02-23-2014: 6 hrs
I have signed the hangar lease last week, now it's time to do final check before closing the forward top fuselage skin. So, I spent the whole day just to do that. First I need to jump the mag switch for the right Mag that doesn't have impulse coupling (verified that left mag has a thick spacer between the mag housing and engine case, an indication of mag with impulse coupling per Van's instruction). Then, I bled the brake lines. I have read VAF site for what kind of brake fluid to use. And many people used Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF with success. I could find that locally, so I just picked up regular MIL-5056 fluid for my brake. I also bought an oil can and some plastic tube (1/4" id) from Harbor Freighter, and pumped the fluid from the bottom bleed valve. The left brake didn't take much to complete. However, I got some issues with the right brake. I couldn't pump the fluid in. After trying almost 40 min with no luck, I finally decided to disconnect the brake line to the master. There is no fluid in the master at all after many hundreds of pumping. Really surprised. Frustrated. When I calm down, I decided to check if the fluid passage is blocked for some reason. I blow the compressed air to the master through the brake line fitting, no air coming out of the bleed valve. After a few hard blow, I saw some black stuff flying out of the bleed valve, then air coming out the valve like crazy. Ha, finally found what's wrong. It looks like the small hole on the bleed value was blocked for some reason. Putting everything back together, the bleeding took just a few min. There are a few air bubbles in the line, but the brake feels solid. I will let the bubbles find their way to the reservoir and don't worry about it.
Then I spent some time to tighten all screws on electrical bus, switches, Skyview connectors, and tie-wrapped all cables that might chaff each other. I am ready to close the top skin now.
