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Heating System Fix / Test

Date: October 17, 2002

I played hooky today and went to the airport to work on the heating system. I decided to attempt to seal the carb heat flapper valve against the circular opening in the top of the airbox, as suggested by one of you geniuses. I did this by laying a bead of red RTV around the hole and then closing the flapper valve (with a piece of saran wrap over it).

I let this cure for a few hours while I installed an AUX input to the intercom, so that I could plug in a CD/MP3/whatever player into it.

I also installed an interior cloth cover for the cockpit access door, which was leaking air like the proverbial sieve. This cover is about 8.5" square and is sealed around the edges with velcro. I can peal the top rear corner back so that I can get at the latch from the outside, and I can seal it inside to keep out the air. It's about 98% effective - no more breeze, and a LOT less air infiltration.

After letting the silicone RTV cure, I put everything back together and went up for 0.4 hours to test the heat. BINGO - that was the problem. I now have gobs of heat and a lot less air leakage into the cockpit.

The 2 hour flight to SBY this weekend will be the real test, as we'll go up high (well, what passes for high here on the east coast) and it'll be cold. But we'll have heat and tunes -).

See you there!

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