Installed the rudder pedal brace - 6 hours

Finally I seem to be back into the proper groove now that I have the rudder pedals sorted. Now I can get back to installing the centre brace.

With the bow in the pedal tubes straitened, the fit of the center brace is much better now.

After taking some time to check the fit, I then drilled the brace to the firewall angle using a #30 bit and my 90deg drill attachment. It was as simple as it sounds.

Now comes the tedious part. Drilling the brace for the bearing block. It takes a bit of time to get things sorted and aligned and then I was able to place the first mounting hole. I finished all holes on the drill press with a reamer so that means I needed to mark the hole, remove, drill, install, then repeat. Tedious, but the results are excellent.

Now I need to enlarge the cutout for the firewall recess. I did make an initial cutout, however what's shown on the plans, is not exactly correct. The plans call for a 1 3/8" cutout to be made to the part that's already supposed to have a small cutout. The part they give you has no cutout at all. so I bit of thinking, measuring and cutting is needed here.At this point I am close

Little bit of filing and final fitting things are looking good.


Once the fit was correct and complete, I then drilled the lightening holes as suggested in the plans. I did all three, but in retrospect I should have omitted the 1" cutout, it would allow me to trim the brace a bit more. You will understand when I show you how I trim the brace.