23 & 24 Nov 2024

Fitted AN6 bolts to secure rear parachute cables to the rear spar. This was particularly difficult, given that Sling did not supply the bolts until recently. It would have been far better if they were supplied with the rear spar to ensure the bolt holes aligned during construction of the rear spar. It was nearly impossible to get the bolts to fit. Needed to use a Dremel to open up the holes a bit (drill would not fit at all), and the parachute cables were marginally too short and so were fitted under tension rather than with some slack like the front cables - another 10mm would be all that was required. I needed to remove a fair amount of bracketry on the front of the rear seat ribs to make sufficient space to work with these bolts, and then reinstalled it all again.

Bolted the front seatbelt inertia reels in place using Loctite 243 and the supplied lock washer

Bent the factory-supplied fuel filter bracket to suit my installation which uses the Evan Brunye fuel manifold. I wasn't happy with the manifold being the only method to secure the filter, it had too much movement on the firewall for my liking. The bracket needed some origami work to get it to fit, but it works nicely and provides the additional stability I was looking for. Fitted some heat shielding to the front part of the bracket

Installed one Aerosport Products single NACA vent controller to the front (engine side) of the front top rib. This will be used to take a duct from the heater to the windscreen defroster. Sling says this should be left disconnected, but that seems a bit odd. So I've given myself the option to open or close it as required

Fitted the rear floor skins

Fitted the gas struts and hinge brackets to the doors for testing