First job today was to fabricate and weld into place an upright between the lower firewall cross member and the firewall diagonal. Two tabs were then welded to this to take the electric fuel pump mountings. Next a tab was fabricated and installed on the diagonal to mount the vacuum regulator and finally a mount was fabricated to attach the vacuum filter also on the diagonal.The two pictures, taken with the firewall itself omitted, show the various firewall components mounted in place with the exception of the cabin air control and brake fluid 
reservoir which mount directly to the firewall without welded supports.
As can be seen in the second picture the engine mount sits neatly over the solenoids, battery and gascolator. I'm going to redo the tube from the tank to the fuel pump using a 45 degree fitting to shorten the route and reduce the bends needed in the tube.
reservoir which mount directly to the firewall without welded supports.As can be seen in the second picture the engine mount sits neatly over the solenoids, battery and gascolator. I'm going to redo the tube from the tank to the fuel pump using a 45 degree fitting to shorten the route and reduce the bends needed in the tube.
Hopefully that is now all the welding on the fuselage complete. I've completed all the necessary items on my list http://tailwindbuild.blogspot.com/2009/03/25th-march-2009-list.html so next job is to get the fuselage sandblasted ready for priming. The question then will be whether to start on the construction of the wings or carry on and cover the fuselage. I have managed to find a source of Douglas Fir for the wing spars so will use these rather than Spruce as this gives an important improvement in the strength of the spar attachments. There probably won't be many updates over the next two or three weeks while I get the sandblasting organised but hopefully by mid-August things should be underway again.
