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Yikes!!!

Av8torTom

Well Known Member
OK, I got my engine, and my firewall forward kit. Now what??? - where do I start? Vans provided no documentation other than the drawings.

Suggestions please.
 
Tom, I was at the same point a while ago. I mounted the engine, fitted the cowl and am currently trying to finish the baffles and oil cooler mount. The cowl and baffles take quite a bit of time. I used Skybolt cams on the cowl and would do it again. When you do the baffles, you will have the cowl on and off many, many times and they make it easier. My exhaust system should arrive soon and after I mount that, I’ll figure out the cable hook-ups. I’m not using Van’s FF kit and have a Titan IO-370.
 
Fire wall

Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.
 
Tom, if you are going to fireproof the firewall, now is the time. The fibrefax, ss foil and aluminum tape go on the engine side of the firewall. See MANY posts on this topic.
 
Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.

Good suggestions Al - I do have the engine mount on the airframe
 
Tom, if you are going to fireproof the firewall, now is the time. The fibrefax, ss foil and aluminum tape go on the engine side of the firewall. See MANY posts on this topic.

Good suggestion.

Is there a set of instructions anywhere that lays this all out?
 
Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.

Also, plan your firewall penetrations for wiring, alt air and install the cabin heat box.

Al
 
Tom. Mount up the gascolator, battery box, master and starter solenoids, oil pressure/ fuel pressure manifold and the engine mount. That will keep you busy for a bit.

And the cabin heat box. And the pass-throughs for the control cables and wiring. And the grounding stuff (Forest-of-tabs on cabin and maybe engine side).

Etc.

in other words, do everything on the firewall that you can now, because once the engine is on, it's just that much more inaccesible. (Now we'll get a bunch of posts that say "it's not that hard", but why not just do them while you have open, easy, ready access to the firewall?).
 
During the empennage, Vans directions are along the lines of "Take two eggs, break them gently in a bowl, mix with a cup of milk and beat gently... etc etc"

During the wing section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Make a good breakfast the way we told you before..."

During the fuse section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Don't forget to eat something..."

During the finish kit, Vans directions are along the lines of "Whaddaya mean you're hungry? We already covered that!"

Grab the drawings - find something that isn't on your plane yet, and install it. Figure out how, then go do it. Then pick another item and do it again. When you run out of things to install, you're ready to fly it. One piece at a time until you're out of pieces, same way you eat an elephant.
 
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Builder phase.

You are now unshackled from second guessing and verifying the plans. Now, you become a . . . . builder. Make plan and get to it. Kinda fun. :D
 
I think I felt the same as you when I got my firewall forward kit and engine late last summer. The rest of the build was pretty straight forward, but the big mess of systems on the front side of the firewall was by far the most intimidating part of the whole project. Now that it's "done", I see that it was just another progressive learning experience. I figured it out as I went along, learning lots, making more than enough mistakes.

As others have mentioned, figure out and install as much of the firewall pass through and attachments as you can before installing the engine mount. I did, however, end up with extra holes in the firewall that I had to patch/re-purpose. This was mostly because the plan locations for the control cables didn't work for my installation (IO-320, C/S prop). Almost all of your firewall forward systems have something attached to or passed through the firewall - electrical, fuel, oil, cabin heat(exhaust), sensors, controls, carb heat/alternate air (intake) and engine. This mean that the more you know about where those systems sit in your engine compartment, the better results you'll have in the firewall planning. The single best resource I found for this was the 360 view of the firewall forward of the RV-14 that is on the Vans site. Yes, the engine is different, but it gives a pretty good idea on the interactions.

Timing on the riveting of the firewall recess is worth paying attention to. There are a lot of the rivets that get used for platenuts and holes that are drilled out for bolts. Once all of those are figured out, along with any cut outs, rivet this in place - before you hang the engine. Would also be a good idea to seal that area before the engine gets in the way - it's a difficult spot to reach later. Of course when it comes to riveting things, wait as long as you possibly can before riveting in that top forward fuselage skin. The access that you have to the aft side of the firewall is crucial for a very long time. Only rivet that on when you have nothing left to do. It can be clecoed into place for fitting your cowling.

