I thoiught I'd just get the rudder pedals back in although its not time yet to flox in the forward brake blocks that will lock them into a final position. Ahhh what could go wrong?
It turns out that the false sealing floor I'd added to the front gear channel when the plane was inverted just party blocked one of the rudder holes each side. So I spent a while digging down and making room. Of course the nose gear and its brackets had to all come out first as you see in pic 1.
Pic 2 is a bit clearer where those side screws have to go. I sealed the area with micro and next time the plane is inverted I'll do the other side so it remains air tight. When I went to put it all back together I noticed another issue. The guy who made the pedals had drilled out the screw holes for AN4's when the plans say AN3's. I also have a nut plate imbedded in the pivot blocks that are for AN3's.
In the end as I have some 1/4" steel tube I made some 'rollers' that work like little bearings. These fit snuggly in the AN4 size rudder pedal holes and let me install an AN3 through the middle. The stainless steel pedals then move on the steel cylinder inserts.
This should work well. I'll keep an eye on it after the plane is in service. Plan B would be to go to the AN4's and build new pivot blocks. I think thats unnecessary and what I have should work just as well...and be a little lighter by a few grams.
