Interior Finishing related questions
 

I am getting ready to prep my interior for finishing and had a few questions.

1) How far do the front seats move forward and aft once installed? I am trying to figure out how far aft and forward they move to a specific point of reference - say the back of the seat tunnel cover (near the passenger foot well area).

2) Are people finding it easier to paint the canopy top BEFORE or AFTER installing the windows?

3) Which scotchbrite did you use to roughing the interior surface for paint adhesion? All my roughing to date has been the red pads, but I woundered since this will be more visible, if the grey is sufficient.

Thanks for the info!

Mark,
I have my seat rails removed, so I can't help you there. I would definately paint the inside of the cabin cover before it's installed. It is much easier to manage. You can always touch up and surprises from damage later, just protect it while you are assembling things inside and out. Assuming you are painting the cabin cover and not installing a headliner, I would sand first with 80 grit paper to get it nice and smooth. Then come back with some reduced resin to fill all the pin holes. Repeat and sand again until you think you have the pin holes filled. Then spray with a filler primer, sand with 320 grit, then an epoxy sealer, then color. When you install the windows mask the area around the windows and protect all the area around the inside so you don't get the adhesive on the new paint. If you use the Lord adhesive or the Sika adhesive, they both clean up off painted surfaces with mineral spirits, which will not affect your new paint. BTW, do all your sanding with a sanding block.
Hope this helps

Edit: I just looked at your website and noticed you are using the Aerosport overhead. Are you using their headliner? If not, think about considering it. It dresses out the overhead and the windows very nicely. If you use the headliner, you might want to outline the inside window frames with black semi-gloss to match the trim piece Aerosport provides. The carbon fiber console has mold release on it and you really need to sand it and clean it up to get the paint to stick. On the carbon overhead I would just sand with 320 wet or dry

Before!!! Upside down on the bench. You'll still have areas that you'll have to retouch. (i.e. the places you use filler around the door. Hold off on the windows as long as you can. I can tell you that I'm glad I don't have the windscreen on yet while I'm finishing the panel. Makes access much easier. I'll be putting all the windows in as soon as it gets warm enough.

I used sandpaper on the fiberglass and carbon fiber overhead, and the maroon pads on the aluminum.

I painted doors after windows were installed but before installing to cabin top. I painted remaining interior after windows but before doors were installed. Glare shield/center brace flat black then masked off before painting interior. Painted all removable panels separately. Money, time, weight, looks...all of these numbers are low and we are loving it. It can be done both ways.

Paint the entire inside of cabin top before windows. Finish it off like the outside of the airplane. You will have to touch up areas around door jams but that is very easy. I recommend painting the majority of the interior. Red scotch pad is perfect. Put on coat of etch primer of your choice. Then paint with a color that will match your interior. Use a 2 part catalyized paint. I did not put paint on the anodized wing spar area. See Photo. Paint visual surface
of all access panels







Geoff

Charlie,
I measured my seats today. They travel a total of 5 inches. If you measure from the crotch harness mount on the back seats, the large gold-colored support rod at the aft bottom of the seat is 14" in the back position, and 19" in the forward position. The seat backs are further back than the rod, but the rod is the lowest point that would hit somebody's shins. Hope this helps.
John

After final fitting and attaching the door to the cabin top, is the recess in the upper portion of the doors that allows access to the door hinges filled in with cloth/epoxy? It appears this would allow a better weather seal with this area filled in, however removing the doors would be impossible after that. I believe the holes outside of the doors where the door hinge screws are exposed will be filled in with epoxy, so I believe filling in the gap inside the door where the door hinges attach is acceptable also. What do you do?

Just my 2 cents - from what I've seen some people fill that area in and some dont and I think its mostly a cosmetic choice as it isnt a big concern for leaking. Most of the time you would likely have a cover on the plane if it were outside anyways, right?

Edit: We did cover our hinge recess and have the McMaster door seals and it never leaks. If we had to we can get a wrench under the cover.

Here are a few pics of examples of how some people finished it off with stock vans seals. Hopefully you're using McMaster but these could give you ideas anyways. I've seen several where they made it removable via two screws. I wouldn't permanently cover the hinges without access screws or some way to get to the nuts but thats just my opinion.

I wouldn't. As you say, that is the only way to remove a door later. I make cover out of .020 attached with glassed in rivnuts. I'd hate to wreck a paint job both inside and out just to pull a door.

I fabricated four different .032" plates and installed them with proseal. Painted to match door interior. Easy to get a wrench underneath or remove them if needed. Without the plates for the first few cold months, using McMaster seals, we were losing alot of heat to the low pressure area above the cabin. Cold air would enter other areas creating drafts. Once we installed these, the cabin was warmer with slightly less noise.