29 - Fwd Mid Fuse Side Str (air vents); 37 - Roll Over Structure (finished); Firewall Fwd kit (inventory)

I received the FWF kit this week - damn, there are a lot more parts than I had anticipated.  Only one part was slightly damaged (flange of oil cooler was bent), and The Mothership said I could either gently whack it back into shape, or send it back for a replacement.  I might try a gentle whacking - and yes, that does sound bad.

The remainder of the time since the last post has been to install and paint the roll bar and roll bar brace, do a few odds-and-ends, and figure out how to mount the air vents.  Surprisingly, the air vent assemblies have NO rivets!  I guess RTV silicone will be enough to hold them in place in most instances ... but, that just doesn't sit well with me.  So, I decided that one single blind MK-319-BS rivet that attaches the aft vent flange to the side skin would be apropos.  Most importantly, it will help with alignment when attaching - I've seen a few vents that were attached crookedly, or slid down as the silicone (or proseal) hardened, and I just didn't want to take that chance.  At any rate, here are details of what has been accomplished since the last post:

- Riveted roll bar assemblies to roll bar straps and window shims; attached bushings and bushing doublers on aft roll bar assembly; clecoed roll bar and roll bar brace to fuselage; match-drilled #30 holes into roll bar bases; deburred holes; reinstalled roll bar on roll bar bases; primed and painted roll bar brace (since tough to spray underside once attached to fuselage)
- Riveted roll bar and brace to fuselage; attached fwd bushing doublers and bushings and covers; masked for painting; separated, dimpled and fluted skin stiffeners
- primed and painted roll bar and brace
- riveted skin stiffeners, and finished working on control column travel to get both sides to hit stops at the same time.  Have ~15deg travel forward and 23.1deg aft
- received new air vents (SV-10) since the old ones were too short; re-prepped the vents, test-fit, scuffed, and am figuring out the best way to attach (likely with a few pop rivets that center the vents prior to applying clear RTV - this is a paint without rivet holes, so I’m going to put at least one in the alum. flange and 2 in the plastic vent
- Received FWF kit!!!   inventory for FWF kit (started)
- inventory for FWF kit (finished); emailed Van’s regarding missing/damaged items (very few); inventoried Airwolf remote oil filter package, too
- figured out attachment for air vent assembly, which involves one MK-319-BS pop rivet to attach the aft flange to the skin (will aid in alignment); cut vent assemblies; primed and painted vent assemblies

Match-drilling roll bar bases:

Deburred roll bar and roll bar brace; primed and painted first coat of roll bar brace (since would be hard to paint the underside once installed):

Riveted roll bar and brace to fuselage. Masked area surrounding roll bar and brace:

Primed and painted roll bar and brace:

Another view:

View after removing masking:

Installed Lemo plugs, and preparing to install headset and mic jacks.  Jack have to be insulated from the metal seat, so a rubber grommet and a fiber piece are sandwiched on either side of the plug:

Headset and mic jacks, installed:

Finished drilling and trimming air vent assemblies:

Right vent assembly, held in place with strong neodymium magnets and one cleco in the aft metal flange:

View from the inside:

View of flange, dimpled and up-sized to #33 (for eventual MK-319-BS rivet):

Air vent parts, primed and painted: