With the doors on the hinges I set out to get the fit right along the bottom and lower sides of the fuselage. Added a couple more indexers at the bottom to keep the door pulled in tight for installing the pins.
Also got the left door window trimmed.
Set the rear seat components in place to show another builder what the center bench seat options from Flightline Interiors looks like. The vertical center piece and horizontal piece with cup holders are removable.
I wanted to get the doors partially fitted on the cabin top before removing the top for finishing the inside.
I was trying to figure out a good way to initially trim the doors. I did not trust the built-in scribe line on the doors. After talking with fellow builder David Halmos the other night I tried one of his great suggestions. Taping around the door opening provides a reference line to scribe the door. You know how wide the tape is, just set the scribe to that width and scribe along the tape.
Another one of David’s suggestions was to create an extension so the index holes can still be utilized after the index tabs are trimmed from the doors. This was very helpful.
I have the doors trimmed to a point where I can get them on the hinges. After the hinges are on I can take the top off and work on the interior of the top.
Epoxying the door halves together for the right side. Wanted to see how one turns out before I do the left.
Brad was over for a couple hours to rivet on the fuselage top skin. I wired the panel with the sub structure in place as seen here. I was on my back underneath bucking the rivets. Very uncomfortable but was much better than wiring the panel on the bench then having to make disconnects where wires left the panel for the rear. Two holes in the center are for the defrost fans.
Glad to have this step done as it means the panel is wired/tested and it allows me to move on.
More work on cleaning up the wiring before riveting on the top skin.
The “before” shot…
And the “after” shot…
Still a couple small items to take care of like edge grommets in a couple areas.
Checked off a few more items that needed to be added to the firewall as I move closer to getting the engine mounted.
Oil, fuel, and manifold pressure transducers were mounted. ANL current limiter for the alternator b-lead was mounted. Oil cooler mount was attached. The wire pass-throughs were also finished up.
Need to wait a bit for the cabin heat cables as I need to finish the lower center console before they can be routed.
Wired up the push to start button. The VP-200 controls the external start switch and only enables it in Start Mode. The lighted ring is connected to a power pin on the VP-200 which is also only configured to come on in Start Mode. Pretty sweet. You can find out more about the switch and wiring it on the VP forums.
Wired up the flap position sensor, flap motor and flap switch today. Did an initial calibration on the VP-200 and EFIS/EM to make sure everything was working. Will have to go back and do a “real” configuration once the flaps are on.
