Sunday, January 6, 2013

Passenger foot box clecupine

After a couple of days at Disney World I got back to the Al panels in the cockpit.  (If you haven't been to see the new Test Track by Chevrolet - drum roll please - DON'T BOTHER!  Spent three hours in line and ended up on the exact same ride with less to entertain your brain while waiting in line.  Pretty obvious Government Motors had a hand in it - overwrought, inefficient line process, ultimately a bore.  This is what happens when Disney partners with the government, er I mean Chevrolet.)
First part is installing the passenger side foot box.  The picture is the standard one every builder has of numerous clecos holding together various Al panels.  To me it looks like a genetically mutated porcupine created by some aircraft manufacturers black programs office.  Thus a "clecupine."
So this weekend I did the first fit on the passenger side foot box Al panels.  The basic process is drill a hole, stick in a cleco, remove the panel, make sure everything lines up and do it again.  I did a rough fit of all panels with only a couple through and through holes drilled in the adjacent panels, then marked the outer panel hole locations, removed everything, drilled the outer panel holes with my bench drill press, attached them all together on my bench, marked the holes on the inner panels and drilled them using the outer holes as a guide for my hand drill.  Probably an easier way to do it but this one worked for me.  Overall the rough fit FFR did to ship the car worked pretty well.  The number in the photo is the FFR part number I wrote on all pieces before initial disassembly so I could refer to my pictures while doing the final fit.  These will be covered by acoustic mat and under body or heat reflective material so I wrote them big.
Best part of the weekend was a friend and shipmate from my time in Bahrain stopped by to take a look.  It was neat showing him what the project looked like given I bored him with my dream while in Bahrain for nearly a year.
Also spent a few hours installing new doors in the Master Bathroom.  One project for me, one for my wife.  Part of the deal to build the car.
Gotta buy more clecos too.  I used all I had and it wasn't enough to complete the job.  Aircraft Tool Supply did me right the last time so they got some more of my money tonight.

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