Firewall Forward, Part 1

The last bare, naked firewall picture replete with a proposed fuel system plumbing configuration.  Fastforward one week later and that one is out the window.  I will have some additional mockups of the Part 2 installment of the blog.  So this is obviously the "before" picture and the one below gives some perspective of the "after".

Of note in the picture below is my use of the Harbor Freight chain hoist,suspended from the pair of 2x4's reinforcing the hard point attach.  The hoist has worked great, but an engine hoist would have been easier.

Front view, side views following...

 

I lost count of the number of times I went back and forth with the digital level trying to get everything perfect for the lower nosegear leg mounting.You are committed once your drill the two holes in the nosegear leg to establish the position of the lower mount, so everything has to be perfect.

The picture below illustrates the dilemma.  You will notice the lower engine mount's bracket is slightly canted with respect to the upper end of the nose gear leg.  Through a combination of shortening the interior red, rubber isolator "doughnut" and adding a couple of extra washers between the engine mount and the firewall, I was able to increase the distance between the upper and lower ends of this lower engine mount such that the angle was almost perfect...or close enough.

 

 Below is the after picture of the adjustments to the doughnut and engine mount (extra washers).

Below is a picture of the lower firewall mount and the extra washers required to produce the offset needed for the nosegear engine mount.

Every builder needs a cute gearhead neighbor friend to help with the tough jobs.  Debbie is just one such friend.  She's a great friend...and has more tools than I'll ever dream of owning.  In the end, it was her little box store right angle drill attachment that got the job done on drilling the passenger side holes for the nosegear engine mount....once we got everything locked down into position.

Quite the milestone when the engine puts its full weight on the airframe for the first time....I guess that could be my first RV-12 grin...no, actually my second.  The first was when I sat in the cockpit for the first time a couple of weeks ago.