The 3/8" fuel line runs from the wing root, through the side skin, around the gear tower and over to the fuel selector. All of the online blogs mention how hard it is to get the 3/8" line shaped and through all of the bends without kinking it. I started at the middle by the selector and weaved it through and around everything to the outside. The first attempt took forever, and ultimately ended up like everyone said it would - with a kink. I have a pipe bender, but there's no way to use it because all of the bends have to be made in place. I have a spring bender, so used that where I could, but the extreme bends to get the tube to exit around the gear tower and go through the skin were just too much and the tube kinked. The second attempt went a lot better. I got the 90 degree bend done to the fuel selector and got the bend around the gear tower done. The final bend out the skin did me in again though, and the very last bend kinked the tube again.
With that, I decided to do what most people do and ordered pre-made fuel lines from TS Flightlines. They CNC bend tubing for the fuel selector area as well as all of the spider web of tubes that connect everything to the fuel filter and boost pump, then the rest is made of flexible, braided lines. I went ahead and also ordered their brake lines that run down the gear legs. The plans have you run 1/4" aluminum lines down the gear legs to the brakes, but there are a lot of reports of the flares at the brakes cracking over time since they get tightened and loosened for brake maintenance. TS Flightlines makes a braided line that should hold up better, partially because of the flexibility, and partially because the fittings they use are a tougher material than the aluminum tubing Van's uses. I'll use the 1/4" aluminum tube for the internal brake lines out to the fittings that exit out the fuselage floor and the gear towers.
While I wait for the premade fuel lines, I moved on to a few other things. The flexible lines from the brake pedals will route through fittings attached to the firewall to the 1/4" hard lines that will go down the center tunnel, underneath the fuel boost pump and then out to the gear legs.
I have been waffling on whether or not to do the Antisplat Aero "Almost a 14" seat brace mod. This mod replaces the standard seat back brace with a much more robust, but narrower one that moves the seat back location back about 4". I don't really need the extra room that tall people need, but the ability for one seat back to be at the "normal" location and the other to be 4" back adds a feeling of extra width simply because pilot and passenger aren't shoulder to shoulder. Virtually 100% of the comments I've read have said it's the best mod they ever did for the plane because of that. The one major downside is that the mod is designed for the sliding canopy. The tipup canopy will add some complexity to fitting it because of how the canopy latch mechanism works. There are a couple of different ways to deal with the canopy latch. I'll deal with that down the road when I fit the canopy.
You can see the difference between the braces in the picture. The standard brace that I pulled out is on the bottom. The new brace is the narrower one on top (I think it's steel vs aluminum - it's much thicker and heavier).
