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  #11  
Old 05-17-2018, 05:38 PM
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Av8torTom Av8torTom is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macrafic View Post
Tom, if you are going to fireproof the firewall, now is the time. The fibrefax, ss foil and aluminum tape go on the engine side of the firewall. See MANY posts on this topic.
Good suggestion.

Is there a set of instructions anywhere that lays this all out?
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RV-9A (empennage completed, both wings completed, fuselage and finish kit completed, engine hung, working on panel and wiring)
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  #12  
Old 05-17-2018, 05:46 PM
RV7 To Go RV7 To Go is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by agirard7a View Post
Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.
Also, plan your firewall penetrations for wiring, alt air and install the cabin heat box.

Al
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  #13  
Old 05-17-2018, 05:59 PM
RV74ME RV74ME is offline
 
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Following, as i will be in the same situation very shortly.
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  #14  
Old 05-17-2018, 06:02 PM
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Vlad Vlad is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scard View Post
Get on with it! The world is your oyster .
Bolt and go Tom!

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Last edited by Vlad : 05-17-2018 at 06:06 PM.
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  #15  
Old 05-17-2018, 07:50 PM
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Av8torTom Av8torTom is offline
 
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Vlad!!! When did you get so handsome???
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RV-9A (empennage completed, both wings completed, fuselage and finish kit completed, engine hung, working on panel and wiring)
N677AT reserved
Superior XP O-320, 160HP
Picture log: http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/j...8tor215/RV-9A/
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  #16  
Old 05-17-2018, 07:56 PM
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RV7A Flyer RV7A Flyer is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by agirard7a View Post
Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.
And the cabin heat box. And the pass-throughs for the control cables and wiring. And the grounding stuff (Forest-of-tabs on cabin and maybe engine side).

Etc.

in other words, do everything on the firewall that you can now, because once the engine is on, it's just that much more inaccesible. (Now we'll get a bunch of posts that say "it's not that hard", but why not just do them while you have open, easy, ready access to the firewall?).
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  #17  
Old 05-17-2018, 08:30 PM
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airguy airguy is offline
 
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During the empennage, Vans directions are along the lines of "Take two eggs, break them gently in a bowl, mix with a cup of milk and beat gently... etc etc"

During the wing section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Make a good breakfast the way we told you before..."

During the fuse section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Don't forget to eat something..."

During the finish kit, Vans directions are along the lines of "Whaddaya mean you're hungry? We already covered that!"

Grab the drawings - find something that isn't on your plane yet, and install it. Figure out how, then go do it. Then pick another item and do it again. When you run out of things to install, you're ready to fly it. One piece at a time until you're out of pieces, same way you eat an elephant.
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Last edited by airguy : 05-17-2018 at 08:33 PM.
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  #18  
Old 05-18-2018, 06:21 AM
BillL BillL is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central IL
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Default Builder phase.

You are now unshackled from second guessing and verifying the plans. Now, you become a . . . . builder. Make plan and get to it. Kinda fun.
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  #19  
Old 05-18-2018, 08:24 AM
Flying Canuck Flying Canuck is offline
 
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Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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I think I felt the same as you when I got my firewall forward kit and engine late last summer. The rest of the build was pretty straight forward, but the big mess of systems on the front side of the firewall was by far the most intimidating part of the whole project. Now that it's "done", I see that it was just another progressive learning experience. I figured it out as I went along, learning lots, making more than enough mistakes.

As others have mentioned, figure out and install as much of the firewall pass through and attachments as you can before installing the engine mount. I did, however, end up with extra holes in the firewall that I had to patch/re-purpose. This was mostly because the plan locations for the control cables didn't work for my installation (IO-320, C/S prop). Almost all of your firewall forward systems have something attached to or passed through the firewall - electrical, fuel, oil, cabin heat(exhaust), sensors, controls, carb heat/alternate air (intake) and engine. This mean that the more you know about where those systems sit in your engine compartment, the better results you'll have in the firewall planning. The single best resource I found for this was the 360 view of the firewall forward of the RV-14 that is on the Vans site. Yes, the engine is different, but it gives a pretty good idea on the interactions.

Timing on the riveting of the firewall recess is worth paying attention to. There are a lot of the rivets that get used for platenuts and holes that are drilled out for bolts. Once all of those are figured out, along with any cut outs, rivet this in place - before you hang the engine. Would also be a good idea to seal that area before the engine gets in the way - it's a difficult spot to reach later. Of course when it comes to riveting things, wait as long as you possibly can before riveting in that top forward fuselage skin. The access that you have to the aft side of the firewall is crucial for a very long time. Only rivet that on when you have nothing left to do. It can be clecoed into place for fitting your cowling.

One specific gotcha that I'll pass along - the firewall flange rivets. For the most part, this will be done when you figure out your cowling attachment. There are a handful of rivets on the underside that do not attach your cowling - in the center in the exhaust area of the cowling. There are a few of these rivets that are near impossible to set once your exhaust system is installed. There are a couple that you drill out for the air outlet support bracket and fuel overflow, but riveting the others before you hang the engine mount will be much easier.

Most of the firewall forward is simple enough if you think of it one system at a time. The baffles are time consuming and somewhat tricky, particularly the oil cooler. Fitting the cowling is both time consuming and difficult. The cowling trims are hard to figure out and even harder to fix after the fact. Take the time to get it right and you may be able to not regret how it turns out.
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  #20  
Old 05-19-2018, 06:08 AM
B. Hoover B. Hoover is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Apollo Beach, FL
Posts: 10
Default another technique?

Somebody building another kind of airplane told me of an technique of using a piece of clear plexiglass as the firewall temporarily while everything is being organized and mocked up. Then eventually using it as a templet once the plan is set.

Has anybody done that in the RV world?
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