Firewall

[Flybyjim]

I have received my firewall forward and as I am bolting the fire wall to the fuselage I see the bottom of the firewall tucks under the lower longerons. What holds this piece under there? Do I need to remove the rudder pedal assembly and run the bolts thru the firewall flange that tucks under the fuselage? I'm not sure the bolts are long enough, I am not seeing the instructions for this, they must be there, I just don't see them.

[jiott]

The reason nothing is said in the manual is that it is intended not to have any bolts holding it. I don't have any bolts in mine, but I was concerned so I overbent that piece so when the firewall is installed that bottom piece holds tightly up against the bottom longerons. Has been fine for 600 hours now. I know many others don't trust it and have come up with ways to bolt it up, but I maintain it is not necessary. Just give it enough bend so it doesn't want to hang loose.

[colospace]

I found that the curved lips on the lower ends of the boot cowl appear to capture the firewall sheet.

[jmodguy]

On my series 5 there were 2 pieces about 3” long in the shape of a question mark. These are cut into 3/8” wide pieces and are secured with hysol to the lower tubes. The stainless piece under the fuse is then match drilled and pop-riveted to the tabs of the pieces at final assembly.

[jiott]

The curved lips of the boot cowl do capture that SS piece, but you still need to overbend it (or bolt it) to make it stay tight, otherwise it may rattle or vibrate in the slipstream.

[Flybyjim]

I can see this could be very confusing with help from this site, I appreciate the insight. If it were not tight under this "lip" I can see how this could become a problem with a rattle during flight. Thank you for this information. I will look at it tomorrow and look at bending it in tight.

[efwd]

I believe in my EFWD build thread you may find a pic of mine. I used u channel aluminum cut into about 1 inch lengths. Four of them I believe. I used structural adhesive to bond them into the channels that are in the airframe under the Pedals. I put nut plates in my aluminum parts but you could just tap in threads. If I find those pics are not there I can post them tomorrow.
Eddie

[Flybyjim]

I must have been tired last evening when I posted this comment. I sure did not mean this could be confusing because of this site, I wanted to say the instructions could be confusing but with help from this site, I will find the help needed.

[Av8r3400]

Anyone have a photo of this area to post?

[Flybyjim]

Photos are always good. I am working on the firewall now and the instruction manual photo shows the firewall flat against the lower vertical posts where the 5/16 bolt hole is at the lower point in the center. My firewall has a factory bend of about 15deg forward from vertical and then the bottom bend goes 90deg under the fuselage. Why would Kitfox put this bend in there if they wanted the firewall completely flat against the vertical tubes to the bottom?

[efwd]

Here are my pics

[Cherrybark]

Very timely thread. I read through the manual a couple of times and was sure I was missing an obvious step. There was a nagging thought that Eddie made those funny U-Channel pieces around this stage in his build. And, sure enough, there they are. Needed to go to the Big Box store anyway.