STAINLESS STEEL HEATER BYPASS BOXES
As many builders do, I have read many other build logs and spoken personally with countless more. One of the changes I knew that I would immediately make on my fuselage was on the heater bypass boxes. These two valves sit against the firewall on the forward side. Should something go terribly wrong, I assure you the melting point of aluminum is much lower than that of stainless steel (had to look it up: aluminum – 1200F, stainless – 2600F). I bought a set of stainless steel bypass valves from Aircraft Spruce and am quite happy. They came with supplemental instructions and some sealant to be used while setting them in place. It was a bit unnerving trying to make sure that all of the holes and gaps were filled, but not too bad.
CUTTING THE BAGGAGE DOOR OPENING
I decided to cut out the baggage door opening while I waited for the sealant to set up. The door opening is already punched so using a grinder wheel made quick work of it. Then, I deburred all of the edges to make sure there was one less razor sharp edge out to get me down the line. Already glad I didn’t put that off for even 10 minutes. Not much to report here – cut it out, set it aside.
INSTALLING STEP BUSHINGS
This recommendation came from a buddy of mine with a flying RV-10 on the same field as me. I was over at his hangar one afternoon and he was doing some work on his plane when the topic of the steps came up. He told me to seriously consider doing what I could to reinforce the tube steel that is the step. Then, he recommended I take a look at TCW Technologies because they have this exact product. I went straight for it and I’m glad I did. These bushings fit snugly inside of the tube steel that inserts into the fuselage. They provide some extra reinforcement right where the step bolts in to the main body of the fuselage.
Installing these bushings was pretty easy, but I can see how frustrating it can be if you do not plan ahead. Get one of these things lodged in the wrong place and it is permanent. I used some spare wire harness webbing, which is quite strong and naturally anti-chafing so as not to damage any surface. I wrapped it around the edges of the bushings and slowly pushed them into the tube steel until they were aligned.
Once they were lined up, I placed extra long bolts in place to make sure I could get them in and out with ease. I’ll set these side, clean up the hangar for the day and on to the next project.
