Engine back to where it belongs

Yesterday I finished assembling the firesleeves. Sliding them on the hoses was easy when the hose was with straight or 45° ends, but impossible on a hose that has two 90° elbow hose ends. Perhaps I should have chose bigger firesleeves for these hoses... Anyway, two of them were like this so I had no choice but to dismantle one end for these. Note to myself: install the firesleeve before assembling a hose with two 90° hose ends!

Installing the SS zip ties went smoothly with a special tool I borrowed to my friend Scott. I followed EAA video here to install them.

Today, I installed the hoses on the engine and made the last checks to make sure the engine was ready to be reinstalled on the fuselage. Once ready, I could finally roll the hoist towards the fuse. I asked for the help of my father to align everything up. Thanks dad!

With the bolts in place in the fuselage, we found that using Quick Grips to gradually squeeze each of the four engine mount attachments to the fuse worked quite well. The engine leveler helped a lot to adjust the pitch angle of the engine. After about an hour, all four AN6 bolts were securely fasten with their cotter pins. It felt so good to pull the hoist back and lower the tail. Here is what my little bird looked like at the end of the day:

 

As you can see on the floor, I had my fuel tanks painted by a new friend of mine, Jocelyn, who kindly offered me to paint them in his paint booth. Thanks Joe! Here is a closer look:

With the engine installed, it opens the door for many other tasks like fuel system installation, engine controls, electrical system, etc. I am not sure yet what I will start, but it's getting exciting!