I read several logs and people had some challenges about holding the nutplate in place. I turned to the same conclusion to use needle nose vice grips, but I also added some left over fuel line as a spacer to try an apply a little more pressure on the wing of the nutplate. It worked well and was thin enough that it didn't interfere with the rivet. It was a little too soft, so by the end it was pretty much smashed. This was a practice piece that I had used to try out my flaring technique and worked well as a clamp spacer. Anyway that much is done. Don't forget the nutplates around the access cut-out. The directions call for AN426AD3-4, which work well for the nutplates that go through the firewall, but for the 2 nutplates on either side of the cut-out, I used AN426AD3-3.5. The directions don't specify, but they fit better.
Using some left over fuel line to help clamp the nut plates in place
