Control cables

How does one measure the control cables for the throttle/mixture/prop for their project?

You need to take a piece of electrical wire since it is stiffer than nylon cord, tape one end to the sub panel where you plan on putting the control knobs, and run it allow for it it to be fastened if necessary to sub panel ribs thru the firewall and allow for bends and fastners on the engine,then take it to your prop lever, or throttle and allow an inch so you can have some adjustment on the rod ends. If using a cable with a center wire for the throttle leave it a couple inches longer so you can fasten the wire.

I'll add this. When you get all your cables run make sure that you have just shy of an 1/8 inch between the control knob and the panel nut
when the control is full forward, this will assure you that you have achieved full travel of the desired lever such as the prop lever before the control knob bottoms out against the panel

If you are using stock Van's engine their cable work. If not you might have to order a longer/shorter cable as needed. If you get a cable built specifically for you they generally will not take it back if you measured wrong

Jack

Custom throttle cable for me

I had to order a custom throttle cable (from Aircraft Spruce) to get the full throw/travel for my fuel injection unit. The others were stock Van's. I used some plastic tubing to mock up the cable runs and decide where to drill the holes in the firewall. I waited until last for the throttle since it was very expensive to order the custom cable and it is not returnable, and I had gained some experience working with the other cables first.

So if I am understanding this you measure from the back side of the panel to the end of the cable minus the end rod end? Plus a little for adjustments? If I ordered a 45" cable what are they referring to?

Push pull aircraft cables are ordered using the "style" (usually 176 for cable craft cables), grade (usually very low duty or "V"), whether threaded both ends or not (usually yes, so "TT"), followed by "throw" length (for us, usually 2 inches) followed by length as measured cable tip to cable tip.

An order would read: 176-VTT-2-55 for instance.

a good link is here:
http://www.push-pull.com look for the pdf link on their site for the "industrial catalog" but the aircraft grade cables are the 176's

If you are building to the plans, they call out the cables needed for each configuration. I built my 6 with the FWF plans for the 7. The stock cables called out worked perfectly.

I reused the cheap clear vinyl tubing I had used as a manometer for testing the fuel tanks. A little bit extra length is better than too short! I also used the tubing for figuring out the lengths of the fuel hoses, and bleeding the brakes.