Firewall Finished HOBBS 640.0 hrs

This week I finally finished up the fuselage inventory...it took me about 5 hrs total! Van's has to have the most cryptic inventory organization system known to man...I'm sure it makes sense to them how they group these parts but I promise you it makes no sense to me! Very confusing and really not very efficient...for example, several bags of the same type of rivets, not the most cost effective system. Not to criticize, but I would love to have a shot at running that company. :) Even with that...all was present and accounted for once again. Glad that's over.

I also finished up some wiring details and routing the vent line on the right wing and then riveted the right bottom inboard skin in place...solo, once again. This one was a little harder because of me being right handed...I was using my left hand on the rivet gun for much of the work. A little awkward...but you gotta get proficient with both hands when building one of these. So, now the only thing left to do on the wings is the bottom, outboard skins and the aileron and flap mounting, which I will do later. For now, I am moving on to the fuselage and more fun stuff.

The fuel pump doubler on the firewall shown here is not needed for fuel injected systems so there is no sense installing this (click on the photo for a larger view)

And here are a couple shots of the finished product. The firewall recess in the center will be riveted later, apparently access to the brake lines is easier when that is not in place. You'll also notice, unlike past assemblies with me, no priming is visible. I used a rattle can to prime the mating surfaces and then will prime and finish paint it later as an assembly since it will be visible behind the rudder pedals. With the fuselage, the painting process will take on a new flavor as I plan to paint my cockpit as I progress. 

(Edit: 05/09/11 - After doing some research, I wont be painting my firewall and I dont advise you do either. Think about what its job is? To protect you from an engine fire. The stainless steel will do that as its melting point is quite high, but when its being heated to possible temperatures of 1500+ degs by an engine fire, the last thing you want is paint fumes/smoke filling your cockpit. I have not yet decided on what my firewall will have on the cockpit side--still doing research--but it most certainly wont have any paint/primer.)

I started by trying to be clever and back rivet this assembly since all of the rivets on the engine side are flathead -426's. I quickly abandoned that idea, because of the flange orientation it didnt work well at all for me. I resorted back to a bucking bar and that worked much better. Now that the firewall is done, its on to the main center section bulkhead...this is going to be fun!

My friend Sean Blair from Colorado Springs sent me this RV7 decal for my birthday! Hee haw! So, of course I had to proudly put in on my car. Pretty cool eh? Not sure where he acquired this...but thanks Sean!