Things I'd Do Differently

My feelings so far at the 67 hour flight time point.  This ought to be of interest to those still building.  Some are little things that are probably just my preference, others are bigger items that it would have been nice to know about in advance.

• Headphone jacks.  I have them just under the instrument panel on each outboard side.  This necessitates removing the plugs every time you get into or out of the plane.  Should have put them behind me at the front of the baggage locker.  This annoys me enough I'll probably move them, or maybe put in a 2nd set of jacks in back.
• Better Cushion for Armrest.  I find that I always fly with my elbow on the arm rest, and the somewhat soft 1" of foam I have under the fabric offers no resistance to my pointy elbow.
• Wing Fuel Tanks.  The leading edge tanks weren't an option when I bought my kit, but I'd definately go for them now instead of any tank in the fuselage.  Safer, more fuel capacity, and more room for avionics behind the IP.  I'll probably retrofit the LE tanks at some point.
• Navigation Lights.  Again, Zenith only offered strobe lights as an option when I bought my kit.  I figured I'd add NAV lights later.  Now I pretty much figure I'll end up throwing out the $234 strobes I got from Zenith and buying a combined NAV/Strobe light.  I'll also probably have to invent my own fiberglass wing tip to accomplish this.
• Adhesive anything.  I have definately not had good luck with anything adhesive.  I used those sticky-back electrical wiring holders, 90% of which detached within a couple days (oddly enough the remaining 10% are still firmly in place... must have gotten one good batch). Should have used rivets through them where I could. The 3M spray adhesive I used to attach fabric to the aluminum didn't work very well (I'm trying contact cement now).  Sticky-back adhesive on velcro and weatherstripping all turned to a very messy goo after being exposed to 90 degree heat (I'm using super glue pretty successfully now).
• AS&S's Fuel Sticker.  A fuel sticker ("Use only blah blah avgas or blah blah mogas") that wipes off with the first splash of gasoline... now that's a quality product!
• Venturi Tube Location.  Don't put in on the side of the fuselage (about 5" back from firewall and 3" below the upper longeron).  Don't ask me where to put it, I just know it doesn't work well there.   My 9" super venturi currently develops only about 2.5" of vacuum (which, incidently, seems to run the vacuum instruments with no problems).
• Water Temp Gauge.  Since Zenith sent me a gauge (but no sensor) I felt obliged to use it, even though the Stratus engine has an engine block temp sensor.  Not only does my water temp gauge not work (I installed a homemade sensor in the plug on the radiator) but it isn't necessary at all - block temp actually tells you more information.
• Hanger.  Put your name on a list for one when you start building.  In many parts of the country its a multiple year wait for a hanger.  Even if you plan to keep yours outside, you'll still need one to finish fitting the wings and for the first month of flying, as you work out the bugs.
• Reinforcements.  I found several areas in the plane that aren't strong enough.
  *  I found some small buckling of the stiffening L's on the center of the firewall and had to add a 1/16" x 1" x 1" aluminum extrusion to strengthen the firewall. This is probably the result of the heavier Stratus engine, and that most of the firewall stiffeners are deleted in the taildragger plans.  I know someone else with a Stratus engine and a trike HDS that had similiar buckling.
  *  I had to add an extra L on the inboard side of each wing locker to keep them from lifting up during flight.
  *  I added four extra screws on each side of the wing joint covers to keep them from sliding around during flight.  It does make it slightly more annoying to remove the covers to inspect the joint.
• Engine Choke.  The lawn-mower-control-to-two-carbs system Zenith provides in their FFW kit doesn't work. The force required to pull against both choke springs is way too much for incredibly cheap cable supplied. Mine broke on about the third test pull, and I know of others with the same problem. I replaced mine with a $20 primer kit from AS&S. It was much easier to install and doesn't get in the way on the firewall like the cable and brackets did. Note that both the Stratus and Rotax engines use the same Bing carbs, so this applies to either engine option.

That's all I've figured out so far... I'll add more as they come to me.

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