1 May 2024

Fitted all the AN hardware and installed the brake lines in the footwell area and on the firewall. Applied Loctite 577 and then torqued, applied torque seal. The angle of the hoses is quite important to ensure there is no strain and to minimise interference as the rudder pedals are moved. I had to use an additional 90 degree AN fitting on the right co-pilot master cylinder bottom connection to enable the hose to clear the inner sidewall panel. Hoses passing through the brake pedals are protected with the Sling-supplied thick-wall tubing which was cut length-ways in order to fit it (the factory AN fittings on the TS Flightline hoses prevent it being slid over the hose).

Drilled two holes in the firewall, one 80mm below the bottom wiring pass-through hole on the pilot's side and one 50mm above and in line with the rivets holding the left fuselage skin center console to the firewall. Installed 2x M3 rivnuts from the front of the firewall and applied Loctite 277. These will have a dual purpose - the rivnut body will act as a small standoff to which I will attach some billet line separators to neatly secure the brake hoses to the firewall. I need to order a few more of the separators and some M3 machine screws to fit.

I am going to be fitting Aveo Eyebeam RGBW overhead lights in the canopy. These have a screw-type backplate to hold them in place (the backplate is designed to be screwed on from the back), which presents a problem since I cannot access the back of the light due to the lack of space and access panels inside the canopy ceiling. Consequently, I decided to increase the diameter of the existing holes to 59.3mm to suit the outside diameter of the threaded portion of the backplate. This was done quite simply by tracing the outline of the threaded portion of the plate onto the canopy after aligning it with the existing holes and then using a Dremel to carefully cut and sand the holes exactly to size - worked well. The backplate flange will therefore seat on top of the canopy ceiling rather than behind it, which is okay because it is only a few mm thick and so won't be unsightly. Because the flange is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the light, I'll get a suitably-sized finishing ring 3D printed with an ID to match the OD of the mounting flange (2.76" per the documentation but 70.45mm measured), the OD to match the OD of the light (80mm) and the thickness matching the flange (3.1mm), which will then sort it out nicely.

I'm still deciding how to secure the backing plate to the canopy - glue or fiberglass would be easiest but may be a bit too permanent. Rivets are another option, but there is not much width on the flange to enable a good grip without possibly splitting it or the fiberglass canopy ceiling, and rivnuts won't work for a similar reason. Anyway, when I've worked that out, the trick will be to screw the backing plate onto the lights all the way, then place the lights in position in the canopy and mark the orientation of the backplate - and then secure it in the same position, otherwise the light may face the wrong direction. I'll also need to twist the wiring a few turns in the wrong direction so that as the light is screwed in it untwists the wires and removes any tension.