Cut the push rods, located and drilled the rod end attach holes, then match drilled the rod ends. Next I primed the interiors and allowed them to dry. While waiting for the primer to dry, I drilled the holes through the forward rod end of the F-1089 push rod that will be used to safety wire the bearing in-place. After that I riveted on the rod ends and primed the exteriors. Next came the installation of the rod end bearings and I adjusted the assemblies to the overall lengths called out in the plans. Next I assembled the idler arm and installed it in the fuse tunnel between the rear seats. A little bit if a challenge getting all the washers aligned but that was easy compared to the washes used in the attachment of the push rods to the idler arm. The space is very constrained and it’s difficult to get hands and /or tools in a position so hold the rod ends in-place without moving the washers (held in-place with a dab of fuel lube) and insert the bolt at the same time. After some cussing the deed was done. Moving on, I final drilled the control sticks and bases and installed the control column. Installation of the brass bushings into the bases required reaming the pivot tubes into which the 2” long bushings fit and the bushings themselves to allow an AN3 bolt to slip through. I then discovered the pivot tunes themselves were too wide to fit into the control columns that necessitated some careful grinding and trimming to include the bushings until the tubes fit and allowed the bases to pivot on the control column ends without binding. Everything was then bolted together and measured (combination of gauges fab’d for the purpose and linear measurements) to insure the push tubes were set to the right lengths, the sticks were in the right position, and finally that everything moved smoothly and that there wasn’t any interference. I had to adjust the push tube lengths which was a bit of a pain, but finally got everything dialed in. Finished up safety wiring that forward rod end bearing in-place and double check
