Well I received a reply about the latch and bushing and I will have to trim down the shaft to make the bushing fit. I did a lot of the work by putting the shaft of the handle in the drill press and then with various grades of emery cloth I worded it down till the bushing fit over the shaft of the canopy latch handle. I then had to grind the latch arm so the bushing would fit into the recess, this did not take much.
I then test fit things and with the latch in place I can’t get the handle in the horizontal closed position. The frame and roll bar touch before it gets to the close position. The plans tell you to trim the hook portion to make the fit, it looks to me like a good ¼” will have to come off.
Seeing how much more forward the canopy will move go me to thinking if I should have it in this position when trimming the bubble. I will have to ask some other builders. The plans do not tell you to do this, in fact for the latch fitting which comes after the bubble is riveted onto the frame, they say the latch should not move the canopy very much since this can distort the bubble and frame out of shape.
NOTE: Some very good responses on VAF, the canopy should be fit like the plans say with the thing firmly engaging the rear hook pin in the plastic block. The rollers should just touch but not ride up onto the roll bar foot. This was from a 3 time RV-8 builder. OK now to get the courage to start cutting the bubble.
Making shaft smaller to fit brass bushing
Arm now fits around bushing.
Full foward is only way latch fit, this is too far. Latch but be trimed at hook point.
