Final Steps 2

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Here are some various photos taken at the hangar during the final finishing stages.

This is a guide I made out of plastic block.   This block is ESSENTIAL if you have a tip-up canopy to keep the plexi from hitting the rollbar off-center as the canopy comes down.

There are two nutplates riveted to a strip of aluminum that I put through the hole in the back of the rollbar. 

Here's a wide shot showing the access panel I added to the front skin.  I added the panel to allow access to the engine sensor wiring where it connects to the EFIS.

This shows the wiring inside the access panel.  This would be impossible to service without the access panel in place.

This is the externally regulated alternator I bought from Mark Landoll after my Van's internally regulated alternator stopped working soon after my first start.  
The reason the internally regulated alternator died was because I added a relay to the b-lead between the alternator and battery that cut the connection if the field was turned off.  Well, I turned off the alternator with the engine running to troubleshoot why my EGTs were jumpy, and since an internally regulated alternator keeps on producing power even if the field is cut, it burned itself up with no place to send the current.

This is a stainless steel potscrubber tightly wrapped around the exhaust pipe.  The cabin heat shroud fits over this.  The extra material slows the air down and gives the air more time to heat up.  

It works... I can only open my cabin heat a couple of notches or else I'm cooking in the cockpit!

These are pushrod boots that seal the hole where the aileron pushrods exit the fuselage.  I bought some "windbreaker-like" material, cut them into large circles, then cut Pizza slice shaped pieces out of the circles.  They were sewn to look like an ice-cream cone.  I cut the tip off, slid it over the pushrod, and secured it with a tie-wrap.  The other side is secured under an aluminum ring pop-riveted in place.  This really works to keep the cold air out of the cockpit.

You can also see my transponder antenna connection poking up through the bottom of the fuselage and the pitot tube where it enters the fuselage.

I routed some wires and pitot and static tubes from the panel to the areas behind the spar.

The rest of the wires are routed down the firewall and along the center of the floor.

I had to cut some metal out of the floor pan where the wires pass over the top of the wing spar down between the two center spar pieces.

One disadvantage of routing wires here is you'll never get to them again after pop-riveting the cover in place.

 

This is a shot taken from overhead looking down at the space between the engine and firewall.  Click HERE for a larger version of the photo.

 

A side shot behind the instrument panel.

An overhead shot behind the panel. (left side)

Another overhead shot behind the panel. (right side)

The lack of standard instruments REALLY makes the area behind the panel clean.