If you asked me why I didn’t rig the rudder cables up to the rudder pedals while I had the wings on the bird and it was unpainted, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.  My guess is that I was still waiting to research and discover the final intel on the springs I brought up last blog post.

I also think I lumped the task of rigging the rudder cables in with finalizing the plumbing of the brake lines, since this involves my pedals as well.  The bottom line is that hindsight is 20/20, and I am wishing that I would have done this task at a more opportunistic point in the build.

It certainly would have been significantly less nerve-racking, as cutting into the sidewall with the ever-present threat of going too far and messing up the exterior paint just adds to the annoyance of having to cut out the rudder cable conduits to get them to exit out the sidewall farther aft, to allow space for the springs to be installed.

Here I’m in the process of exposing the right rudder cable Nyla-flow conduit, which I cut out about 1-2″ of wall at a time since it has a slight up angle as it travels aft, and the short cutouts allow me to adjust fire as needed.

I realize “normal” builders wouldn’t have to mess with this because normal builders aren’t as “special” as I am (haha!) by burying their rudder cables into the sidewalls.  Nor do normal builders buy rudder/brake pedals with the claim that they don’t need springs (they probably, but not definitely, do…).

Here we have the initial mark and cut on the left sidewall (pic 1), followed up by another cut mark a few iterations later (pic 2).

After I got the rudder cable conduits exposed and popping out of the sidewall farther aft, I then drilled and crafted a couple of 1/16″ thick G10 phenolic “washers” that I slid onto each tube, and slid into slits I created about a 1/4″ high on the top and bottom of the channels I made to remove the conduits (you can see this in pic 2).

I then used foam scraps and micro to secure the conduit tube aft of these embedded washers, filling the cut out channels back to level with the sidewalls.  After they cured for about an hour, I then used a bit of pour foam to fill in aft of the protruding “washers” which will allow me to shape the foam into half conical bumps on the sidewall.

It was getting late, so I left the rudder cable conduit pour foam to cure overnight, and got busy working on the electrical system.

See the inline fuse at the bottom of the battery compartment labeled IF000… about the middle of the pic?  The orange and red wire coming out that heading aft is the SD-8 backup alternator feed wire from the control relay in the Hell Hole, that in turn is connected to the SD-8 electronics in the GIB headrest.

Since I’m just now installing the nose battery compartment components, not surprisingly that wire was in 2 parts, one front and one aft, and needed to be joined together.  I used a butt-splice connector and spliced the wires together before adding heat shrink (pic 1).

I then used some anti-chafing heat shrink wrap (that I failed to slip on before I installed the contactors) that I simply zip-tied to the wire bundle to protect it (pic 2).

My last task of the evening, which should have taken half an hour tops, was installing the battery bus, the mini ANL-15 fuse, the RL005 heated pitot tube relay and the RL018 relay that connects the E-Bus to the battery (unswitched) side of the battery contactor AFTER the SD-8 backup alternator is online and the main alternator is offline (and the main bus too).

I have 4 embedded platenuts in a raised pad on the aft side of the Napster bulkhead.  Well, right off the bat one screw wouldn’t thread in.  On further investigation I still had some Saran wrap plastic in there that I used to protect it while glassing it.  However, the threading never worked, and it’s just not deep enough to get a tap in there to clean up the threads.  I ended up drilling out an initial hole and have a 4-40 screw in there currently.  This whole debacle ended up taking well over 2 hours.

Later I’ll drill that top hole out and mount a #10 screw with a nut on the front side of the bulkhead.

Ok… still… Pressing forward!

Yet another 2-day update here…

I started off Day 1 checking a number of various electrical data points, including verifying and changing a couple of components connected to the Battery Bus.  The primary component swap was pulling the fuel pump off the battery bus and placing it on the E-Bus, swapping it with the Pitch Trim System.  My thought process was fairly simply: what switches might a kid sitting in my bird, unattended, start flipping.  And also, what might I leave on connected to an always-hot buss?

The pitot heat relay and wiring is physically close to the battery buss and thus connected to it.  I considered moving it off of it as well, but it has 2 fail safes with both an indicator light and, more importantly, a 40-knot airspeed switch to allow it to power up (specifically to keep it from staying on if the master were to be left on, or in this case just in general).  Now, while the fuel pump does have an indicator light and a flip-up switch cover, I felt it the worse of these 2 evils to be connected to the Battery Bus.

