Deburring and dimpling the bulkhead - 3.5 hours

I was able to slot a little time into today for the RV. This bulkhead has been quite slow progress. Seems I'm having difficulty ramping up the build after such a long build.

I took time to mark out the firewall penetrations for my planned build (I0-360-M1B with Constant speed prop). I figured it would be a bit easier to do this now, although knowing that I will likely have to do it again later. My drafting background is oozing out apparently.

In any case, I started with breaking the edges on the bulkhead with a file. Switching to small files I worked the small recesses around the top and the bottom corners. Using the 2" scotchbrite wheel I smoothed all the edges and then switched over to the dremel with red scotchbrite to pick up the small recesses and corners.



I began to deburr the rivet holes, however I notice that it doesn't work as well on stainless steel as it does aluminum. Some holes still feel a tad rough. So I broke out the dremel with the 3M scotchbrite and I lightly buffed each hole (A trick I learned dimpling the fuel tank skins) The result was very smooth hole. I finished the evening off by dimpling.
 

Completed match drilling the firewall - 2 hours

 Well, I woke up this morning having not slept. The frustrations of work and this firewall eating away at me. I decided to take some measurements of the pieces just to double check which piece may be incorrect in case I need to put in an order to Van’s. For some reason the measurements were just fine. And I thought to myself “That’s weird” and at that moment it occurred to me what the issue was. I had tried to cleco the recess on the bulkhead in the wrong way, it was protruding into the “Firewall forward” side, and not recessed to the “Aft side”. Total stupidity on my part. My mind is just mush and I’m not thinking straight. At least I left for work feeling uplifted that things were slowly falling into place.

When I got home, I snuck again into the garage to correctly fit the bulkhead recess. Sure enough it fit really well. So I completed match drilling it. 
 
 

All that was left was to complete the rest of the firewall match drilling which went very quickly and smoothly. Now all that’s left to do is do my homework to figure out what pieces get dimpled/countersunk for the next evenings work session.

Firewall recess fitment issues - 2 hours

 Again, it's been absolutely insane at work. Unfortunately I had to put a monstrous weekend and I just don't have the motivation to jump into the build at least on Monday. Tonight, I decided to at least cleco the firewall recess and match drill it. Straight away I ran into issues.  The top most #30 holes on the sides do not want to fit. If I force the cleco's then the top most corners really want to "Dog Ear" up placing considerable strain on the corners of the recess, which was concerning. I uncleco'd and re-cleco'd the recess a few times. Nothing seemed to work. I though perhaps I received a miss bent piece.




So, I wrap up the night feeling quite frustrated thinking that I need to order a new bulkhead recess.

Little bit of work on the Firewall shims - 2 hours

 It's impossible to get started on the project, I've been so very busy that I am just drained. I managed to get in the garage to fit some of the upper pieces of the Firewall. I cleaned up the top of the F-601N angles, the F-601C gussets and also cut the F-601P spacers. I must admit I never enjoyed cutting strips. I have to use the band saw and then try to make everything straight on the sanding station. It's time consuming and a pain. I really wish I have a small metal shear.

Continued work on the Firewall - 5 hours

Today was filled with a lot of reading and research. Basically at this point you need to have a fairly good idea of what systems you will be using. Fuel Injected, or Carbureted – This dictates the Aux fuel firewall doubler. I’ve read suggestions if you are using the Vans gascolator (or perhaps the Andair gascolator) you would be wise to install the VA-161 Gascolator Bracket now rather than later as it becomes fairly tricky to do it later. I have my eye on the Aerolab flush Gascolator from flyboys, but I am reading all of the opinions on it and they are generally favorable. I do like the advantages of the design (easy to access, good filter, behind fire wall). I will have to think more on this.

I also did some research on the brake reservoir. I do have 2 sets of Grove brake master cylinders, so it would be nice to have the Grove reservoir. I see that people have different methods to mount this to the firewall but I will have to be careful of the engine mount so that it is not in the way. I read up on the Reservoir Dog attachment for the Vans unit that will allow aerobatic maneuvers. Lots of decisions. 

Other than the VA-161 Gascolator Bracket, I don't have to worry too much about what systems I am going to use at this moment in time. 

I started with setting up the bulkhead to place the F-601J angles. I found that using the scotch tape for the shims like everyone else uses works really well.

Next I clamped the angle to the bulkhead and used the 3/32" drill-bit spacer at the bottom that everyone uses. I borrowed a dice from the kids as a small spacer to allow me to clamp the angle flange.


One thing that I've learned early on, is chances of success are far better if you drill thick material on a drill press rather than by hand. drilling thick material by a palm drill will always have a slightly crooked hole. This can create edge distance issues, and a crooked hole, means crooked rivet, which often results in poor slumped rivet. Always try to use a drill press if you can!

So I flipped the bulkhead over and back drilled all holes a slight amount - not all the way through. This makes a nice pilot hole in the thick material for completing drilling on the press. The results are always perfect!

Started working on the Firewall - 2.5 hours

I've been putting in some crazy hours at work these last few weeks. ~95 hour weeks for the last 5 weeks to hit the deadline on Friday. So now I actually have a little time to work on the RV. In one sense I'm eager to start in on the build....but after the amount of stress and pressure I was recently under. I'm not exactly keen on jumping into the next project full bore.

I basically putz'd around in the garage. I grabbed all the pieces needed for the fire wall and laid them out. Took me a while to find the AA6-063x3/4x3/4 angle needed to make the F-601E-1 stiffener. I then looked at Mike Bullocks build log and noticed he had the same issue too and when he mentions to use the 6' piece. Ahhh, there it was. In the corner of the spare bedroom away from all the other RV parts. Man my brain is in a fog.



Still sort of motivated...I decided to cut out the F-601J angles and the F-601P spacers. Here's a funny thing. I'm not into the fuse an hour and I've already made a mistake. I tried cutting the F-601P spaces out of the small strip of AS3-063x1/2x18 not realizing that the width is not right. Ugh. Not a big deal as the part is really cheap and shipping will be easy. But I sure don't have my head in the game.


After I cut the parts, I went in to start researching everything I need to know about the bulkhead and penetrations to the bulkhead.  

The fuselage has arrived - 10 hours

The fuselage has arrived. I ordered it Sept 6th and came just a few days after the original "Crate Date".  Its not light, and it wasn't easy to move. But with four guys we managed to get it into the garage. Ahhh, so exciting. Lots of parts I recognize and a huge bag of hardware!
Oh, did I mention how well packed everything is? Top notch Vans...Top notch! I took a couple of hours in the evenings to work on the inventory. About 10 hours in all to sort it all out.