Yesterday, we had clecoed the forward skin into place but had failed to drill out 10 rivets in the fuse side rail that the Philippinos had driven by mistake. So I drilled them out. I see how much I have learned about working with metal for this would have been a major project a few months ago but today seemed easy. Then we reamed all the prepunched holes. It still amazes me that all those holes in the skin and in the multiple components of the front deck and panel would all line up but they did. We had to put 2 braces behind the panel and drill them for rivets and nut plates. To do this however without letting anything shift out of place, we had to do while the skin was in place. In Image #2, the skin has been removed and the brackets highlighted. They now look easy to reach but try doing it by reaching under and behind the panel at the same time. Image #2 also shows how nicely the radio stack now fits in the subpanel. We will probably add a strap to support the back of the stack for now it is totally supported by the panel and causes the panel to flew slightly.....Now that the skin is off and the panel is in place, we can start the process of plugging all the wires you can see on the floor (Image #3) into the right place on the panel. We may start that process tomorrow. We will cannibalize the wiring harness that I had bought from Van's but discarded when we had Aerotronics do the panel. I think that I will get a good deal from this old harness and it was accompanied by good drawings showing fire wall penetration and routing. I am now glad that I had purchased it.
