I cut the slots and drilled the holes for the clevis pins in the other release tube. The next step was to locate it all on the subpanel and cut a clearance hole in the center rib that the longer tube passes through. The plans don't provide any guidance on where the hole should be and how big to make it. Without the tubes on the pivot, I just lined things up as best as I could and drilled a starter hole. Because the mechanism moves in an arc, I had to keep opening up the hole more and more towards the aft end of the rib. It had to be shockingly close to the end of the rib, but I guess that's expected, so must be okay. In the end, I wish I had started the hole closer to the end of the rib. I ended up with a significant portion of hole in front of the tube that is unnecessary. I'll probably email a picture to Van's and ensure that it's okay vs riveting a little doubler over it to provide additional stiffness. I don't think the rib likely has forces on it that are problematic, but I'll double check.
It took a lot of back and forth, but I finally got things lined up to where the pins slide in and out of the blocks with a smooth twist of the pivot. Next up will be drilling bolt holes in the subpanel to mount the UHMW pivot block (also need to put nutplates in place for this, which will be tough with that portion of the subpanel already riveted on - I'll probably drill out some nutplates to a larger rivet size and use pop rivets). I'll also need to clock and bolt the arm onto the pivot, then attach the pull handle onto that. That's the part that will need to be modified from the plans. The plans call for a very long pull handle that goes to the instrument panel. I'll shorten mine to just go through the subpanel, then hold it in place with an adel clamp.
