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[July 27, 2007]


The first step to installing the pedals is to mark where the front of the side bushing sits on the side stiffeners aft of the firewall. I marked 3" from the firewall on the stiffener.


From the 3" mark, I marked two other locations 1 1/16" apart from each other, giving me three total positions. I basically stole the spacing from Dan Checkoways site.


I aligned the forward end of the plastic block on the 3" mark and clamped it in place. I made sure it was flush against the workbench so simulate the block being flush against the side skin of the forward fuselage. I backdrilled the stiffener using the bushing as the guide.


The finished stiffener - 3 positions giving me 6 total holes.


I installed the side stiffeners back into the fuselage and then put the rudder pedals in.


I had to trim the center brace according to the plans. Once it was trimmed, I clamped it into place on the firewall and the rudder pedals. I drilled the center rudder pedal bushing to the brace, then I drilled the brace to the firewall. Once that was done, I repositioned the pedals to each of the remaining two locations and drilled the center brace for the #12 holes.


Here are the 6 holes in the center brace.


I made a few lightening holes in the brace - two circular holes where the plans tell you to. I also trimmed off the aft 1" of the brace.


Next I put the bottom on the fuse. I decided to drill it to the firewall and side skins now. Van's doesn't tell you to do it at all in the manual, but I figure now was as good of time as any.


Onto the floor stiffeners. This is a shot of the inboard stiffener where it comes in contact with the firewall angle. The stiffener needs to be trimmed to not interfere with the angle on the firewall.


A little time on the scotchbrite wheel really fixed up this stiffener. You can see how nice it fits here.


The aft end of the inboard stiffeners were clamped onto the forward side of the F-704 bulkhead.


The inboard stiffeners were going to be a little tougher to keep in place. There aren't any convenient spots to clamp this guy onto. I took a queue off of Jaime Painters builders log to hold it up with a piece of wood clamped to the F-704 bulkhead. The forward end was more interesting, because I needed to use a long piece of angle that sat on the floor. It worked really well, but it took some time.

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Last Modified: August 13, 2023