I was occupied doing various other things for most of the weekend, so I didn't get much done on the airplane. I did manage to make another little doubler for the firewall, to secure a cable clamp next to the master contactor. One of the rivets ties into the diagonal firewall stiffener:
Mary was nice enough to come help me rivet on the two doublers that needed to be installed. We back riveted them, with her doing the bucking on the outside and me taking many trips down between the rudder pedals to drive the shop heads:
Here's the same doubler riveted in place. It supports a nutplate that anchors the lower end of the positive battery cable near where it connects to the master contactor.
Up above, I riveted another nutplate to the firewall stiffener to capture the other end of the cable. Now the cable is mechanically secured by the clamps, and there isn't any stress on the terminals. The battery cable is from B&C, by the way.
We also riveted on the doubler for the fuel fitting:
Even though I moved it a bit, the fuel hose is still going to be quite close to the starter contactor, though apparently that's normal. This photo exaggerates the effect – there's really a half-inch of clearance between the two components. I'll just insulate and clamp everything really well so there won't be any interference issues.
You can also see in the photo above how I insulated the copper bar between the master and starter contactors with some rubber terminal boots.
I just had time to start sketching where I want to put the remaining firewall-mounted electrical components before I had to call it quits.
