After the Silpruf on the rear windows had cured, we removed the clecos, and they held!
Rear window attached in place, without clecos holding it
With this, we repeated the same process for the door windows, startin with trimming the windows and sanding the door flanges (only enough for the fibers to show):
Door window flange, sanded until the fibers show
We trimmed the windows to leave a 3/32" gap, then drilled those gaps for clecos (and unlike the rear windows, on these the holes did not go all the way through, which is convenient since finishing will be easier (no repainting the inside):
Right door window held in place with clecos, after trimming
We taped up the area where we didn't want Silpruf, and attached spacers with RTV:
Left door with protective tape and spacers glued on
A first layer of Silpruf is applied to the end, then let cure for ~24h:
Applying Silpruf to the door window edges
Spreading Silpruf into a thin layer on the door window edges
Right door window with Silpruf applied, and the first tape removed
We then apply a second thin layer of Silpruf to the window, and a thick layer to the window flanges:
Applying Silpruf to the right door flange
Right door window set in place with Silpruf, held at the right depth by clecos
Left door window set in place with Silpruf, held at the right depth by clecos
We had a bit too much squeezeout on some of the inside edge, and too little on other parts, so a lot of adjusting of the inside finish had to be done:
Cleaning up the excess Silpruf that squeezed out of the inside
After removing all the Silpruf-cutting tapes, the end result was pretty good:
Right door window installed in place, after the inside edges were cleaned up and the tape removed
With this, the only part of section 45 remaining is installing the (dreaded) windshield.
We started the window installation using the Silpruf method - starting with making some strips for spacers:
Silpruf strips for spacers
The Cee Bailey's windows fit within the joggle from the start, but not with a consistent margin around them, so we trimmed them, and used tile spacers to keep them in place until we drilled the cleco holes:
Window with trim markings (the lines closer to the edge)
Clecos installed around the window, which was set in the right spot with tile spacers
Tile spacer used for keeping the window in the right spot
There was also a lot of sanding and filling of the edges around the joggles, to make sure there were no holes (since it'll be a lot harder to fix those after the windows are installed):
Sanded joggle/flange, with lots of pinholes showing
At two specific points on the rear columns, the window was sitting proud of the cabin cover even if I pressed it down, so we built that up with fiber/resin:
Window sitting proud of the column surface
Laying fiberglass on the column
Rear column built up with fiberglass
With all this done, we're ready to start actually attaching the windows.
Installing the nutplates for the Aerosport switch pod was a bit of a challenge - the holes were very far forward inside the overhead console, and just not reachable with our hands - so we used a magnet to position them while watching with the borescope, managed to get them clecoed, then set them with CCR rivets:
Holding the nutplate in place with a magnet (on the outside)
Clecoed nutplate inside the overhead console
Riveted nutplates in the overhead console
Because of how close those forward nutplates were to the cabin cover surface, I had to get shorter screws (MS32514-25) to secure the switch pod.
The screws attaching the center brace were a bit too long and hitting the wires, so I replaced the original AN509-10R30s with AN509-10R26/27s:
Center brace bar screws very close to the wires
Shorter replacement brace bar screws
It was then time to fit and trim the windows (we're using Cee Bailey's windows) - they immediately fit inside the joggle without any trimming (but with a variable gap around them):
Test-fitting the rear window
I'll cover the actual window installation in a post about section 45 (section 43 only has you check them for fit and do a first trimming).
With the help of Eric, an awesome AV technician and A&P, I started routing the FWF wires - we put as much as we could of the other FWF tubing in place for reference, then routed the wires around it:
FWF area with all tubes in place to figure out wire routing
Spark plug wire routing from the coil packs
Sensor wire routing along the side of the engine
Sensor, EFII and spark plug wire routing near the firewall
This gave them the general shape/route, and we still need to finish attaching them later.
For the overhead console, I updated my insert design to avoid interference between connectors and screws by moving the O₂ distributors slightly outboard, and laser-cut mock versions out of acrylic to start (before making the real ones from CFRP):
Laser-cutting the mock inserts
Mock inserts, laser-cut from acrylic
Mock inserts made from acrylic, with all equipment attached
To make them fit, we had to trim parts of the overhead console flange, which was a bit painful (literally, we're getting old 🤣) but doable:
Trimming the overhead console insert flange to fit the O₂ distributors
They fit quite well except for the aft lights which were about 1/8" too far aft - since it was a small difference, and their face is offset from the hole anyway, I'll just move those holes about 5/32" forward on the final version of the panel:
Mock inserts attached in place with all equipment except rear lights
With the borescope, we checked that the nutplate rivets, although close, did not hit the O₂ distributor connector:
O₂ distributor connector distance to the insert attachment nutplate
O₂ distributor connector distance to the insert attachment nutplate
Next I'll have the final versions of the inserts waterjet-cut in carbon fiber, route the O₂ tubes, and install it all for good.
I had originally planned to attach the heat tube using brackets that another builder designed:
3D printed SCAT tube bracket for the tunnel
3D printed bracket attached in the tunnel
Forward 3D-printed SCAT tube bracket
This was getting complicated to attach (and not very temperature-resistant), so I instead decided to just use brackets attached to the tunnel covers - this makes it slightly more annoying to attach/remove the covers (4 more screws), but is way simpler and lighter, and by positioning them right at the end of the ruddel pedal arm travel, I can ensure that it'll clear those:
Metal SCAT tube bracket match-drilled to the forward tunnel cover
Metal SCAT tube bracket match-drilled to the aft tunnel cover
Metal SCAT tube brackets, primed and with nutplates attached
To attach the forward vents, just like in the tailcone, I didn't want to trust just the sealant to hold it in place, so I made doublers to rivet the vents to the skin, with equally-spaced holes through them:
Forward vent doublers cut out from sheet metal
Forward vent doublers in position around the NACA vents
Using graphing paper to mark equally-spaced holes on vent doublers
NACA vent with doubler clecoed in place, from the outside
NACA vent with doubler clecoed in place, from the inside
With those in place, I realized that I needed some way to connect the NACA vent to the actual panel vent, in what is a somewhat tight space - the plenum that SteinAir sells actually worked well for that, by giving me a flange that I can attach a very short SCAT tube to:
Distance from the panel vent to the NACA vent
Vent plenum installed in place behind the panel
I then installed the Aerosport air control to the top of the tailcone (which due to my unfortunate positioning of holes required completely removing the servo from it, attaching the rest, then reinstalling the servo in place:
Overhead air control servo installed in place in the tailcone
Next I need to recalibrate the position of that servo, rivet the NACA vents in place with sealant, and run all the SCAT tubing.
