Made a more in depth evaluation today of the wiring
slot in the F-1230 tunnel cover and decided not to make a separate slot for the
two brake lines. Because the slot in the F-1230 tunnel cover is centered and the wires
and tubing exiting the F-12125 raceway are far left of center, the wires and
tubing need to be pulled to the right quite a bit before they begin to go into
the slot in the tunnel cover. To make this task slightly easier, a wire tie was
used to bundle all the lose wires together but not the heaver cables. At first glance it appeared as though the
wires and tubing almost fit nicely, however the brake lines prevented the panel
from closing the gap with the firewall shelf. After analyzing the fit, felt enough
clearance could be obtained just by widening the slot a little on both sides
and wire tying the brake lines so they are on top of one another when they
enter the slot.
After swinging all the wires and tubing to the
right and grouping all lose small wires together, a trial fit was made to determine
how best to proceed with the modification of the F-1230 tunnel cover. The brake
lines need more room to enter the slot.
Wanting to remove the least amount of material
as possible, the slot was marked so cuts could be made on both sides of the
slot. The idea was to allow the entire wire bundle to move a little to the left
so the brake lines could slide down to the right of the wiring bundle.
Tape marking the cut so the slot in the F-1230
tunnel cover could be widened with the band saw.
If one needs to go this route, take note of the 1/16"
jog on both sides of the slot just after the flange. This is for a piece of
plastic wire grommet that will wrap around the circumference of the slot to
protect the wires from the edge of the tunnel cover. If you make cuts here, you should
hand file and make new jogs so the wire grommet material makes a smooth fit.
After cutting and filing, determined the fit was almost perfect but the slot
needs to be made a little deeper to accommodate the static tube.
Almost there. After cutting the slot wider and
recreating the jogs in the tunnel cover it fits much better now … the brake
lines are now inside the slot but the cover is pushing on the static air tube. The
slot will need to be made slightly deeper so there is room for the grommet material
without deforming the tubing.
Because of a very late start today, did not have
the time to finish up on the tunnel cover. So will finish up on the cover
tomorrow and move on. Have to say, yet again, so glad I thought of test fitting
the F-1230 tunnel cover now rather than later. It is so nice to be able to
slide in behind the side skins to do this trial fitting as opposed to climbing
in and out of the cockpit and being very uncomfortable the entire time.
