As a very last item in section 41 - when I installed the panel, I didn't know how we'd secure the throttle, prop and heat cables around the pedals, so I left several holes unriveted to have the option of using F-1083 for holding the cables. Since we now know that won't be necessary, I filled those holes that were also shared with the cutout doubler with CherryMax rivets:
Subpanel cutout doubler fully riveted
Time lapse:
Total upper forward fuselage installation rivets: 157
Total upper forward fuselage installation time: 42.9h
As an additional item in section 9, I confirmed that it'd be very hard to screw in the trim cable brackets onto the trim cables with any precision, so I separated the brackets and modified the holes so they're attached with screws instead:
Pitch trim cable brackets attached with screws instead of rivets
You'll start seeing more and more short posts and videos, simply because we're wrapping things up so there's not much to do.
I installed the rear shoulder harnesses:
Rear shoulder harnesses attached to the tailcone anchor cables
Rear seat belts and shoulder harnesses in place
For the forward ones, I had to use slightly longer bolts to account for the Aerosport headliner spacer (AN517-5-12 was about right, with two washers - could probably have been a -10 without any):
Front shoulder harnesses attached in place
Front shoulder harnesses hanging from overhead console
With all that in place, I adjusted the seat belt lengths:
We installed and removed the seats a few times to be able to more comfortably on the panel and tunnel, but they're yet to be installed permanently (for one, I need to connect the sticks underneath them before I can close up that section).
I also got everything ready for installing the seat belts, including final-drilling all the attachment point holes, and inserting the bushings into the seat belts themselves (which the dimpler with a socket as support was a great tool for):
Seat belt ends with inserts installed
For the cabin top attach point, which uses a 5/16" bolt, the bushing would be very thin - so instead I called Crow and they sent me ends with a 5/16" hole, no bushing required (which is fine since this one doesn't rotate anyway):
Original top seat belt end (left) vs new one with a smaller hole (right)
With this, after the interior panels were in place, we permanently installed the seats and the bottom seat belts:
Forward seat and forward bottom seat belts installed in place
Rear seats and rear bottom seat belts installed in place
The top seat belts are the only part left, and will be done after the O2 tank is installed in the back, and once we get hardware for the top cabin attachment (the standard NAS517-5-9 is too short with the headliner spacer).
To wrap up the interior, we finally installed all the interior panels, starting with trimming and drilling the forward interior panels:
Forward interior panel in place for drilling
Aerosport suggests 3" and 10" from the bottom for forward holes - that was almost exactly at the point where the bulkhead is, so we moved them up slightly. To get the right position of each hole, we used a similar technique to what's done for the door pins - a screw with the head cut off and sharpened to a point, to press the panel against and get markings (we used the plastic mallet to hit it a few times, which left a definite mark):
Pointy screw to mark the hole position for interior panel attachment
Doing all that underneath the panel is always fun, of course:
Panel yoga to get the interior panels to fit correctly
Forward interior panel installed in place
I installed the mid-cabin side covers and the passenger side covers - at which point I realized I left no room for the door sensor wires, so I opened up a hole and let it through with a grommet:
Passenger side panel with no room for door sensor wire to go through
Hole for door sensor wires to go through
Passenger side panel with door sensor wires going through hole with a grommet
We installed the stick bottom cover (which prevents anything from getting into the bottom area below the front seats - Vans SL-00060):
Stick bottom cover with velcro attached to it
Stick bottom cover installed in place
We also installed the mid-cabin side panels, passenger side panels, and the flap torque tube covers (all before installing the seats, but forgot to take intermediate pictures):
Mid-cabin side panels and passenger side panels installed in place
Flap torque tube covers installed
Installing the Aerosport vents required some trimming of the 3D printed duct that goes between the cover and the outside skin, to clear the cabin cover screws (unlike what the Aerosport manual shows, we did not need to tim the inside wall):
Trimmed Aerosport vent duct
With this, the only thing left in section 35 is the baggage interior panel, which I'll install after the O2 cylinder is in place.
The oil door was a bit too flexible and just latching it was making the corners rise even though it sat flat otherwise - so after adding the core, we added a layer of carbon fiber to stiffen it, instead of fiberglass:
Oil door with foam core and carbon fiber layer
Oil door with carbon fiber layer, seen from the outside
That still needs finishing to be done later.
It was then time to secure the cowl sides (that connect the top and bottom cowls together):
Bottom cowl with Skybolt flanges and receptacles installed
With all that in place, I installed the last remaining firewall Skybolts, still using the cleco adapters to center the holes:
Remaining Skybolt firewall holes, with cleco adapters for centering
Top and bottom cowl attached together, and with the last firewall holes open
Remaining firewall Skybolt flanges and receptacles riveted in place
Next is the Showplanes nose gear fairing and attaching screws to the forward end of the cowl.
