Misc - Firewall, Brakes, Static

The fuel tank attach bracket doesn't actually bolt to the fuel tank bracket like you'd think it would.  The hole in the bracket on the fuselage actually gets opened up so that the bolt can easily rip out in a crash.  This allows the wings to depart the fuselage if they hit something - this helps dissipate energy, as well as allows the fuel tanks to separate from the fuselage.  We had just temporarily bolted the brackets on when fitting the wings, so I removed them and cut out the slot, then bolted them back in place.

It's a little hard to see in the picture, but I pop riveted the insulation to the firewall using stainless steel rivets.  I spread sealant around the various penetrations as well (not shown in the picture).  I'll give the sealant a day to cure before I start taping over the joints with aluminum tape.  I only cut myself a half dozen times while putting rivets in.  You'd think I'd learn and wear gloves.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I climbed up into the fuselage to hook up the static line in the tailcone.  I bolted the push fitting to the bracket I had riveted to the longeron.  This will support the static line as it runs to the center and up to the ADAHRS unit.

A long time ago I purchased steel braided brake hoses from Aircraft Specialty.  This is to replace the Van's approach, which is to use aluminum tubing down the leg and to the brake.  That approach works, but it's known for being prone to leaks over time after you've taken the brakes on and off a few times.  The braided lines are slightly longer than the gear leg to allow them to curl around a bit at the brake and allow for some flexing.  Since I'm pretty much past the point of having instructions from Van's, I looked up a few other builders to see how they attached the hose to the legs.  The consensus is that hose clamps don't really work because of the tapered leg.  As odd as it may seem, it sounds like most of the 11,000 RVs out there use electrical tape as the mounting method.  I cut some vinyl tubing into 2 inch pieces and slipped that over the brake line to add a little extra protection.  I don't love electrical tape, so instead I decided to use the self-fusing silicone tape, which sticks to itself really well and doesn't leave the nasty mess that electrical tape does after it's seen high temperatures.  I attached the lines at three places, then to give just a little extra layer of toughness around the silicone tape, I put a layer of Gorilla Tape on it as well.  All of this will set underneath the gear leg fairing.  I think it should work just fine, but is easy enough to redo 10 years down the road if need be.

To my surprise, I already received the oil filter bracket spacer from Continental!  I told them I didn't need it right away, but they overnighted it to me anyway.  This will definitely move the filter back far enough to make it easily accessed.  I'll attach this at some point before I run the engine, but I'm in no rush.