Springtime chores took precedence over the plane since the weather was so nice. I did sneak into the garage and did a little more work on the gussets for the firewall brackets though. These ended up being pretty fiddly. The top and front side have to be bent a little to nest on top of the steel bracket and behind the firewall angle (bent two different directions). That took a lot of running back and forth between the vice and the plane. The real issue is that Van's cuts the gusset too short in my opinion, making it tough to get good edge distance on the holes on the top as well as the top hole that will be drilled in the firewall bracket. I'm not alone in that opinion apparently. I did some research online, and pretty much everyone gripes about it. If they would just make the gusset 1/16" taller, it would be fine. I did a lot of measuring and sliding things this way and that, and finally ended up with a compromise I'm happy with. I clamped the gusset in place and it's ready to drill the next time I can run out to the shop.
