Well, this update really started last night. Josie and I had things to do after work, but when we got home I decided to spend at least a little time out in the hangar. My main motivation was to figure out some hardware requirements and go ahead and get a Spruce order in. I started by re-hanging the engine, feeling good about no longer needing lots of access to the firewall.
Next I went to trial-fit the battery mount, and as soon as I had it mounted to the firewall, I realized I had a problem. Making the on-the-fly decision to locate the contactors beneath the battery was a bad idea; they interfere with the lower engine mount tube, and not in any sort of trivial sense. That nicely finished battery mount is unusable.
The good news is that I still have the unfinished first attempt, and after a little more trial fitting, I can make it work with the original layout. The one minor annoyance will be needing to remove the starter contactor to reach one of the battery box mount bolts. Not great, but also not a deal-breaker, and considering the only other option is to start from scratch again with the mount…yeah, I think this will be fine.
I gave up on getting the Spruce order together after this, though I did go ahead and order the spacers I’ll use between the mount and the firewall from McMaster-Carr. I’m pretty sure I have the right length bolts to mount this when the time comes, so it doesn’t look like anything I need from Spruce will be a blocker.
Tonight I did a bit more fitting and tinkering, but mostly I set the battery mount aside and decided to work on finalizing the pressure manifold. Here again, I ran into an issue – I need AN3-6A bolts to attach this, but…I don’t have any. They’re not even provided with the FWF kit. Something else to add to the Spruce order, I guess.
I did go ahead and get the AN fittings installed for the pressure lines, along with the plugs on the opposite sides of each fitting point, and the actual sensors. I also temporarily mounted the manifold in place, using too-short bolts and thin jam nuts. That’ll hold the thing in place until I get the right hardware”
Finally, I’ve been thinking through my passthrough fittings for the wiring and alternate air cable. Previously, I’d decided to go with the traditional Van’s approach, just running the wires through a snap bushing and covering the area with firewall sealant. That’s still my fallback plan, but I’m going to try making some DIY fittings instead. I found some stainless flange fittings on Amazon that I think I can modify to work here. If I can make these work, I’ll end up with a much more robust and gas-tight fitting. So we’ll see how that works out…
I guess in the meantime here, while I wait on parts, I might start working on the case top ignition coil mount. I can’t pull the ignition harnesses through yet, since I’m still figuring out the passthrough stuff, though. I’m sure there’s still random stuff I can work on in the meantime.