I then got to work repairing a triplet of cables that ripped out of a terminated pin on the aft primary nose gear actuator connector.  To repair it, I crimped the 3 wires into a much larger single wire and then terminated it with a pin that was then set into CPC (Circular Pin Connector) P1 on the front of the NG30 cover (that is now installed).  I also finalized installing the wire-securing clamps on the back end of these two nose gear connectors.

I then spent nearly an hour going through the rats’ nest of wires to get them somewhat sorted out, and out of the avionics bay and NG30/canard area so that I could climb into the bird to verify the rudder/brake pedal installation positions.

Of course to do that, I first needed to install the front/pilot seat cores, which I did in final fashion by thoroughly cleaning up the seat pan and seat back before pulling the tabs off the cores’ Velcro strips and mashing them all into place…. including the right armrest pad.

This concludes yet another major milestone on this build since it officially closes out Chapter 26 – Upholstery and places it squarely in the COMPLETED column!

This allowed me to install the rudder/brake pedals and get a good idea of where they needed to be installed, which I did an initial temp install before calling it a night.

The next morning, I pulled the 1/4″ tubing fittings out of the rudder/brake pedals’ master cylinders to install 1/8″ fittings for the Nyla-flow feeds from the Parking Brake Valve.  The aft fittings on the master cylinders are 90° 3/16″ fittings that will connect to the separate brake fluid reservoirs.

That all being said, note the exit point of the in-side-wall rudder cable conduit at lower left in the pic below.

First, here’s another shot looking from the forward nose end of the left rudder/brake pedal with the 1/8″ Nyla-flow tubing from the Parking Brake Valve (aka wheel brake caliper) into the master cylinder.  The aft (upper) 90° 3/16″ Nyla-flow fitting is currently not connected.

Now, again, note the 3/16″ Nyla-flow rudder cable conduit exit out of the left sidewall, in the very upper right of the pic below.

I pointed out the rudder cable conduit exit on the sidewall to discuss a requirement that comes with installing the Hidden Bellhorn on the rudders: a spring that allows for continued movement of the rudder cable after the rudder’s hidden bellhorn hard stops against the internal wall of the rudder.  The claim is that without this spring that you may not have any forward movement on the pedal to then engage the brakes [To be clear: the Long-EZ’s rudder/brake system is set up that the rudder must be fully engaged before any braking action <continued pedal pushing> occurs].

About 2 years ago I spoke with the manufacturer of my rudder/brake pedals, Dale Martin, about his original statement to me that with his pedals we don’t need these springs.  This is why I exited the rudder cable conduits out of the sidewall where I did. Moreover, we discussed how little forward movement on the pedal is required to activate the brakes after full rudder deployment (around 1/4-1/2″).  Also, there are a distinct few builder/fliers out there (Wayne Blackler, Klaus Savier, etc.) that do not have these springs installed out of personal choice (more direct rudder response, for one) and have had no braking issues to report.  Conversely, Marc Zeitlin considers them mandatory.

In assessing the requirements levied against us builders in the hidden rudder bellhorn plans, I decided after re-reading these impassioned arguments on the COBA forum that I would simply split the middle… literally.  I spent a good deal of time on the Century Spring website as well as McMaster-Carr looking at the specs of various springs (which are given in these instructions… upper right of background sheet), before deciding to simply cut an extra spring I had on hand in half and press forward in my heretical shenanigans (the 2 full ones are from the Cozy Girrrls).

Not surprisingly, the Cozy Girrrls got a little fancy with their springs by adding a washer on each end that they then terminate the 0.05″ wire back into.  Since I cut one spring in half, one end of each of my springs now has non-flat/grounded ‘free-radical’ spring coil on it.  Thus, I copied the Cozy Girrrls and drilled out an AN970-3 wide washer to cover these ends… now a distinct characteristic of these abominations that I created.

I’ll note that a full-length spring (3.75″) can be compressed by 1.75″, but the specs states that normal compression should be no more than about 0.8″.  Now, if we halve that we get a normal compression of over 0.4″, but if needed over double that. The numbers show this will provide more than enough throw past normal operating parameters in case a mushy brake (air in the lines, etc.) is encountered.

Finally, I grabbed this pair of pics below to show the amount of rudder conduit that would have to be extracted from the sidewall with the standard spring length (pic 1) as compared to my new “petite” spring (pic 2).  Clearly a lot less work with the petite spring in getting it installed.

