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Finish Kit Update April 2011 Updates April 30, 2011 Oil Leak Fix and Transponder Check ..... - 6.0 hrs I scheduled Ronnie Turner from South Central Avionics to come out for my transponder check. What a nice guy. He was late getting there due to being tied up on some other jobs so I worked on some other things. First off was the oil leak discovered on the first engine start. Well I am happy to say its all fixed now. I am going to fire the mechanic because both leaks were his fault!!! :) Anyway the first thing was the dipstick oil tube. I removed the safety wire and applied TiteSeal to the threads and reinstalled. At the bottom of the tube neck is a hex head area but no room for the wrench head. So I decided to cut the back of the box end out. The trick is only cut enough to pass over the neck. I used a die grinder to make the cuts and this was a craftsman wrench made in America so it was tough steel. I chucked it up in a vise and went to town. With the wrench cut out I was able to slip it over the tube and down on the hex nut of the tube and tightened it up. Next was the safety wire tie. Then it was on to the throttle cable. Seems like I cant get below 1000 RPM. Need to go down to around 700. Then Ronnie showed up and did my transponder test. Everything checked out so he gave me a label to put in my airframe logbook good for 2 years. One step closer to final checkout. Now it was engine start time. Also that case of Yuengling was courtesy of Lee Johnson. She was also a big help today in working on the oil leak. We cranked it up and Gary and Lee took a quick look at the dipstick tube I fixed. The leak was actually above it at the oil pressure fitting. I told you that I had to fire that dang drunk AP Mechanic. Anyway this was a releif to find but it was in such a tight place that a 9/16 wrench.... you can ask Jim what the metric size would be... anyway up walks Kirby and he just happens to have a complete stubby set. He went and got the wrench and we fixed it. I guess Lee got tired of watching me try to fit the wrench in and her small hands fit right in there. She got it snugged up and then got the wrench in place for the last bit and I did the final snug. Then it was the moment of truth. I climbed in and started it up. Gary and Kirby watched from each side as I did a complete engine run with runup to 1800, prop cycle and mag check with no LEAKS! Yeah! Thanks to my great support team LEE, GARY and KIRBY! Couldn't of done it without ya. This website was built to document my work in compliance with the FAA requirements needed to certify my aircraft. My experiences and comments are by no means to be considered as instructions on how to build any aircraft.