Chief Help

[MikeB]

I'm having a bad case of the dumbs but it might be related to the Chief being apart for a year. I took pictures but apparently not enough. The fuselage is painted and I'm in the process of finishing the headliner installation. What does the very rear of the headliner attach to? I think maybe it's stapled to a 3/4 x3/4 strip that is bolted to the forward bulkhead. At least that's the way it looks to me. The only problem is it leaves an opening between the rear of the lid and the headliner which is of course a handy place for various stuff to fall into the lower fuselage. Maybe I'm missing something???? I've installed headliners in couple of Champs but never a Chief and none around to look at either.

Secondly there is a braided ground wire attached to the upper left side of the tubing above the pilot. I don't think it was hooked up before and I can't imagine what is being 'grounded' as there is no electrical this bird. Any ideas??

Other than that .....things are moving along

Thanks,

Mike

[james gevay]

Mike I can't help you with the headliner problem, sorry.
My Champ had that braided ground wire in the same place as your Chief, I suspect it was for adding an electrical system later. My Champ had the lamp core in the wings and fuselage as well.

Here's a photo I took at a local fly-in this spring. This guy had a great idea for the baggage cover, he hinged it twice so it folds out of the way and then it doesn't have to fall on you as your getting things out of the baggage.

[MikeB]

Thanks Jim,
I suspect you're right regarding the braided wire although I'm unsure where it goes. Not a problem as this one doesn't even have wires in the wings. I remember my L16 had some kind of sockets on a rib on either side and there was some crude wiring in the wings. Regarding the headliner you can see on your photo that the headliner goes tight against the baggage compartment which seems right to me. I'm just confused as where the 3/4 wood strip goes although I noticed I wrote "baggage compartment' on it when I took it off. I must be missing something. I'm off to the shop this morning so I'll see what I come up with. Like the split lid, though.
What I dislike about the Chief is the fuel gauge projects through the headliner and they tend to seep fuel slightly and stain the headliner. I have this one sealed (at this point)but I'd rather plug the fuel gauge opening as the auxiliary only drains into the main tank anyway.....similar to the Champ wing tanks.
Regards
Mike

[Bo Grave]

Mike,

The ground wire is there from the factory. It is in the drawings for installing a radio in the wing root. which I have done on my champ, works great!!

Rgds,

Eugene Grave

[Richard Murray]

Eugene,

Any chance of posting a picture of the radio installation? It sounds interesting.

Richard

[Bo Grave]

Richard,

I'm working in Budapest at the moment but when I get home I'll post some. may be 1 to 2 weeks away.

Rgds,

Eugene

[MikeB]

Richard,
Check this one out on Lloyd Thompson's L16

Mike



http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc12 ... Instl1.jpg

[Richard Murray]

Thanks MikeB, that was neat. I didn't realize Motorola made aviation radios. Another picture showed the dorsal fin attach point. Were all of the L-16 fins welded on? Someone told me the dorsal was bolted on for the BCM and CCM and it was not until the 7EC that they started to weld them on.

[MikeB]

Richard,
Mine was welded on although it's actually a L16A and my tail section was spliced in before I bought it. Unknown as it's not in the log book. Having said that, I've seen pictures of L16 frames with the welded large dorsal so I'm assuming they did so on at least some of the L16B's. I think maybe the L16A's only had the small tail with the 85 horse engine.
Mike

[Bo Grave]

Mike,

The site won't let me upload the picture of my radio.

Eugene Grave