Tonight I installed the battery. Just a couple of steps was all I had time for tonight. I finished fabricating the battery bar, installed it, then installed the little grommet that sits on the side of the box.
Battery box
Battery box
Tonight I read through the firewall forward plans and then got started on step 1, making the battery box cover. I trimmed the seal to size then deburred and primed the cover.
Shoulder harness cables and engine unboxing
Tonight I spent a few minutes installing the seatbelt shoulder harness cables. These mount to the seatbelt lugs, which are located at the baggage area rear bulkhead. The cables protrude forward and allow a seatbelt shoulder harness to attach at a location just behind the seats. Small job, but needs to be done.
Then I decided to finally open up the engine box. This has been sitting unopened since the engine arrived in January. It was exciting to see the engine, if only the top portion. I took out the documentation and spent time reading through it.
Cowl flap assembly
Tonight I only had a few minutes to work on the plane, so I bolted the flap door assembly to the tunnel cover. It was fun to play with the flap door mechanism, and once again admire the precision of these pre-punched parts.
Cowl flap
With guidance from Vans, I trimmed about 1/16th off the leading edge of the cable clamp bracket, then primed it., match drilled it, and riveted into place.
Cowl flap
Tonight I fixed the two challenging nut plates, and then cleaned and installed tape on the sides of the exit door. I tried to install the cable support assembly, but ran into an interference issue with the engine mount.
I ended up not replacing the nut plates. I was able to eventually work a screw into one hole, which seemed to clear it, and subsequent screw installations were fine. In the other hole I used a tap to just start a thread, maybe 2-3 rotations, and that was sufficient to allow the screw to go in.
The tape on the exit door was trivial to install, although I found it harder to cut cleanly than I would have liked. I may have to finesse it a little when the time comes to install it for the final time.
The problem that stumped me was the interference between the engine mount and the cable support assembly. I emailed Vans to see if I can safely trim the support to create some clearance between the two. The holes are pre-punched, and the parts are all pre-formed at the factory, so it’s weird that they don’t fit well together. I would need to remove about 1/32 or 1/16 to allow the cable support bracket to clear the engine mount.
Firewall forward inventory
Tonight I started, and almost completed, the inventory of Firewall Forward kit parts.
It’s interesting to see all these parts and pieces and envision how they will fit onto the airplane.
So far, nothing important is missing, just a washer or two.
Cowl flap
Today I installed the panel that covers the exhaust channel, and match drilled the 4 holes along the forward edge.
I was able to easily install screws in 8 of the 10 nut plates, but 2 of them are refusing to accept screws. The 2 nut plates are slightly misaligned, so I’ll need to remove them and re-install them. The aft-most nut plate will be the hardest to remove as it’s underneath the seat and the seat ribs will make access particularly challenging. Just one more job for the to-do list.
In other news, the firewall forward kit arrived today. The only thing missing is the exhaust, which is on backorder with a 4-6 week delivery estimate. That’s fine, as I have everything I need to get the engine ready to be hung.
Cowl flap
Today I countersunk the cowl flap and riveted together the flap unit. Everything was straightforward except one rivet that was repeatedly problematic. The rivet tipped 3 times, and each time I removed it, before I was finally able to set it. Even the last time I set the rivet it tipped over, but I decided it was good enough.
