Firewall Stiffener Kit

I recently found out about the firewall stiffener kit from posts on Vansairforce.net.  I had already received my oil tank reinforcement parts, sent unsolicitedly by Vans Aircraft.  In the case of N79AM, with the Viking engine, there will be no remote mounted oil tank as with the Rotax 912 S and thus no need for the reinforcement parts.

Other builder/flyers of the RV-12 had complained about the drumming noises they have experienced from the Rotax powered version of the aircraft.  Van's, I presume, in response to the complaints engineered a firewall stiffener kit.  Materials consist of 4 slender pieces of angle and flat aluminum members (as well as the accompanying rivets) that run both diagonally along the passenger side of the lower firewall and along both sides of the fuselage from near the vents extending forward to beneath the firewall shelf.

This first picture is of the primed and riveted diagonal brace that runs across the lower firewall on the passenger side.

Next views are of the stiffener cleco'd into position on the firewall.

The two other stiffeners are installed on the side skins and extend from under the upper firewall shelf aft to just past the air vents.  Fuselage on its side and the passenger side stiffener jigged into place.  As a side note, the existing stiffener that is shown below on the left side of the picture and running diagonally to intersect the firewall shelf had to be trimmed off.  It was a fairly delicate procedure to keep from cutting through the existing skin, but Van's had a pretty good procedure.

This is a shot of the terminus of the side stiffener where it attaches to the floor of the firewall shelf.

Exterior skin view of the clecos and blind rivets ready to set for the installation of the side stiffener.

The side stiffeners were primed and painted after match drilling into place.  The entire procedure probably took me 3 hours....but I'm pretty slow.