They say confession is good for the soul… so here’s my confession.  And with that, as par usual, I’m pressing forward!

Crazy that it took me about 7 hours to get all this done… of course, I had planned on getting much more accomplished than I did.

First, I watched a couple of videos on Flaring tubing and also did a review of the Matco emergency brake specs and installation, including a good video on that as well.

The flares on the right side brake tubing cross-connect, which I did after the left side, were much better than the left side’s.  Thus I cut a new length of tubing and remade the left side with much better flares.  I then did the final install of the left side aluminum tubing brake line cross-connect to the parking brake valve (pic 1).  I then did the final install on the right side brake line cross-connect as well (pic 2).

I then installed the Parking Brake engagement handle . . .

…after I installed the parking brake ON indicator light microswitch (close up below).  After getting the handle cable installed at the correct engagement length in the parking brake valve lever, I did the final install of the Nose Gear RCU (Relay Control Unit) that was awaiting all the brake line cross-connect shenanigans to be complete to allow its installation.

Here’s an old closer-up shot of the microswitch that powers the panel “Parking Brake ON” LED indicator.

And another closer shot of the forward left NG-30/aft Napster bulkhead area.

And a video I shot 8 years ago showing the parking brake handle cable functioning:

Yep, slowing inching forward!

Again, a 2-day post here . . .

Day 1 was the big swap.  I loaded up the canard this AM and with the “outboard wing” (now canard buffing) sawhorses that I reinforced with cross-bracing loaded up last night, delivered the canard to Phil’s shop.

I met Guy there where he helped me load up the right wing in the trailer, while we placed the top cowling in the back of his covered truck bed.  I also had the aft nose/avionics cover in my truck cab.

After delivering all that back to my shop…

we then loaded up the left wing in the trailer and the bottom cowling in his truck and delivered that to Phil’s shop.

Here we have the left wing in Phil’s shop.

And a wider view of the canard and left wing at Phil’s shop.

By late into the evening I had finished cutting and terminating the big yellow starter cable in the nose and installing it onto the bottom terminal of the starter contactor (anodized gold box center left of pic), which in turn has a big yellow cable that connects to the battery contactor (middle, black cylindrical).  I also mounted the ANL-40 inline fuse block and connected the B-lead from the alternator to it, and from it the cross-connect cable to the battery contactor.  All in the forward nose battery compartment, of course.

Day 2: Phil had some slight break-throughs on the canopy’s blue paint, so this morning I mixed up a small amount and took it to his shop and spent a couple of hours touching up those break-throughs.

Here we have Ray in the foreground working on the canard, with Phil behind him working on the left wing.  Behind Phil is the canopy, ready for its final buffout and ceramic coating after a minimum 24-hour paint cure.

Back at the house I spent a couple of hours in CAD drawing up this seemingly simple protective cover (from fingers touching a potentially powered circuit) for the ANL-40 inline fuse.

My dimensions must have been spot on since this is the first and only 3D print I did of the protective cover… here being test fitted into place.  I’ll probably Velcro it to the Napster bulkhead and call it good.

I then got busy fitting, cutting and flaring the 1/8″ 3003 aluminum tubing for the forward brake line cross-connects.  I had already made these before, but lost them either in moving down to NC or in the hurricane/tornado that hit my hangar back in 2019.

Here is the initial fitting of the 1/8″ 3003 aluminum tubing forward brake line cross-connects for the left side (pic 1) and the right side (pic 2).  I need to get the brake lines installed and square away before I start running wires aft of the Napster bulkhead.

Pressing forward!

The past couple of days have resulted in yet another couple significant milestones in that both the GIB seat cores and the pilot headrest are installed in the bird.

Here we have the pilot headrest no-kidding bolted in place on the pilot seatback, with the upper and lower headrest pads attached and the GNS-480 GPS antenna puck covered with a nice spiffy white radome.

On the upper back side of the pilot headrest one can clearly see the “Big Brother” aft-facing wide-angle spy camera to keep tabs on any back seat suspe— er, ah, passenger!  And to have a good view of top cowling engine/prop stuff (hopefully never needed for that purpose!).

Here the pilot headrest is open for storage access (pic 1), where you can also the camera wires and GPS antenna cable (pic 2).

