Category Archives: Forward Section

Time: 8 Hours

I got another full day in the Hangar working in another modification. The space between the firewall and forward bulkhead lies the forward baggage area. The floor is removable to give you access to several items like the rudder pedals, brake masters and several other things. The issue is that all the screws that hold down the floor are tough to get at within the small baggage area. To make this access a little easier I removed the center section of the floor and to make an easily removable access panel held down with Cam-Locs. To start I spent some time laying out the exact opening. I had to make sure I gave plenty of clearance for the different angles that support the floor. I also had to make room for the Cam-Locs and their parts. Once I was sure I had everything all laid out correctly I got the dremel out and cut the opening.

I then spent an hour or so straightening all the edges with a couple of files and sand paper. Last week I had ordered some sheet stock so that I could make the panel for this mod. I laid it out and put the cut out frame of the baggage floor on it to trace the opening.

Once I got the rough shape cut out I moved towards building the ledge that the panel will sit on. I used some .040 sheet to fabricate several strips 1.25″ wide. I cut them to length and laid out a rivet line keeping all the spacing correct and watching the edge distances. With a bunch of clamps I was able to drill all the holes and clecko them.

Since the floor was modified I had to cut down the floor stiffeners.

Now that the stiffeners were in place that made it easier to place the floor panel in place and remove it so that I could get the final shape perfect. I made several light passes on the Scotch-Brite wheel and kept checking the fit. It took a little while but I got the fit just right. With the new panel in place I clamped it down so that I could work on the Cam-Loc locations. I came up with a good layout for all 10. I then drilled a 15/64″ hole at each spot and followed that up with my 1/4″ reamer to get them to the final size. I then removed the panel and placed all the Cam-Loc studs in the holes in the support ledge, normally they would go in the panel, but I used them to hold the receptacles in place.

As those were being held in position I was able to drill all the rivet holes for them. I then replaced the studs in the panel and used them to hold the panel to the substructure since the receptacles are not riveted yet and clecko’s would get in the way. Here is how it all looked when finished.

I finished up the day by dimpling all the required holes and prepping for primer. Should get a lot done this weekend.

Time: 5 Hours

I had a great 4 day weekend with the kids and my girl for Labor Day, sometimes it’s nice to just relax by the pool for a few days to reload. That also gave the gear tower parts some time to have the paint cure. Today started with a few errands that I needed to take care of. When I finally got into the Hangar I grabbed all the parts and organized for their assembly. First up was to bolt the inboard steel weldements to the gear towers through the inboard facing holes. Their are 2 bolts that you don’t put in at this time as they are shared by the mid cabin braces that will come into play in a few more steps. I bolted and torqued all the bolts, making sure that I added the new rear seat rudder pedal bracket which needed longer bolts. Once they were torqued I used some torque seal to mark them for future inspections.

I then had to bolt the outboard 3 holes on the forward and aft floor angles. Pretty simple except the middle hole on both sides on both towers. The problem with these holes is that they line up with a bend in the steel weldements. They steel has a angled cut on them to accommodate the nut however all 4 spots did not leave enough room for the nut and a washer. I had to grab the dremel and grind down some of the steel to make room. This took some time in the tight space but with a little patience I was able to get all opened up for the nuts. Before I put those bolts in I painted the spots that I ground down for rust protection. In the next photo you can see the middle bolt and nut that was the issue spot.

Once all the bolts were torqued I grabbed the forward floor section and placed the gear towers on them. You then can clecko and rivet the aft angle to floor holes, the forward ones are saved for later.

I used a lot of painters tape and was very careful while riveting so that I didn’t damage the paint. All came out pretty good! With the towers riveted to the floor you can now clecko and rivet the 2 upper braces, forward and aft as well as put the bolts in. There are 8 spots where the washers for these bolts hit the curve of the bend in the gear tower. To compensate for this curve you have to round over one side of the washers. I also put a coat of primer on the washers since I removed the plating.

I then grabbed the 2 mid cabin braces to rivet/bolt them to the towers. I had one rivet on the left side get a pretty good smiley face but not bad enough to drill out as it will never be seen once the cover is in place.

The final task I did for the day was to clecko the upper and lower aft baggage panels on so I could match drill them to the newly riveted forward tower brace.

So that’s where I stopped for the night. Pretty cool to see the shapes coming together.