N97EZ arrived in Southern California! Wow. What did I do? After an initial inspection, she’s definitely repairable! There are parts of the airplane that are better than I feared, and some parts that are way worse than described. Call it a wash I suppose. The fuselage sides are mostly intact. There is some slight delamination on the right front side near the F22 attach point, but otherwise the sides are in nice shape behind F22. The belly was the biggest surprise. The floor under the pilot’s seat is completely delaminated and all the foam is crushed. Around the speedbrake area seems mostly intact, but from the rear of the speedbrake to the firewall the floor is completely destroyed. The passenger floor curvature has actually popped inside out. The good news is the longerons appear fully intact. Looks like N97EZ will be getting a whole new belly!
Other observations – The original build quality of this bird was superb. So many little details I’m still finding are fascinating me. It’s like opening a bunch of little presents! The little naca duct vent on the canopy frame can be fully closed off, or open, or anywhere in between. There is also a partial scoring for a left side naca duct, should one decide they needed more airflow! What foresight! The instrument panel has definitely seen better days, but I’m sure in it’s original form it was one of the nicest in the air. The bevels leading into each gauge, the lettering, the printed checklists all adhered to the longerons. Incredible attention to detail! It also has a very clever retractable step that retracts in and out of the fuselage when you open and close the canopy. Too cool!
Friday July 19th – 3 hours
I began disassembling the firewall components. Removed the engine mount, fuel pump, fuel filter, wiring, fuel vents, rudder pulleys. There is about an inch on the bottom right side firewall where the plywood has fractured. I don’t think it needs a whole new firewall, but the aluminum will need to come off and the plywood and fiberglass repaired.
Saturday July 20th – 6 hours
Off with her…. Nose!? I began removing all the wiring from the airframe, cutting most of it to get it all out. It was a rat’s nest! It’s 40 years old, and I have no schematic… so I will be completely rewiring the airplane. All this has to go! After the wiring, brake lines, and vacuum lines were removed, it was time to try out my new oscillating tool! I’ve used these at work to trim carbon layups, and they work great. They cut composites like butter, and leave very little fraying. The nose was already mostly broken free, but I did need to do a little cutting. I marked a line just in front of F22 on the left side, and cut all the way down the fuselage side, outer and inner skins. I then cut through F22 where it was still attached to the inside left wall, and the nose fell to the ground. Once the nose was off, I removed the remaining instruments from the panel, as well as the map lights and comm jacks. Whew!
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