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Firewall, replace or build on???

Fill it and move on

Most projects have dings and mistakes that are fixed, unless you are working on a show plane I would fill the hole with something like a dimpled rivet from the back side and move on. But that just me.
Figs
 
If I remember right there is a stiffener behind there so you may not be able to fill the hold with a rivet, but you could easily fill it with a good quality sealant. Or to go one better, you could put a small strip of stainless on top of it, with some sealant and also captured by a couple of the surrounding rivets. In any event, certainly not worth the hassle of redoing the whole firewall.

Chris
 
According to the Van's tech line, the firewall is non-structural, as long as you don't mess with the steel & aluminum angles. If it were mine and it cleared the backing structure, I'd just set a rivet in it. If it has structure behind it, I'd squeeze the hole back flat with the squeezer, & squirt sealant of choice (proseal, intumescent caulk, etc) in/behind the hole when riveting.

Once you mount everything on the firewall, even the OSH judges wouldn't be able to ding you for it.
 
Thanks

Good ideas, I might just fill it with pro seal later. I don?t think I can set a rivet there with the structure directly behind it unless I dimple opposite direction and set a ss washer to it.
 
Keep in mind, again depending on placement (and what's behind it), you can always find a need for an additional firewall penetration in the future (testing baffle performance, etc) so consider making a "professional" looking cover plate and move on!

FWIW
 
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