« Posts tagged interior

Red Goo.

5 hours.

A shortish day, after Thanksgiving weekend.  But decent.   I got the pax side restraint system involved in addition to the pilot side crotch strap or “anti-submarine” restraint, as it’s called.  That took longer than I thought because of the number of times I had to hop in and out of the plane to find washers and other hardware and tools.

But now they’re both in.  This unflattering photo is just to show that both seat belts are hooked up.

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So I went on to the red goo.   I’ve been putting this off, because of my usual aversion to non-solids, but it was finally time to RTV the baffles.   Squeezing a tube of red RTV into all the places it has to go is really hard on the hand muscles, especially when you have to get the nozzle into nooks and crannies now blocked by FWF equipment.

IMG_1685So I’m not the best RTV’er in the world, but I think the bases are more or less covered – a bead running along the baffle meterial, and anywhere light gets between the baffle and the engine.   OK, maybe not everywhere, but everywhere I could get the stuff in there.

IMG_1686Oops.  Didn’t get around the right magneto blast tube.  I’ll have to get that later.

But I was sure to get RTV into all the gaps between baffle and oil cooler, because that’s kind of important, and as for other leaks, we’ll have to see what happens to CHT’s in flight.

More interior assembly

2 hours.

I suppose I can have confidence in the fact that since it’s so difficult to put together, it shouldn’t come apart that easily.

Putting in more covers with their untold hundreds of screws in preparation for carpeting.

Cover panels

1 hours.

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Putting all the covers on for the rest of the interior install and prep for the move.

Department of the Interior.

7 hours.

Yesterday saw some finishing up of little things firewall forward and I got started on the interior. When I say “started,” I mean started messing things up. I drilled the stiffeners to the center section (why I didn’t do this before I have no idea) and began riveting them on. I got through the majority of my LP4-3 rivets when I realized I hadn’t yet deburred the center section holes. Jackass. So I drilled off the rivets and started deburring holes. I did remember to deburr the stiffeners, so there’s that. Today I tacked on the stiffeners and ordered more LP4-3 rivets. After that, I did some cleanup. With the shop and the ship cleaned out, I figured I could work on the other interior parts that I got from Classic Aero.

The only thing I was worried about was the seat hinges, but the instructions were very clear and well written, or would have been if they were all there. The “see separate instructions for rivnut installation” part just didn’t materialize anywhere in any of the boxes, but after a bit of fumbling, I figured it out.

I got the side panels set up, then the left seat measured for center, drilled, and riveted. Easy. I’ll do the other seat tomorrow or Tuesday. We’re about to start demolition on the downstairs remodel, so who knows when I’ll get back into it.

But the interior is actually a pretty sweat-free affair. Big velcro strips hold the panels to the metal, so all I have to do is stick them on when it’s ready to rock.