Brief Description: Wheels, brakes, brake line prep
Well it's time for wheel and brakes to go in. I'm going to be installing Gary Hetzler's wheel pants so a 4130 bracket had to be made and will need to be installed while bolting up the wheels. After the brackets were finished, I noticed a 3/4" section of the gear bow would need to be cut off in order to fit the brake assembly. No problem for the Fein Tool :). I then decided that instead of all this metal sitting out to corrode one day, powder coating will be needed. I've already had engine enamel paint come off the trim wheel in chips, so I know that the paint will have to be thrown out. I've put together a collection of parts that will be powder coated and now just need to find a shop that knows what they are doing. It's gotta be done right. :) 3 days ago I read a CP newsletter where one builder ran 1 long continuous -3 braided teflon brake line from master cylinder to brake pads and was thrilled with the performance. what sold me on the idea was not only the lack of failure points, but that the line was run inside a thin plastic tube that acted like a channel making it so that if I ever needed to replace the line it would be as simple as pulling it out of the channel and sliding a new one in. Sure with stainless steel ends the 13' lines cost me $250 but the rare possibility of failure and the LIFETIME of teflon is well worth it. my fuel lines will be installed the same :) Now the brake lines are being made and tested for me so to get exact lengths, I used a piece of 1/4" rope and ran it in the exact path that the line will take and added 3" at the end so that if someone tall eventually flies this plane and needs the brakes moved forward, it will be a non-issue. BTW: I used www.ANplumbing.com and they seemed VERY knowledgeable. Especially when they said that these were the exact brake lines used on all the Army UAV's and have had Flawless performance so far. :) Hooah!
