Hi! Rowland.
I overcut the slots in the stainless sheet and over covered the slots with
fire sleeve rubber and cut the rubber to accommodate the rudder actuating
lever/clevises/springs and cable to pass through it as necessary.
(not yet tested with fire in the engine compartment !!!)
Regards
Bob Harrison G-PTAG.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Rowland Carson
Sent: 13 February 2016 21:29
Subject: Europa-List: firewall problem
--> <rowlandcarson@gmail.com>
I've been trying to fit the stainless steel pieces for the firewall.
However, I fear I may have an intractable problem with installing it as
described in the manual.
There is very little clearance between the rudder cable actuating horn on
the aft rudder tube and the diagonal tube of the landing gear frame. I was
able to slip the card templates in there without much trouble, and after
convincing myself that everything fitted, I transferred the (slightly
edited) patterns to the stainless steel sheet.
However, I cannot persuade the starboard side piece of steel to bend in a
way that keeps it in contact with the tube of the landing gear frame, and
thus clear of the rudder mechanism, at that critical point. And that's
before I've tried to overlay the bottom piece of steel to form the joint
along that diagonal tube.
The P-clip that holds the starboard side piece of steel sheet to the lower
diagonal tube of the frame forces it to be clear of the tube at the top, and
the protruding end of the lower tube keeps the steel sheet away from the
tube at the bottom. I suppose theoretically it should be possible to
panel-beat the required complex shape but that is above my pay grade. Even
so, to get 2 thicknesses in just the right place and not rubbing on the
rudder actuating horn might be quite a challenge!
Possible solutions that have so far occurred to me are:
(1) Make a small piece of stainless sheet to cover just that area of the
tube, with a simple cylindrical bend, and somehow join it to the starboard
side panel and the lower panel further away so that there is only one
thickness of steel at the critical area. Anyone in UK done this?
(2) Try to make a complete new firewall in a slightly different location, as
suggested in the Europa Club Hints & Tips - originally posted by by Graham
Clarke on 9 Dec 1995. He suggests putting the firewall in the plane of the
vertical members of the landing gear frame, so that is just in front of the
bungees and does not interfere with the rudder mechanism. Obviously it would
need to be made in at least 2 parts, but it looks as though it would be
simpler to do that the pyramidal design in the manual. Has anyone done this
under LAA jurisdiction? Is there a mod number?
(3) Does Graham Singleton's phenolic firewall solve this problem? And if so,
is it still available? [Hello Graham, are you out there?]
Does anyone else have another idea? I don't feel like ripping out the
footrests to re-position the rudder tubes further forward, or removing the
landing gear frame to re-position it further aft!
All comments welcome.
in friendship
Rowland
Europa 435 G-RODO
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