Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  7-18-2011
Number of Hours:  1.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Quadrant Cables & Firewall Gimbals - Part 01

There are three small holes in the firewall that are designated as pilot holes for the Throttle Quadrant cables including the Throttle, Mixture, and Prop Control. I have these sweet eye-ball mounts for the firewall that allow the cables to gimbal around some reducing the stress on them in the high-vibration environment of the engine compartment. The problem is that they take exactly a 1 1/16" hole. On the first fuselage, I used a hole cutting saw in the drill, but the stainless steel is so hard that it really dulled the teeth fast and I ended up stretching the metal some in the process. This made the mounting of the gimbals a little loose and generally looked a little sloppy. This time around, I decided to just order a 1 1/16" Greenlee Chassis punch! It arrived today, so it was time to give it a try. Um, wow. Buy one. The holes just needed a little bit of deburring and the gimbals just dropped right in. Wow, what a difference in reduced labor and more importantly, a better over all installation (that's starting to become a theme!)

A couple of night's ago I disconnected the three cables from the engine and removed the Throttle Quadrants and cables from the old fuselage. Tonight, on the new fuselage, I enlarged the cable holes through the left gear tower to allow me to fit some plastic wear bushings in the forward and aft sides of the gear tower. Originally, I had .825" holes in the aft side and I found that it was really hard to get the front throttle quadrant on and off because the cables didn't have enough room to move out to allow for disconnecting the clevises. So this time I made the holes 1" in diameter and now I have a much better movement. Installing and deinstalling the Quadrant should be a lot easier now. Again, one more thing about the new fuselage that has turned out *better* than the first one. Actually two more, considering the firewall gimbal installation.

Cont Next Log...
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Firewall Pilot Holes For Quadrant Cables

Firewall Pilot Holes For Quadrant Cables

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1 1/16

1 1/16" Greenlee Chassis Punch

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First Hole Punched

First Hole Punched

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