Jan 30, 2021     Cowling and accesories - (7 hours)       Category: Firewall

The strips to which the cowling will eventually attach call for 3.2 mm(1/8) rivets but the skin was dimpled for 4.0mm (5/320 rivets). the 3.0mm flush rivets sat too deep in the dimple so I made the decision to up size to the 4.0 flush rivet to match the skin. This leaves the upper 3.0 mm rivets for attaching the forward windscreen dash.

Attachment holes at the end of the strip did not line up with the skin so I used the rivet finders to match up 2 new holes.

I have been adding rivnuts to the firewall for items not listed like the gascolator. I had to procure more grommets and fit for firewall pass through.

  Jan 07, 2021     Installing Cowling Strip & firewall Items - (10 hours)       Category: Firewall

Started to add the Rivnuts to the firewall and add items. I added the coolant overflow tank, battery box, Brake reservoir, and the rubber support mount for various other items

Much more difficult was the fitting of the cowl strip. This required aligning 4 pieces of metal that run from the top center along each side of the fuselage (right & left). Starting from the outside you have.... fuselage skin (dimpled)...a spacer strip (need to dimple) .... then the firewall (came dimpled).... then, finally, a thick metal strip (need to dimple) this holds the Dzus fittings. Most of it aligned however, at the bottom ends the factory got a little wonky with the pre-drilled holes. I decided to use one of the pre-drilled holes and then offset and drilled rivets equally to make the last part of cowl strips secure. I am starting to get used to fixing these type of problems (always consulting AC 43, of course!)

  Dec 13, 2020     Firewall Forward Kit - (4 hours)       Category: Firewall

The firewall forward kit came with the engine. This was inventoried and mounted on a rolling board for easy visual.

  Nov 28, 2020     Prelim work on Firewall - (9.0 hours)       Category: Firewall

11/26/2020

Not all the cutouts were current form the summer and TAF has a much better diagram guide for it. I permanently mounted the firewall shield to the firewall.


7/22/20 Made a template of the fire wall and made cutouts. Reinstalled the engine mount. Had to adjust for the missing parachute brackets. I ordered the aircraft without a parachute but they sent me the hardware for the parachute Brackets. No big deal just shorter bolts.

The main section of the firewall blanket is not attached to the frame just yet. I will made a few known cutouts but I will wait for the engine/prop kit to get a more accurate sense of the additional cutouts required.


7/17/20Removed engine mount to start the preparation of the firewall. Installed some rivnuts and reviewed the heater installation behind the firewall and the coolant hoses that go through.