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Coming along nicely there Bryan. Boy is it shiney.

Take your time and check everything for alignment multiple times. I don't know if its been fixed in the plans yet, but I remember the main upper firewall crossmember had to be a little shorter than the plans specified.

I saw Dale's comment about leaving access through the firewall. So just to confuse you about not completely installing parts for the sake of later access. What I did was. Completely installed the firewall, then forward half of the spar carry through section, but only clecoed the front floor panel.

In fact riveting home the front floor panel was the very last job I did on my plane before weighing.

Cheers Steve

I'll second leaving the front fuselage floor clecoed. I removed the floor just prior to rigging the wings and it provided me much better access than if it was riveted in place. Also, leave the support bar that goes down the center of the floor (ahead of the spar tunnel) clecoed as well, so you can remove it and freely access the underside of the front half of the fwd fuselage. Being able to stand inside the fuselage between the firewall and spar tunnel has come in very handy. (Note: I also have not yet riveted the instrument panel and glare-shield to further increase access.)

Thanks guys. One other question: did anybody have issues with their firewall installation? Though I painstakingly located my firewall mount angles per the plans, I can't get the CNC holes to align without trimming the bottom notch on the firewall.

I had to trim the firewall slightly due to rubbing against the inside of the engine mount angles, in order to get it to lay flush and cleco the CNC holes.

Bryan Cotton wrote:Thanks guys. One other question: did anybody have issues with their firewall installation? Though I painstakingly located my firewall mount angles per the plans, I can't get the CNC holes to align without trimming the bottom notch on the firewall.

Yes. I had the same problems.


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

Thanks guys! I will sleep better tonight. Except for the fact I will be sleeping in a tent.

Notched out the firewall, had Adam relieve the upper crossmember. Starting to come together.

It has been slow going. Lots of scout activities, caught a cold, busy at work. Got the bottom skin mostly drilled in.

Bryan, Now you can really start getting excited about your Waiex because it is now starting to look like an airplane. Great work!

Back from Detroit. Have to trim the upper crossmember a bit more to hit the 32" measurement. Here is a trial fit of the motor mount:

Ryan, thanks for posting about the need to hog out the lower motor mount angles. Saved me some panic.