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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date: 9-7-2014
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Number of Hours: 4.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Relay installation and misc work
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Yesterday I left the hangar convinced that the engine would have to come off in order for me to rivet the relay doubler plate to the firewall. Today I left with the doubler plate attached (and relays installed), and the engine still hanging on the airplane. Such is the pattern in my forward progress.
When I first arrived at the hangar, Ross was just returning from an aerobatic competition (he took third place, well done!) and I was showing him my progress. All of a sudden the idea of back riveting the plate came to mind. I could easily get a bucking bar on the engine side, and was sure that I had access to the cabin side for a rivet gun and back rivet set. Why not give it a try?
Since I hadn't back riveted anything since my rudder construction days, I tested my idea out on some scrap aluminum. Convinced that I was on to something, I chose a bucking bar that had about a 2" x 3" surface, polished it up nicely, and then commenced to riveting. Aside from squashing the first rivet a bit (holding a nut plate on, no big deal), the rest of them set without incident and that little chore was done.
After installing the doubler, I fabricated the copper strip that electrically joins the two relays. This involved a fair amount of eyeballing and adjusting--and a little trimming on the upper relay bracket to allow the two relays to line up vertically. The second picture shows the final result.
Finally, I moved to the engine baffles to continue the process of determining oil cooler location, baffle installation, cowl fitting, etc. Lots of "off and on" work, not much in the way of pictures, but I did snap one with the cowling in place. It looks pretty good!
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Doubler plate installed
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Master and start relays installed
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Test fit of cowl...looks cool
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