After determining the best location for the master contactor and the ground power contactor, I cut an .063 plate to shape and bent it. Then I drilled out a row of rivets on the battery mount, match-drilled the plate to it, and re-riveted the battery mount with the plate in place. I also located K1000-4 nutplates to mount the contactors. The forward contactor is for the ground power receptacle and the aft one is the master. Then I began making the main leads for the system; a short link from the already grounded ground power plug to the relay, another short jumper from the ground power relay to the master relay, and the main line to the firewall. I routed the main line through the conduit first and you can see in the last picture where I am using a clamp to hold the line in place while the lug is soldered. Each lug was crimped and then soldered for a good connection that won't corrode. I still have to make the connections to the battery and ground (I will put a nutplate on the right side for a ground connection to the airframe) and penetrate the firewall for the passthrough before cutting the cable at that end and attaching a jumper at the passthrough to the VPN systems. On the other side of the passthrough will be the starter cable but that will have to wait for the engine.
Rivet count: 15 Total: 15788 - Plus 549 done at Van's
