I permanently attached the coil pack mount to the engine mount:
Coil pack mount secured in place
To secure the heat control cables to the firewall, I got a custom two-0.19in-hole TTP-S fitting. Installing it and then installing the dual Adel clamps with the engine and everything else already in place was...not easy, but we managed it:
TTP-S firewall fitting for the heat control cables
Installing the TTP-S in place on the firewall recess
We also installed the cabin heat control cables (I insisted on not using servos for this 'cause I want to be sure that the valve can stay closed in case of an engine fire, and servos would melt away pretty quickly):
Heat control cable routing on the firewall
Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that that was the wrong way to clamp the wire - it was even breaking the washer in half - so we instead switched to a 222-4 B nut, which seems much better:
Heat control cables attached to valves with regular washer/nut, showing the broken washer
Heat control cables attached to valves with B nuts
I installed some of the MAP sensor tubing, though the tube coming from the throttle body can only be trimmed to the right length once the bottom engine bracket gets here (and I'm still designing it):
Manifold pressure tubing connected to EFII sensors
Manifold pressure tubing connected to sensors and fuel pressure regulator (but not yet to the throttle body)
Manifold pressure tubing connected to throttle body
Once those brackets are here, I can secure those hoses and be done with this section.
We temporarily attached the vertical stabilizer and elevators, and ran the trim control cables through them (which was a lot easier to do with the borescope, since it involves routing the cables through small holes in the spars):
Horizontal stabilizer and elevators attached in place, with trim cables running through them
Routing the trim cables with the help of the borescope
With this, we could figure out the ELT install position - the space between the cables is almost enough, but can be made enough if the cables are secured slightly away from it:
ELT sitting in-between the two trim cables
Trim cables clearing the ELT if slight force is applied
ELT sitting in-between the two trim cables, viewed from the side
I attached Clickbond cable brackets to keep the cables away from the center, and added #4 nutplates for attaching the buzzer:
Clickbond standoffs for holding the trim cables away from the ELT
With this, we could also install the stick grips (part of another post), and try out different routes for the grip wires (I also considered just adding an Adel clamp to the landing gear mount, but that seemed too structural to mess with):
Stick grip cable routing underneath the seat
We finished up the overhead inserts, with enclosed Clickbond nutplates to make sure wiring above it won't be damaged, and assembled the components to them:
Marking overhead insert nutplate areas for sanding
Top side of aft overhead insert with all equipment installed
Bottom side of aft overhead insert with all equipment installed
We also spent an enormous amount of time trying to finish the forward overhead insert, and....we messed up :( we put a bit too much torque on one of the stud inserts, and it got loose, inbetween the metal and the carbon fiber layers - so we're back to square 1 for that one.
For the engine wiring, I CNCed a bracket from Delrin to test fit it (and test my CNC program, it was my first time using this machine for something serious):
An initial fitting shows that I didn't consider the that the hoses are not straight, and thus not at a constant distance from the cylinder - so more work is needed here.
Next will be closing up the overhead console and securing the ELT.
However, while doing that, the head of one of the little #4 screws broke. Lesson learned, I'm not using brass screws for that anymore (I had picked them just because they were black - bad idea), but we still had to remove it, which took a couple hours, and in the process of doing that we ended up bending the nutplate, so in the end we just replaced the nutplate:
Bent nutplate in the overhead console
We're still working on finishing their surface, and a future post will show them installed:
Overhead inserts with resin applied (sanding and more filling still needed)
Meanwhile, I installed the bottom center panel insert, which let me to realize that the alt static connection wouldn't work as I originally intended, so we moved the T fitting to the right side:
Bottom center panel insert installed in place
Static T fitting connecting the tube coming from the static ports, the alt static switch, and the avionics
Tube routing down to the alt static switch
Final assembly of the top center panel insert was an exercise in patience, and ensuring nothing physically interfered with one another (and fixing the few cases where something did):
Clearance between the G5's static line and the circuit breakers
Vertical clearance between the main static line and the light switches
Interference between the GMC507 connector and the main wire bundle, which had to be fixed
Center panel insert and wiring secured in place
I then installed the actual displays, which posed some new interference challenges to be addressed:
Static tube running too close to the GAD29
Static tube run after trimming
PFD/AHRS connectors
AHRS tube connections
Panel mostly operational
With all that in place, it was time to test it all again and fix any remaining squawks - one of which unfortunately was that the LED strip connector had come loose, which requires removing the PFD and the left-side insert to fix. I also adjusted the position of the door sensors so they reliably open and close.
There's not a lot left on the avionics front - installing the overhead inserts, the ELT, the rudder trim servo, and once the wings are attached, connecting them.
We attached the reservoir to the firewall, then attached the last hoses to it:
Brake fluid reservoir attached to firewall
Brake lines connected to firewall reservoir
We later connected the parking brake cable to its valve - we initially tried to use the McFarlane tip for the conduit, and then adapting that tip's M6 thread to the ~10mm hole of the Aircraft Specialty valve bracket:
Thread adapter attached to parking brake valve bracket
Eventually, we realized we could just use a Bowden cable clamp from Spruce, which has fewer parts and would hold the cable more securely, so we switched to that:
Parking brake cable installed with Bowden clamp
With this, only the final assembly steps - filling the brake lines, and attaching the rudder cables - is left for this section.