I officially finished off the back seat upholstery by installing the armrest pads (pic 1), where the right side will be most likely removed often (pic 2), to gain access to the decent-sized storage compartment under the pad, in the armrest (pic 3).

In prep for swapping the left wing out for the right wing at Phil’s shop tomorrow, I finished cutting and adding Thermo-Tec inside the wing root.  After the physical application of the Thermo-Tec was completed, I then used my gray hi-temp RTV to fill in the joints, seams and edges to avoid any dirt and oil from getting up underneath the Thermo-Tec.

And with that, I called it a night.  Lot’s of logistics going on tomorrow!

And, as always, pressing ahead!

Another 2-day post here…

First off, here is a shot of the back seat area with the GIB headrest pad in place… honestly, I don’t remember if it was actually mounted or not.

But it definitely is mounted here below, as is the pilot headrest lower pad… both pads secured with #6 screws.

Also note the GNS-480 GPS antenna atop the pilot headrest is covered with a painted 2-ply fiberglass radome…. just to make it look snazzy.  Gotta have some fun with this stuff!

Here’s a side shot of the pilot headrest mounted lower pad.  It looks good secured to the surface with the aft side nice and flat.

I made a video on how I mounted these pads, which is something that would have been helpful to me when I was figuring out how to do it.

Lastly, here is a quick shot of the left rudder gust lock, painted, and a quick fit check.  The paint needs some cleanup, but besides that it is functional.

Again, pressing forward!

Today was yet another busy day just getting a bunch of tasks done to get this bird in the air ASAP.

I started off by removing the tape from the just painted, labeled and clear-coated keys (pic 1).  I then separated them into pairs, added the labeled gas keys and put them on their respective rings: one primary set of keys with the red tag, and one backup set of keys (pic 2).  Keys are done… pressing forward!

My next task (later below) was actually shooting clearcoat on the rollbar… for clarity I grouped that together later on.

I did a good bit of painting and RTV/Permatex #2 work today because the next few days will be VERY cold… below freezing.

I taped up, mounted and degreased the CS spar bolt hole opening covers and the left rudder gust lock before shooting them with sealer first, then a couple of coats of white paint.  Not perfect at all, but will do the job.  Note that with the excess white paint in the cup, I taped and touched up a couple of the left vortilons to finish the touchups required on those.

Today was the day to knock out the installation of the Holley Hydramats in the GIB thigh support sump tanks.

I started by cutting new full sized gaskets for the underside of each cover.  Versus the old oval “ring” style, I’ll note that a full gasket eliminates a possible exit point at the upper inside seam of the oval gasket.  After cleaning the underside of the cover with Acetone, I slathered Permatex #2 on both the gasket and the cover and clamped them together.  The bare cover and gasket to the right is the right side cover waiting to have its gasket attached.

I cleaned out each sump tank with Acetone, let it dry and then vacuumed it to get as much dust and debris out as possible.  I then installed the left tank Holley Hydramat.

And then the right tank Hydramat.

See what I call the “Madonna Bra” looking thing on the front wall of each thigh support sump tank?  I grabbed this shot to show this . . .

And then the inside of the sump tank.  That’s a low level fuel sensor that will ring off if the fuel ever drops below that level inside the sump tank.

Here we have both Holley Hydramats installed inside their respective left and right sump tanks, and the covers and gaskets secured in place, with all the excess Permatex #2 that I slathered on the edges removed and cleaned up.

Again, here we have my FIRST task of the day, but I forgot to grab a pic of the roll bar until much later, with other components in the shot.  Easier to just report on it here.

First, here is the 2K matte clearcoat that I dropped a pretty little penny on this morning at NAPA.

It did a great job in giving the roll bar a nice black sheen, but not too shiny as to blind the GIB when the sun hits it.  Note the white painted stuff you saw earlier, but also to the left is the pilot headrest with shot bags on top of the white painted “radome” that covers the GNS-480 GPS puck . . .

Which I installed with new, longer stainless steel screws that I also picked up on my quick shopping run this AM.  I actually did the initial drilling and screw-setting on the perimeter seal last night, but today I trimmed it so that the GPS puck was not on the seal edge, but firmly mounted and touching the ground plane.

The final install of the seal, which is a ⊥ shape turned sideways (90°), has RTV on both the top interface and along the side edges of the headrest.

