Patience, that’s what it takes to hook up the controls. There are lots of washers that need to go into hard to reach places. I managed to get the sticks installed and the two push rods that link the sticks to the elevator bell crank. When I tighten up the bearings that hold the control column I get some stiffness in the roll axis. After consulting VAF I have some ideas on how to solve the stiffness. The distance between the control column attach points can be off from the forward and aft control mounts due to builder error and or variances in the control column welds. I did note that the bearings were not totally perpendicular, that is when I realized I should have the front floor panel installed. It goes under the front two holes in the aft control mount. This will change the angle of the bearing some. This helped but I will have to try some of the other ideas I picked up off VAF. One is to slot the holes in the aft control mount slightly so that it can be adjusted fore or aft to match the weld mount hinges. I will try that later.
After dealing with a leak in the house, I made up a cardboard instrument panel and clecoed it in place. I am trying to save a buck where I can, and I talked a good friend out of his old seats, so I installed them and climbed in for a test sit. I have wanted to get a feel for what kind of leg room I will have and how I might customize the interior. I wanted to see how my reach will work out for various switch locations. One thing I was worried about was leg room since I am 6 ft tall, but that will not be a problem.
All linked up back to the elevator bell crank
Instrument panel mock up with seats installed
Just before dinner I started trimming the HS to clear elevator balance arms
