June 26, 2020
The new rudder center brace and bearing block came in the mail today. The bearing block is a side block that I’m going to modify into a center block piece so that all the blocks are the same length. I drilled out the recesses as large as I could with the stepper bit and then had to take the dremel to get them opened up all the way. After that I used one of the actual side supports and match drilled the mounting holes. This will ensure that the center adjustment holes are perfectly spaced with the already existing side pieces.
After that I cut the new center support brace to clear the firewall recess and used the fly cutter to make the lightening holes. I riveted the center support brace into place and drilled out the mounting holes for the plastic bit. The holes look a million times better than the last attempt.
After sleeping on the idea over night, we decided to leave the seat backs bare aluminium, so I went ahead and riveted everything together. After bucking a few of the backrest adjustment rivets with the gun I decided that the C-frame was the right way to set these rivets. Now the seats in the plane are fully adjustable (at least as much as Van’s ever intended).
-Paul
(Total Build Time: 356.3 hrs)