Arm Rests, Doors and Fuel lines

Another ‘several visits in one’ post.

In order to get a proper look at the fuel line installation, we needed to get the windshield and nose skin off to get behind the firewall. Before doing this we got the latch pin for the pilot side door cut and fit so that it stays tightly in place. Quite the palaver to get it to fit. Not sure if it was a simple fact that nothing on the pilot side fuselage lines up or it is just a stupid way to do things. Maybe I’ll fly without doors (not joking, many people do).

As part of this work, we installed the ball stud onto which the gas spring assembly will go that keeps the door up and open. This won’t be assembled until the wings are on again because we need to know how far up the door should go.

I had finally come up with a couple of solutions to the fuel line but needed to install the fuel valve to see which will work best. Had hoped for it to sit horizontally but it interferes with the rudder cables, so upright it went. The choices for fuel line were then either out the back and around the console, or straight out the sides. We chose the latter for a few reasons and I drilled the holes in the console.

Although one might argue it ruins the look of the console, I actually think it looks very airplane-y. Oh look, there’s a fuel line, maybe this really is for real. The line will run straight back, through the seat channel and to the back where it will tee into the line coming down from the wing.

After this I got left on my own for a spell and decided some things needed painting.

Once the door latches were painted, they went back into the doors. Getting the cotter pins in is a bit tricky, I’m going to need help. Probably from a young child with perfect vision and tiny, tiny fingers.

The original plan for the fuel line was to go down the centre where the control stick is but then I remembered the arm rest sides will be in the way. So to see exactly how it would go they needed to go back in the plane.

At this point I noticed that none of the holes in this area had been drilled out so I went looking for the arm rest cover and back area cover, clecoed and drilled everything to A4 size.

I thought I would have a go at where the seats rivet to the arm rests but it is impossible to get the seats in while the arm rests are there. I’m also pretty sure it is impossible to get the arm rests in when the seats are in, which sets me up for a quandary later in the finishing process. Once all of this was in place it was clear that my fuel line would stay outside of the arm rest sides and through the channel at the back under the seats.

So I took out my step bit and drilled a location for the 90 degree bulkhead fitting in the back channel that the seat base sits on. It needs a washer behind it for the nut to go tight. The washer was way too big for the channel so it had to be filed down top and bottom for it to fit.

Prior to all of this I had dropped the instrument panel and console pieces to a powder coating company so this gave me a good opportunity to drill the holding screws for the panel into the cabin frame.

As of writing this on the 20th, I have just picked up the coated pieces so they are ready to go back in once we are finished up the front. I will put the console back on so I can run the fuel lines out and back. How the line will get from the valve to the front I don’t yet know – the pedal mounts are in the way. Also, before putting the panel back on I want to install a hand brake kit – it will go behind the brakes; I’ve seen some pictures that show it fits there quite nicely. Then we can wire up the brakes (no idea how), put the panel in and start wiring. I took a look at that at the weekend, I think that could be another five year job.

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten there is still a lot to do on the engine.