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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date:  8-24-2014
Number of Hours:  3.50
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Battery tray construction and installation

A late start at the hangar today meant the temps were already climbing into the 90s when I arrived. I decided to work on something firewall forward that could be accomplished in one session, and the battery tray seemed like a good fit.

The battery tray comes as a sub-kit with the firewall forward kit, and as such, everything necessary for fabrication and installation is included. The plans call for drilling out three rivets on the firewall support brackets, and to do this, I needed to get behind the engine and drill from outside in. There isn’t much room back there, but this is where tools like angle drills are worth whatever they cost.

The first challenge was the fact that I misread the plans and instead of drilling for an AN-3 bolt, I drilled for an AN-4 bolt. Hmmm…this wasn’t too big of a problem other than the fact that the supplied nut plates were sized for AN-3 bolts. That, and the holes pre-drilled in the brackets matched those as well. So…this is experimental aviation where innovation is allowed, and therefore I modified one nut plate to fit the bracket, and then drilled, countersunk, and riveted everything in place.

The last thing I did before I bolted the tray to the firewall was to drill the top attach strap to match the holes in the top of the tray. I will still need to fabricate some spacers once I get a battery, but aside from rounding some edges and possibly drilling some lightening holes, that task is done.
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All this for one battery...

All this for one battery...

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Slight mod to the lower nut plate

Slight mod to the lower nut plate

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It all fits so far...

It all fits so far...

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