January 22, 2018 – Since my next step on the firewall is to install the recess, I moved to the cockpit floor cover for the fuel system.
I had previously done some small work on this, but didn’t know if I’d be installing a fuel boost pump in this location. I have the stock boost pump and filter from Van’s, along with the cover, so I started in on this. The cover needs to be modified to fit the pump assembly.
The long piece of the cover gets cut to accommodate the support for the pump and filter. The piece in blue plastic is the new bracket that supports the pump. An additional notch needs to be removed from the long cover after it’s shortened.
The housing for the fuel selector valve also gets modified.
Then I had to crawl into the airplane and drill the mounting holes for the covers. I temp installed everything to get the positioning just right.
Once everything was drilled, I took it all apart to deburr and prep for paint. One last thing I had to do was bend the louvers for “cabin heat”. I put that in quotes because the RVs are known for not having adequate heat in the cabin right out of the box. These louvers were a little tricky to get the hang of at first, but I think I did pretty well.
Here’s a picture from up above again. You can see that the louvers at the top of the picture are just cutout and not bent to direct the air:
I used a hand seamer with a radiused strip of aluminum to make the bends. I used the table to back up the bend on the back side.
Here are the finished louvers:
Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get this stuff painted soon.
Time: 5:15
