The Forward Center Section Bulkhead Assembly is now bolted and riveted to the Firewall assembly. The bolts are easy, the rivets not so. To rivet the Tunnel Sides to the assembly, I reversed the direction of the rivet as I couldn’t get access in amongst the cover ribs. A few other builders have done the same and the end result looks good.
The Cover Ribs are riveted to the floor panels. I managed to do some of this using the back riveter but the results were better with the flush head and two people. We did this with the assembly on its side.
The Cover Base rivets could be squeezed.
Next, the Firewall Penetration fittings are screwed to the bulkhead after a dab of Proseal. The AN365 nyloc nuts require a 11/32 spanner – thank goodness for Amazon Prime!
Next up is the construction of the Vent Door Assemblies and attaching them to the firewall. The door itself is used as a template to drill the stainless steel hinges. First though, you must trim the hinge to shape. I did this with the Dremmel as the stainless is pretty tough stuff.
You have to clamp the hinges to the doors to match drill through the door. I did this with the drill press as the stainless puts up a bit of a fight and I found it easy to slip on the polished surface of the hinge.
The Vent body is constructed with blind rivets and then along with the hinged door assembly they are attached to the firewall. Cable guides are also attached to the rear and are not mirror images like nearly everything else so this requires a bit of thought.
I’m assuming that the control levers are held shut by a cable as they default to the open position.
The Battery Box now goes onto the bulkhead.
Great stuff Chris… Keep going
I’m hoping up to Dundee today in the RV7
Thanks Richard. I would have flown down to Dundee if I had known!