One specific gotcha that I'll pass along - the firewall flange rivets. For the most part, this will be done when you figure out your cowling attachment. There are a handful of rivets on the underside that do not attach your cowling - in the center in the exhaust area of the cowling. There are a few of these rivets that are near impossible to set once your exhaust system is installed. There are a couple that you drill out for the air outlet support bracket and fuel overflow, but riveting the others before you hang the engine mount will be much easier.

Most of the firewall forward is simple enough if you think of it one system at a time. The baffles are time consuming and somewhat tricky, particularly the oil cooler. Fitting the cowling is both time consuming and difficult. The cowling trims are hard to figure out and even harder to fix after the fact. Take the time to get it right and you may be able to not regret how it turns out.
 
another technique?

Somebody building another kind of airplane told me of an technique of using a piece of clear plexiglass as the firewall temporarily while everything is being organized and mocked up. Then eventually using it as a templet once the plan is set.

Has anybody done that in the RV world?
 
Id also suggest now is the time to do any bending/tweaking of the intercylinder baffles to get them close to fitting - then speed tape and RTV any remaining gaps.
 
Thanks for the Suggestions

I did find some guidance in the bottom of the box of firewall forward parts. I'm starting with the firewall attachments.

I had not yet attached my firewall recess. Do these holes get rivets, and which ones?



Also I apparently drilled the series of vertical holes on one side of the firewall recess to #30.
Anyone see an issue enlarging the holes in the F-601N-R stiffener?
 
During the empennage, Vans directions are along the lines of "Take two eggs, break them gently in a bowl, mix with a cup of milk and beat gently... etc etc"

During the wing section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Make a good breakfast the way we told you before..."

During the fuse section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Don't forget to eat something..."

During the finish kit, Vans directions are along the lines of "Whaddaya mean you're hungry? We already covered that!"

Grab the drawings - find something that isn't on your plane yet, and install it. Figure out how, then go do it. Then pick another item and do it again. When you run out of things to install, you're ready to fly it. One piece at a time until you're out of pieces, same way you eat an elephant.

That is such a great way of expressing how this whole thing works!!
 
During the empennage, Vans directions are along the lines of "Take two eggs, break them gently in a bowl, mix with a cup of milk and beat gently... etc etc"

During the wing section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Make a good breakfast the way we told you before..."

During the fuse section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Don't forget to eat something..."

During the finish kit, Vans directions are along the lines of "Whaddaya mean you're hungry? We already covered that!"

Grab the drawings - find something that isn't on your plane yet, and install it. Figure out how then go do it. Then pick another item and do it again. When you run out of things to install, you're ready to fly it. One piece at a time until you're out of pieces, same way you eat an elephant.

Described my process to a "T"! Now I do have a rebuild going on so it makes sense, but this is not a bad approach. Only got bit a couple times in the process.
 
Some of them get rivets, others will get drilled out for holes with platenuts on either side of the fiewall. The bolts on the right side are for the PC680 battery box (If you are installing it) one also doubles to hold your cabin heat cable and one side of your starter contactor. Look at the upper right corner of drawing 31A. If you follow the FWF plans, you'll be drilling out a couple more holes along the top of the recess for the clamps holding your oil pressure line and one on the left side to attach the oil breather line. Look at OP27 in the FWF plans for that.

I wouldn't think that the -4 rivets would be a problem where you've drilled the #30 holes - they do need to be flush though as with all of the other rivets on the firewall. This my non-expert opinion though.
 
During the empennage, Vans directions are along the lines of "Take two eggs, break them gently in a bowl, mix with a cup of milk and beat gently... etc etc"

During the wing section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Make a good breakfast the way we told you before..."

During the fuse section, Vans directions are along the lines of "Don't forget to eat something..."

During the finish kit, Vans directions are along the lines of "Whaddaya mean you're hungry? We already covered that!"

Grab the drawings - find something that isn't on your plane yet, and install it. Figure out how, then go do it. Then pick another item and do it again. When you run out of things to install, you're ready to fly it. One piece at a time until you're out of pieces, same way you eat an elephant.

Like he said.

My philosophy was when feeling a little overwhelmed was "Just do something!"

After a year and a half, I was in the air 13 years ago.
 
Like he said.

My philosophy was when feeling a little overwhelmed was "Just do something!"

After a year and a half, I was in the air 13 years ago.

Yup. I had a five year plan, and it only took me eight. I think I did pretty good. Not bitching.
 
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