Fuselage

Today I continued working on the cover plates for the cabin and started on the installation of the fuel selector valve. A while back, on one of my trips to Vans, I exchanged the standard Vans fuel valve and upgraded to the Andair model. So tonight it was exciting to get it out and actually start working on it. It's going to look really nice. The red fuel selector pointer is anodized red and matches my side rails and brake pedals. I'll have pictures soon. The fuel cover plate is pre-drilled for the stock Vans valve and I won't be using those holes. But fortunately, the Andair cover that sits on top of the plate will cover those holes so it's no problem. I carefully measured and drilled the holes for the Andair valve, deburred everything, and then riveted the nutplates to the fuel valve. Then I moved forward and drilled the 1/2" holes in the F-982E forward cover for throttle and mixture cables. The plans show a third hole for carburator heat but I didn't drill that one. If I go with a fuel-injected engine I won't need a carb heat cable and won't need that hole. If I do end up with a carburated system, I can always drill that hole later.

I spent quite a bit of time deburring all these covers and parts. Then I scuffed and cleaned them, and primed them. Here's a shot of all the parts after priming:

Missing from this collection is the obvious piece; the big F-782C cover. I'll start on it next time.

I started on the F-782C cover today, but first, I pulled out the stainless steel firewall recess cover. The 782 gets drilled to this recess cover so it needs to be clecoed in place for the fitting and drilling. As I looked the firewall recess cover over, I realized it needed some work first. So I spent some time deburring the edges. Then, it had never been dimpled. So I went ahead and did that, too. Then, finally, I clecoed it in place on the firewall.

Next, I started deburring the F-782C. I've been dreading this piece because there are so many edges, and all those louvers, and most of it can't be done on the scotchbrite wheel. So out came the hand tools and I got to work. I pulled all the blue vinyl off. After deburring all the edges, I decided to scuff and clean the surfaces before bending the louvers open. Much easier now than after the louvers are opened up! Then, I decided to go ahead and start bending open the louvers. Cabin heat will come in through these louvers and keep us warm in the cabin, so I want it to look good and function properly.

The plans tell you to clamp a piece of angle on here to bend these open, but I liked the method my buddy Ed Lynn came up with much better. I used these pieces of 2 x 2 and my clamps. The little piece of wood at the top is used as a pusher to push open the louver. Later, I found that my fingers made even better pushers. It's important to do this in the correct order. If you don't think it through you may do the center ones first, and then you can't clamp these blocks down for the next ones.

Nice! This worked really well. Five done, only 3 more to go! I won't be able to get to those until next time, though. My time is up today.

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