Kit #7 arrived

[Utah-Jay]

Did you verify your predrilled firewall bolt holes were at the correct location. Mine were off from the factory on my Quickbuild and I had to replace the first firewall.

NOPE

I assumed they were in the correct location. I will measure things out when I put it back on as I am waiting on the heat shield adhesive to dry and trying to figure out the puzzle pieces of the boot cowl. I can’t get my head around it even with them laid out on the hanger floor

[spinningwrench]

It worked well for me to start at the top of the boot cowl and work down progressively tightening it up and clecoing to the firewall and to the formers. I did it all with poster board to begin with then transferred to aluminum once it fit.

[Utah-Jay]

I measured mine, and if it is not centered it is too close for me to be able to tell. I am within a 1/16” at the worst

[Mark Goldberg]

Bruce, all I will say is that no other Patrol builder that I can remember has had any problems with their firewall. Other than yourself. Mark

[Utah-Jay]

Short day today, but did get the engine side heat shield attached


and then….. it was on to the boot cowl.

I must say when I laid all the boot cowl sheet/parts out on the floor I was pretty confused, but bit by bit it came together so to speak. I am going slow on this so I just roughly clamped things in place today and will dive in deeper tomorrow.

[Utah-Jay]

The boot cowl project continued…

First off the top of the panel now has a attach point, this will get drilled and cleco’ed tomorrow and I can start on the top of the boot cowl.
767E344B-52DB-4882-ADEC-FE24F1FB3837.jpeg5822A7FE-DAE0-4D49-A1C9-321EDB9EE43B.jpeg2798D2CC-D6E8-4FD7-ADD9-6231BDF1A2CE.jpeg

Got the tunnel cleco’ed to the firewall
A2D71660-7600-4839-9177-3BE475CE9B37.jpeg I’ll need to mark and trim the overhang (or is it under hang?) on the tunnel firewall junction

The Station B bulkhead is cleco’ed to the fuselage and the back end of the tunnel. I only put in about 1/2 of the cleco’ed at the end of the day when I took these photos
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[Utah-Jay]

Only minimal progress today, but did get the panel to the aluminum angle from yesterday drilled and match drilled the panel. Bent the panel tabs to a 10 degree angle which really helped set a perfect overhang for the glare shield.
B14A5D07-3AD9-417E-B522-A83AC092D600.jpeg
E01CD183-A4FA-4296-BFCB-94EFD6B985FC.jpeg Fitted the cabane section of the boot cowl
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The boot cowl sides will be worked on tomorrow.

[Utah-Jay]

It was a boot cowl day, tedious and slow

As for the first photo… Don’t ask
92DCAD73-FF53-49AA-9828-A18B8440E803.jpeg
That was the result of someone meaning well and “holding” the front end while I match drilled. Holding and pushing are two very different things. I went to the front and I had a slight pillow. It was totally unacceptable in my building. I tried to rescue it (2nd hole), but I just could not live with that being crappy! Being either the front of the back has to be trimmed, I just cut out for the door hinge areas and the fuel line and redid it. In the above photo the exposed holes will be cut off when the edge is flushed to the door former. Cost me a couple of hours, but it was a good learning experience in several ways.

This made the left side pretty easy as I knew exactly how to cut out the door hinges and fuel lines.
3737CA2C-9F1B-4CCC-9614-24488DA705B1.jpegA521E003-4639-461D-B9BF-C2A234E4BDE7.jpeg88EF3189-035F-4601-BC32-D48B3E60442B.jpeg

I leave for work in a week and need to get the boot cowl finished so I can send my panel off for the avionics build.

[Utah-Jay]

Those with a keen eye will notice there are no more clamps…. Because it is all cleco’ed in.
DB5941EE-F287-4D7F-B89C-B5C097D633AF.jpeg1B384F20-92BA-4943-A254-5D1BAC6412B0.jpeg9AEF9CD9-1909-4973-925A-7B3955EDE6FC.jpeg The straps are to keep the integrity of the shape to drill and match drill. I hit a wall on ideas on how to drill the holes attaching the bottom of the side cowl to the top of the side cowl extension pictured above. Needed time to think and research rather than making a mistake.

[Utah-Jay]

Look Mom, no straps

I got the left and right boot cowl extensions all cleco’ed in and are both nice and tight with a continuous shape all the way around.

EF1E68B4-FBB5-4944-8EC8-EC203F5EA06D.jpegD680894F-B130-4C20-A4D8-F1A3C946D76C.jpeg
Drilled the relief hole for the gascolator sump and have a rubber gasket in there to keep it as air tight for exhaust as possible.
42D85D7A-9161-4266-9466-4FA0EECF8594.jpeg

I also rectified an issue I did not know I had. I only realized it when I started taking things apart to drill the tunnel for the sump. I had the fuel selector legs/stand secured to the floor with bolts and nuts which is not correct, so I installed clickbond attachments on the bottom and now all is good.


I only have three more pieces left on the boot cowl, the two side extensions and the bottom extension that needs relief for the struts. That might be a challenge.

[Utah-Jay]

This is the single most important tool in building the boot cowl
F5C6E044-4974-41F9-AA73-D54CFEBE4403.jpg
With the drill of course being #2

So how long does it take to build a boot cowl?

Based on my finishing it at some point tomorrow, I am comfortable in saying 8 days. Today was was day 7, as in 7 days in a row. I am very lucky in that I have every imaginable tool at my disposal and good guidance when I have a question. KHCR is also a hotbed of experimental, both flying and under construction so that make it fun and helps as there is a large break and shear in a nearby hanger for sheet metal stuff.

The bender
4C15307B-F131-465D-BC01-3295B8902EFE.jpgYep, that is the boot cowl extension. Notice the large rectangular cutout for the gear struts? I am going with the Dave Lenart method, and will finish up and show photos tomorrow.

I did some extrapolation on the upsizing from a scaled down strut movement cutout and it worked out well
47C56858-553B-4C92-BC8A-A0D9DB7CB535.jpg
The boot cowl extension has been marked with the template and will be cutout tomorrow

I have every boot cowl piece fitted and cleco’ed in barring the last half of the left side cowl extension which needs to be cleco’ed into the horizontal door former, it is all drilled and cleco’ed on the vertical
0483C87F-2B90-47AC-9E5A-61A623E34533.jpgE69F59B8-6B35-4E3B-AB60-22FFA4C69216.jpg137DF673-31AB-4D91-9379-511075BB45BE.jpg
Here are a couple of wide shots
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So far the boot cowl has been tedious and slow moving, it is not the low hanging fruit that gives end of the day satisfaction. But there are some big moments when you want to celebrate.

[Utah-Jay]

And just for laughs, here is a photo of some of the “tools” at my feet while doing the side extension installation
3AC65C0B-8C24-49F8-AEA8-B4519AECAD93.jpg

[Bcone1381]

Notice the large rectangular cutout for the gear struts? I am going with the Dave Lenart method, and will finish up and show photos tomorrow.

I'm curious.....Can you show us a picture or a give us a link?

[Utah-Jay]

I'm curious.....Can you show us a picture or a give us a link?

Here ya go
61048A22-AC6F-4442-9016-2864C6D2E4A5.jpg
So two piece to complete the covering of the large cutout and of course the rubber gasket for the “seal”

[Utah-Jay]

Purely going for an artistic photo
C1D110A1-722B-4DA0-95CF-673A90FC03B3.jpg
Yep, nearly have the boot cowl bottom extension done, just one simple piece and all finish…. Ok “Back to work”