I then RTV’d the top side of the rubber seam and popped the radome into place.  After cleaning up the excess RTV, I weighed the radome down with shot bags and tightly taped around the seal perimeter (shown in pic above).  Tomorrow, after cure, I’ll of course remove the tape and shot bags.

I checked the tech sheet on my matte clear coat and it states that it dries extremely fast.  With that info I proceeded to mount the upper seatbelts and then install the roll bar.  In hindsight, I’m wishing I would have waited 24 hours since I had a few spots that showed the paint/clearcoat was still a bit too soft.

Regardless, the roll bar with the upper seatbelts attached is installed (pic 1).

Now, before I installed the roll bar I actually installed the GIB armrests and then did the “final” install of the GIB seat cushions… meaning I pulled the wax paper off the Velcro strips and no kidding set them in place and then sat on them for about 15 minutes to set the Velcro adhesives as best possible (pic 2).

One last shot of the final install of the roll bar.

Yep, slowly moving out on this beast to get ‘er in the air!

I started off today adding a bit more filler around the edges of the Ram ball mounts on the roll bar and sanding that before hitting it with a final primer coat before painting it flat black.

I also sanded down and hit the keys with primer as well.

A bit later I shot the keys with black paint and let them flash for about 45 minutes before carefully adding the labels to the keys.  Once the labels were in place, I then shot the keys with a few rounds of satin clear coat.

In between the rounds of paint, I marked and removed the GIB lower right side kickplate to allow me to cut the cable access hole in the top a bit bigger to allow for the cable cover that I then installed, for both sets of wires in this area (pic 1).  I also replaced the previous cable cover to the wires inside the CS spar opening (pic 2).

Although I didn’t get to it tonight, I removed the screws and covers off the GIB thigh support sump tanks in prep for installing the Holly Hydromats inside the tanks.  I plan to get to those tomorrow.

I also dabbled a bit on the pilot headrest/storage compartment by setting the GNS-480 GPS puck in its final position and drilling out the screw holes.  I then added aluminum tape to the top of the headrest as a ground plane for the GPS antenna.

Here we have the GPS antenna in position on its ground plane (technically the ground plane is supposed to be a bit bigger, but this is all it gets!).

And with that, I called it a night.  Pressing forward!

Today I was able to knock out yet another milestone: welding.

As of right now, after my visit to a local welder I am —to my current knowledge— done with welding on this bird.

Now, to back up just a bit, I’m going to invoke my oft-cited mantra: It’s better to be lucky than good.  A couple weeks back Guy Williams asked me to help assess a broken arm on the soft top of his convertible car.  After some discussion, I told him that I would look for others having that issue on any online forums.  He did, and then found a good local welder through a fellow EAA’er.

Well, after his glowing report of the welder at our last EAA meeting, I decided it was time to get my exhaust pipe bracket seams welded up… versus relying solely on my ugly tack welds to keep them cobbled together!

Here’s the result of that welding effort.  And after I got back to the shop I cleaned up the inside of each exhaust pipe cradle.

I also spent a good little bit of time last night and this morning to prep 3 attachments that I wanted welded onto the roll bar (here, after I shot it with 2 coats of primer).  You can actually see all 3 accoutrements in this pic below: A RAM ball mount threaded insert on the left aft side (just above the support arm), a RAM ball mount nub on the upper right side, and a lanyard tie-off loop on the lower right side support arm.

Here’s another look at the roll bar after I shot 2 coats of primer.

Here’s a closer look at the attachments that I had welded onto the roll bar:  On the aft left upright I had Noah weld a 1/4-20 threaded circular insert to allow attaching a RAM ball mount for a video camera, etc. (pic 1).  On the forward side of the upper right upright I had an NPT nub welded on to accept another RAM ball mount, that will be mounted permanently.  This mount will also serve as my headset holder when I’m parked (pic 2).

The last accoutrement that I added to the roll bar was a simple lanyard loop, that I fashioned by bending a 16-penny nail, that Noah welded to the aft bottom side of the right support arm.

Specifically, this will be used to attach a lanyard to secure the canopy air strut block to ensure it doesn’t run off or get lost somewhere… my canopy is a very large canopy and any time its open, it needs this block in place.

Tomorrow, I plan on painting and clear coating the roll bar and pressing forward in my GIB area configurations and installations.

Another 2-day blog entry here.

First off, here is the left winglet aft lower cover protective cap that I glassed with 2 plies of BID.  I still need to do the right side.

