Finished throttle quadrant
I really wanted to start working on the wiring full bore, but the quadrant needed to get finished first. Access to it is very limited once the panel is installed. I installed all of the throttle quadrant cables and adjusted everything so the levers were getting a full range of motion. Unfortunately in order to do that the clevis end on two of the cables was only threaded on 1/4″. That’s not enough. I wanted at least 3/8″. So I moved the mount for the cable housing further aft by 3/8″ and re-adjusted everything (hopefully) for the last time. Leaning over the side of the cockpit working on this thing for hours today was a real pain. I hate to add up the hours, but the quadrant has added significant time to this project. Had I known, I certainly wouldn’t have done it.
The only way to get the forward side of the shelf riveted into place was going to be to lay in the cockpit. For that, I needed the seat pans riveted in. I left these off for a long time to faciliate wiring the pilot stick. With that done, the pans might as well go in permanently. It’s very cool to finally have them in place, although it was very cramped sitting in the cockpit to squeeze the nut plates along the central tunnel.
I figured I might as well install the aft push tube and hook up the forward push tube to the sticks. The connection between the stick weldment and the forward push tube was the most difficult bolt to install yet. There are two washers that act as spacers and the access is severly limited. I read about a trick of using super glue to hold the washers in place temporarily. Without that, there’s no way I would have ever gotten it done.
And last but not least, Julie helped me set the rivets for the shelf behind the subpanel. They aren’t pretty rivets, but they’ll hold just fine. She also helped me get the panel and avionics stack in place. I think it’s finally time for some serious wiring. A few parts are showing up this week and then I’ll be able to really haul. Now if I could just get the stupid engine sensor harness from AFS, I could finish up the FWF and electrical.