Electronics International CGR-30P Installation Log, Pt. 4
Work continues, but has been slowed this week. As mentioned at the end of the last entry, I was going to focus first on mounting the EDC unit and the temperature probes for the engine compartment. As you can see in the photo above, the probes for EGT, CHT, OAT, and Oil Temperature are easily identifiable and look very clean out of the package.
The installation manual is very straight forward regarding how to mount these probes. I set about installing the CHT probes first by applying some anti-seize lubricant to the threads, and then screwing them into their respective holes on the bottom side of my cylinders. Once this had been completed, I used a 6-inch ruler and a center punch tool to mark where I would drill the holes for the EGT probes. Because I already had an existing single probe EGT, I used the same measurement down for it on the rest of the exhaust headers. Once the locations were marked, I started off with a very small drill bit to make more of a guide for the actual size drill bit used to make the hole for the probe to slide through. Due to some tool issues that I was having, this all took probably about 2 hours just to mount these 12 probes.
Interestingly enough, it was during this time that I identified a previously unknown problem that I had with my engine. Earlier in March of this year, I installed 12 brand new spark plugs. Imagine my surprise when I saw a thin layer of white film all over the plug on the bottom of my #3 cylinder! Also earlier this year, the entire exhaust system had been replaced, and upon further inspection, it appeared that one of the nuts for that header had not been tightened down enough onto the stud. We fixed this quickly, installed a new gasket, tighten the nut down, and moved on.
Next up on the list was the probe for oil temperature. Because the CGR-30P will be providing primary information for oil temperature, the manual requires that you install it where your existing primary is taken from. No muss, no fuss. Quickly pulled the old one out, removed about 7 feet of wire, and replaced the probe in the hole. The only trick for me here was that my hands are rather large, and given the space restrictions on the back of my IO-540, I had to call in some help to safety wire the probe.
The outside air temperature (OAT) probe was an easy installation as well because I already had a digital OAT gauge in the aircraft. We simply removed the previous probe and replaced it with the new one.
The last installation item we wanted to accomplish during this cycle was to mount the Engine Data Converter (EDC). After insuring a proper fit, we marked the holes, drilled them, and mounted the unit inside the baggage compartment. All wiring will be run to/from here out to the various probes. Once finished, this (along with the wiring) will be concealed behind an existing panel. In an effort to reduce vibrations a little bit, we did mount it on nylon washers. It’s our hope that this will help reduce any water getting into the compartment as well through the holes we drilled.
Finally, we took a look at the existing setup inside the engine compartment and compared it with the installation manual to determine what additional hardware (fittings, nuts, etc.) that we would need to hook up the various pressure sensors. Once that arrives I will try and detail some of what we ordered. Stay tuned for our next installment as we start routing wire to the EDC and start to hook up other sensors.