I taped cardboard underneath on both sides of the winglet to mimic the foam padding I’ll have on the inside of the cover.  I don’t really care if it falls off when hit, I just want it super light and the initial impact for both impactor and impactee to be as least injurious as possible, for both parties involved.

While Phil is doing a great job on my bird buffing out my combat paint job, he has been suffering from some major back issues, with definite surgery in his future.  Not surprisingly, between that and his assistant being gone way longer for the Thanksgiving break —delayed a week due to snowstorms— the buffing out of my painted components is at a crawl.  I was expecting to have all parts back mid-December and be turning and burning with installs to get this bird airborne shortly after.
That’s not happening.

The bright side of all this is that tasks I was going to kick off until after the bird was flying, I’m now “pre-loading” and getting them off the docket.

Today’s task is a perfect example: a cover for the CS spar center hole to keep the GIB upper seat pad from sinking into it.  I don’t know how other builders have their seat pads situated, but my GIB top seat core top edge ends right at the top of the CS spar.  The big access hole in the CS spar makes it so the seat pad top “falls into” the open hole and deforms the seat pad.

To fix this issue, I planned to cover both openings in the GIB seat bulkhead, both the bottom round one and the CS spar access hole.  The bottom one is complete, and many moons ago I glassed the lower edge, or catch, of this cover that wrapped around the transition lip at the bottom of the CS spar access hole opening… think inverted “U” shape: ∩ (or rounded “V” really).

Today I cut 2 plies of carbon fiber to add the actual hole filling part of the cover.  The layup was a bit tricky because it attaches to the AFT side (inside the CS spar) of the bottom transition lip catch.  I prepregged the 2 plies of carbon fiber, laid that up, THEN constructed and taped into place the foam board to fill the access hole.

Here we have the CS spar access hole cover 2-ply carbon fiber layup, peel plied and curing (pic 1).  And then later after cure (fast hardener) with the peel ply pulled (pic 2).

Here is the taped in place foam board used as the layup back wall support.  To tape the foam board in place on the inside I had a small oval cutout in the center to get my hand inside the CS spar.  I then taped the oval cutout into place along with the rest of the foam board.

A few hours later I pulled the 2-ply CF cover out and cleaned up the edges a bit.  Here we have both front (pic 1) and aft (pic 2) sides showing.

Since I was in a rush during the time I created this form mid-layup, I didn’t get any pics of it going in.  So here is an idea of the center access port (pic 1) I created to get inside and tape the perimeter of the foam board (which itself was cut at the same dimensions of the CS spar access hole except along the bottom).  I then cut out the foam board but left the perimeter tape for the final front side layup (pic 2).

Here we have the CS spar access hole cover trimmed and sanded in prep for the final layup:  A center core of Lantor Soric wetted out, with edges micro’d for a smooth transition, the small gap along the bottom catch and aft wall filled with dry micro, then a single ply of CF over the top of all that.

After laying up the final ply of carbon fiber and peel plying it, I then set the CS spar hole cover back into place and taped the perimeter to keep it in its final position as it cured.

As the cover layup cured, I sanded the epoxy wiped left rudder gust lock and hit it with 2 coats of primer.  I also want to label my assorted aircraft keys, so yesterday I Dremeled off the raised manufacturer’s mark on one side and micro’d the surface.  Today I sanded those down and epoxy wiped them for upcoming paint, labeling, and clear coating.  Finally, I taped up 2 of the left vortilons before touching up the black paint stripes on those.

A few hours later, after nearly fully cured (fast hardener again), I pulled the CS spar cover out of the bird and set it on this heated table (heat lamps below it keep it quite toasty).

A couple of hours later, I pulled the peel ply off the CS spar access hole cover, razor trimmed the excess carbon fiber and hit the edges quickly with a sanding block.

And voila! Here it is, ready for action.

My last official task of the evening was the final install of the canopy latch handle.  All these years I’ve been using the AN screw-head bolts that I love so much, but for the final install I switched to no-kidding AN3 bolts.  And since the threaded holes are different depths, I have at least 2 lengths of bolts in the mix.

And the requisite outside shot of the handle.  Looking good!

My generalized goal at this point, besides ensuring the left wing is ready to go to Phil’s shop for its paint tweaking, is to get the back seat area squared away before moving physically forward on electrical and component installs in the nose, panel and pilot area.

Pressing forward!