Building a Sling TSi

A few weeks ago we noticed a strong fuel smell in the cockpit. We had smelled fuel before, but dismissed it. It was probably some fuel left in the fuel sampler that we keep in a side pocket.  Anyway, it was bad enough to investigate further. We took out the side panels off the center console and discovered a leaky fitting. It was on the back of the booster pump. It is not under high pressure, but it leaked anyway.    The leak was minor, and the source was hard to detect, but it was bad enough for some fuel to pool on the cockpit floor. The leaky fitting is in a very awkward place and we did not have the tools to fix. So we decided to cut off the existing crimp fittings with a diagonal cutter and replaced them with adjustable hose clamps that we can tighten with a screwdriver (see below). This MacGyver fix worked good enough to stop the worst of the leak.We were able to fly the plane back to TAF in Torrance, CA. They determined that the fuel pump had an incorrect fitting. Just to be sur

The standard fuel stickers for our Sling TSi are ugly, specially on a dark background. So I decide to replace them with custom lettering. Much better. Still legal, but prettier, and they've stayed on just fine. I ordered the new lettering for both tanks from letterring.com  for $52 (1.24"x3.72", gray, cast vinyl, cut out and removed). You can customize it any way you like.

One of the customizations we made to our panel is to recess the G5 (courtesy of Midwest Panels ). Since it is positioned next to the prop controls (also recessed) we thought that would look nice, and it does.  Recessing the G5 is easy using a $60 mounting bracket from Aircraft Spruce . The GTN 650 is mounted right below the G5, so it is now easy to rest your fingers on the top of the GTN650 while twirling the G5 knob during turbulent times!