proper clearance with the wheelpant caliper cover. I therefore installed the straight fittings and rerouted the lines accordingly:

Once all the couplings secured, I pumped brake fluid with a car oiler from the bottom up using the procedure recommended on the Grove Gear website. It was the first time I filled a brake system so I was worried about getting spungy brake pedals. Throughout the process, I looked carefully through the 1/8" ID plastic tube connected to the oiler to ensure that no air bubbles were getting pumped. The brake pedals ended up being quite hard : ) Patience paid off.

Finally I had to cut a notch in the wheelpants to properly clear the fitting. 

Next task is to change a few hose ends I'm not happy with in the inverted oil system. I also want to properly seal the gaps between the edges of the firewall with the forward fuselage panels.