Instillation Of Matco Parking Brake Completed

One of the items that did not get completed during the last work session was installing the clamp to hold the four brake lines that traverse the cockpit from side to side. Because the slightly thicker Aircraft Specialty brake lines were used to connect the master cylinders, getting the four lines into the 5/8" Adel clamp would have made for a very tight fit. Made the decision to use a larger 3/4" clamp which worked nicely with plenty of room for the brake lines.

Brake lines secured with a clamp suspended from the bottom of the instrument panel.

Continuing on, attached the two brake lines that normally run to the center channel and on to the landing gear. However, because the DOG Aviation RV-12 will be outfitted with a Matco parking brake, the two left and right wheel brake lines from the master cylinders were attached to the Matco parking brake and torqued. Next the compression fittings running from the Matco parking brake to the center channel were tightened. Lastly the body of the Matco parking brake was tightened down. Oh, for those installing the Matco parking brake do not forget to install the two rubber washers under the mounting bolts. Matco says the rubber washer is important because of the way the two single brake units are ganged together onto one shaft … the washer gives the unit an ability to flex a little. Zooming in on the photo below, one can see the rubber washer under the nut adjacent to the one being tightened.

After the brake lines were attached onto the Matco parking brake, the brake unit was secured onto the right tunnel rib with two screws.

Completed brake line and parking brake instillation in the cockpit area.

Still need to wire tie the brake lines together, but that is an easy task as long as the side skins are open. While access is still good from the sides, decided to take the opportunity to see how well all the wiring, extra static line and the two thicker brake lines will fit into the slot on the F-1230 tunnel covers. Glad I did this now because they don’t.

The slot in the F-1230 tunnel cover seems a tad anemic for all the wires, the two poly tubes and both stainless braided brake lines.

Figured now is the time to work on fitting all the goodies into the slot on the F-1230 tunnel cover while it is relatively easy to reach in behind the side skins to make measurements for the material that will need to be removed. The big decision will be … enlarge the one slot a lot, or enlarge the slot a little so the wires and two poly lines fit and then cut a separate slot for the brake lines. Will need to kick that around a little and do more testing to decide.