Finished then stick boot rings and started brake assembly - 3 hours

Not much to write about. I finished cutting out the center of the stick boot rings. 

 Next I started in on some random tasks like prepping the area where the steps are so that I can prime the area for the future rivets. 

Then I started installing the brake pedals Took me a little time to research how to properly install a cotter pin. First time on the build that I need to install one so far. For the record…it looks like this;

 Unfortunately I didn’t get too far, and I soon realized I don’t have enough of the correct hardware to mount the co-pilot brakes and suit the larger Grove Brakes. I will need to put in an order to Aircraft Spruce…Again. 

Fabricated the stick boot rings - 2 hours

So one item that I've been delaying for quite some time was the stick boot rings. As usual like most things on the build is that it isn’t as bad as I thought.

I cut the required pieces of of some material I had sitting on the shelf. I then marked out the bend line, clamped them in the vice and bent the pieces by hand.

 

Next I drew reference lines on the plates and then set them on the seat pans and lined things up for the first holes. Drill and cleco!

 

Once it was all done, I then traced the control stick openings. I then found all of the center points to start drilling the radius corners of the cutouts.

 

I’ll cut these out tomorrow. 

Selecting interior cabin paint - 1 hour

 Today I went to the local automotive paint store to pick out some interior paint for the cabin. I really wrestled with what paint to use. I very much side on using rattle cans as they produce decent results and are sooo much easier for cleanup. Question is do I go cheap and get something less durable. Or do I spend more and get something very durable. At one point I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a can of automotive touch up paint and used on a test piece....The result was beautiful paint but it was not durable. It would scratch off fairly easily.

Ultimately I went for durable as priority. So, having previous experience with the Spray Max 2K primers, making the jump to the same manufacturer but with single stage 2K paint. This was my best option in my opinion.

It was recommended to stick with a solid color rather than metallic when using this spray application. Its much easier to get consistent results. Metallic is better suited for other paint/spray applications. I had a small selection of solid colors to choose from.Early on I had narrowed my my paint scheme to a medium gray....not too light, not too dark. So naturally the N0429 Gray was the best option.

Investigating play in rudder/brake pedals - 1.5 hours

 Side to side movement of rudder pedals with no F-6118 rudder pedal brace installed (yet)

Movement is about 7/32" so less than 1/4". I have about 1/2" engagement of the pedals into the blocks.

I posted this issue to the forums and apparently most people notice this in their builds. Some mention they never had an issue, but I suspect their fit is really tight so they don't really try to get a side to side play. I of course polished the steel tubes to help get really smooth movement which makes the side to side play more readily apparent.

A few comments from the forums mention that the pedals wont move side to side as you should be pushing the pedals back and forth. While this is true, my particular issue is that I am using Grove brake master cylinders which are much more thick than the Matco brakes and are much more prone to interference with each other with any pedal movement. I need to ensure proper spacing.  

 I dug into my washer collection and notice that I have some steel washers that will fit. There was also comments on the forums about using t-bolt hose clamps or a split collar.

After talking to Vans tech support, we settled on nylon washers to be the best solution to take up the slack and prevent the brake master cylinders from potentially rubbing.

 

Began installing the Airward parking brake holder - 2.5 hours

 So after visiting a local builder friend. He mentioned that he had a spare Airward park brake holder if I was interested in purchasing. After looking into it and seeing his installation, I decided to go ahead and buy it from him. 

The unit is pretty slick. It’s machined from solid aluminum and fits on the standard vans mount on the firewall. Originally it was designed for the RV10 but it fits just fine on the RV7.

I needed to drill out the 8 rivets on the firewall that hold the original brake line bracket.

 

Now the interesting part. I need to install the included MK nutplates into the back of the mounting plate. Not much room here for any tool I have. However I figured out that my small/slim bucking bar fits just fine. So a couple taps with the mallet and the rivets are set.

 

Temporarily installed. This will work well. 

 

Assembled the center tunnel cover parts - 3.5 hours

Now that the center tunnel parts are primed. It’s time to rivet all the misc pieces together and install all of the nutplates. Lots of nutplates.

 

Another priming day - 6 hours

 It’s been so busy at work I’ve just not had a chance to work on the plane at all. I managed to get out there an do a whole bunch of prep on all the interior cabin parts. After clean (soap), scrub (scotchbrite, rinse and MEK) acid etch (and MEK) I primed all the parts. 

 A long productive day on the build finally. Did I mention I hate 2K epoxy primer?

Deburring and cleaning up the fuel pump cover and center tunnel cover parts - 3 hours

 Tedious night tonight. Just cleaning up all of the edges and nooks and crannies. Dubur and smooth out all of the edges. Getting things ready for priming.

 

 

Finishing the tunnel cover mounts - 3.5 hours

 A bit of detailed work today to finish off the tunnel cover/fuel pump mount. With the pump in its final fit configuration, I need to drill the mounting holes into the tunnel cover. Getting this right took some time and some precise work.

 

Next all of the mounting holes needed to be drilled for the nutplates. And there is an amount of them. I also need to make a hole in the cover to allow the fuel pump wiring to rise up through the tunnel cover. This is basically guess work at this point to figure where the hole should be. A larger hole was made in the stiffener than the tunnel cover. I will eventually install a snap bushing. 

 

Fixing the fuel line - 1 hour

 So when drilling the top most (left) hole in the fuel selector cover (to attach the dog house) the drill bit just nicked the fuel line. It wasn’t horrible, but I decided to make a new one. The fuel line and the mounting hole are perfectly aligned and installation of a screw in this hole will be an issue. So to start off, I decided to make a brand new fuel line (Gascolator to pump) to ensure that the line was perfect. Next, I needed to put a slight jog in the top most run to ensure that the future screw would not interfere. 

My thumbs are really sore. That 3/8” line is not easy to work with, without leverage. But I’m happy with the result.

 

Final fitting work on the doghouse cover - 2 hours

 So today was a small job of cleaning up all the edges of the dog house cover and rounding out the corners. This also allowed me to double check the final fit of all the internal components to make sure that I had adequate clearance. I completed drilling the doghouse cover to the tunnel and to the fuel selector cover.

The fit overall is excellent however, I notice that I will have a conflict between one of the mounting screws and the fuel selector cover. At present installation of the screw will press into the fuel line running from the gascolator to the fuel pump. I will need to make some adjustments in the line to ensure proper clearances.