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All of the pieces are coming together on your sweepstakes airplane — literally.

When we launched the project to refurbish the 1977 Cessna Cardinal for this year's giveaway, we started taking the airplane apart in November 2006. It seems so long ago that often we found ourselves squinting at the airplane's fuselage as if to try and recall what an intact Cardinal looked like.

We got that mental image back when we put the airplane on display at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In a couple of weeks ago in Lakeland, Florida. We trailered and flew the airplane's components down to the show, and assembled them on site — but then had to take the wings and control surfaces and fairings off again to ship them back to Griffin, Georgia, to continue the work on the airplane. It was a letdown to see it in pieces again, but now we knew that it wouldn't be long before the airplane would be back together for good.

And we had a beautiful picture in mind to hold while the airplane goes through its final reassembly.

What comes first?
So much work has been done to the Cardinal in the past six months: We started with airframe disassembly and the ordering (and eventual replacement) of worn and lackluster-looking parts, followed by electrical system overhaul and new avionics installation, then complete stripping of the airplane and painting each part separately.

We had engine expert Jeff Swords from Don's Dream Machines hang the factory-fresh overhauled Lycoming O-360 engine on the freshly painted, Kosola-rejuvenated mount prior to our trip to Lakeland, so that everyone could see the airplane's powerplant up close and personal. The engine went on permanently, as did the new American Propeller Services McCauley prop and overhauled governor. But all other accessories will come off and be reinstalled as the final firewall forward process comes together in the next couple of weeks.

Before we can launch into the engine work, though, we need to get the airframe ready to accept it. Once we caught our collective breaths after the show, field project manager Dan Gryder and I sat down at the conference table in Dan's hangar office to figure out the process. This table has seen many summit meetings over the course of my acquaintance with it for this project — so many great ideas, big challenges, and incredible roadblocks have been addressed with Gryder on one side of the table and me on the other. But our meetings of the minds had so far produced some fairly impressive results, so we tackled the next phase of the Cardinal project with anticipation.

First, we would roll the airplane over to Earl Clements' facility, Air Wrench, where his team could rivet in the forward floorboard and secure permanently the rest of the floorboards we'd removed during the disassembly. That first floorboard had been signed by literally hundreds of pilots — AOPA members — at Sun 'n Fun, each now a part of the airplane for good.

After securing the floorboards, the brand new Cessna seat tracks would go in next, in preparation for the newly reupholstered pilot and co-pilot's seats and rear passenger bench seat that Janelle and Lisa Hammer at our interior shop, Aerodesigns, of Sylvania, Georgia, have been diligently working on during the past month.

Next, we'd work on installing the recently overhauled and powder-coated rudder pedals and other flight-control assemblies, as our chief inspector, Danny Rexroad, re-established control continuity and systems integration through the airplane. Along with this would come final work on the pitot-static system from Scott Collins and his folks at Precision Avionics.

Before we'd put the wings back on, we'd seal the fuel tanks and caps in preparation for reconnecting the fuel system. We'd need the juice to make the first runs of the engine in its new installation on the front end of the Cardinal as soon as Swords had the Lyc operational.

The saga of the airbox
Gryder's main task at this point was orchestrating all the players during this highly concerted effort to a flying finish. Meanwhile, my primary job was to secure the last of the parts that would go into the airplane. There are a few that take a while to track down, for a number of reasons.

The carburetor airbox takes a lot of abuse, and in the Cardinal it often needs attention. Sometimes, as was in the case of our carb airbox, a little too much "attention" has been applied, and the resulting welds and fixes have outlived their utility. Upon examining the airbox when he took it off the engine in December, Rexroad determined it needed replacement. Some parts seem to exist between two worlds: The airbox assembly is technically an airframe part, yet it seems to the average pilot (me) to be a critical part of the engine. Go figure.

The Cardinal model series uses one of three different airboxes, depending on the year and serial number of the airplane. Ours was part number 1752088-5; calls to parts suppliers and engineering firms across the country and into Canada turned up -3s and -1s, but no -5s to be found. After a couple weeks of searching and nearly losing faith that I would find us a good airbox for your Cardinal, I found an outfit that would send us an overhauled -5, at a hefty sum. Luckily, with the incredible support we've had from shops and contributors across the rest of the project, I easily had the budget to accommodate this important purchase. It turned up shiny and freshly refurbished, looking much to me like a part off of the beloved Tin Man. And it will go back on your airplane in the next week.

So, a note to the future winner (and current Cardinal owners): Treasure your airbox!

E-mail the author at julie.boatman@aopa.org.

Air Wrench specializes in twin Cessnas, having recently performed several spar strap ADs (airworthiness directives) on various models — but the crew can handle everything from engine swaps to belly-skin repair, annuals to oil changes. Says Clements, "This little airport [Griffin] flourishes with business and talent," and Air Wrench is no exception. Contact Clements at 678/770-0850 or visit the Web site.