In order to install the showplanes fiberglass rear seat top, I needed to remove the angle from the top of the seat back. Quick work.  

Showplanes instructed me to us a bit of 032 angle, but wouldn’t you know, I don’t have any? I couldn’t find any over in my annex across the way either! So I used the thinnest angle I could find. Yes, its going to way an extra gram. No, its not worth my time to find a thinner part. I cut the angle to length, match drilled, and primed. I also made the other parts to complete the attachment for the rear seat. I did not match drill them.

Next, I set about riveting the parts of the floor still remaining, beginning with the rear seat hinge. As I started to do this, I noticed a note in the instructions not to rivet the forward stiffeners on until later. I believe this is so that you can install the floors using a little flex, but I was able to figure out a technique to get them in there, so I’m not going to undo my work until I have no other option.   

Riveting the rear hinge with the AN470AD 4-4’s is really easy if you use the c-frame and rivet gun. Here’s a few photos demonstrating the technique. Easy and quick. Two of my three favorite words. (Free is the other one)
  

Then it was on to nut plates. Lots of nut plates.   
  

The footwells are fairly quick with the squeezer.

I back riveted the footwells to the front floor panel.   

More nut plates.

Finally, I installed my designer seat covers. Sexy, right? I want to be able to play around with the ergonomics of the cockpit, as I consider some customizations. It will be important for me to use the seats in order to get a proper feel for the geometry, before making changes. The trash bag covers will also allow me to make any modifications to the foam, prior to having covers made. For instance, I’m vertically challenged, so perhaps I will need a booster seat? I’ve also noticed that rear passengers in the -8 tend to sit a good bit lower than the pilot. My wife is 5’5″, and so she might like a booster seat as well!  

My final tasks for the night were not airplane related. I needed to fix two tires. One with a puncture, and another with a leak. Both took longer than expected.

Its been over a month since my last post, and in that time, I’ve not touched the project. I was in Europe for two weeks, and came down with a nasty bug. Combine that with a heavy workload and a few final exams, and well, you get a month in which the project sits unattended. I also had a welcome surprise waiting for me in the hangar. After all, beer is the way to my heart.

I started today be retrieving the parts that I primed in the last session. Which means its finally time to do some riveting! Believe it or not, this will be the first riveting I’ve done on the fuselage!

The front seat back was quick work. AN470 rivets all around, and the squeezer got the job done quickly. The rear seat back is another matter. I had put off completing the top of the seat back, as I had not received the fastback kit when I last worked on it. Now that I have the fastback kit, I’m not sure how to assemble the top. The fiberglass portion that is included in the fastback kit, doesn’t really line up with the remaining top parts.

Showplanes instructs you to delete the F-833C from your order. However, the F-833E, and the F-833F are still included. The fastback kit itself includes a fiberglass seat top. Unfortunately, there are no instructions on how to complete the seat top, and there is only one picture of the part online. After fiddling with the parts, its is not immediately apparent to me as to how these parts are intended to fit together. I will need to contact Bryan at Showplanes for an explanation.

***UPDATE October 26th*** I emailed Bryan at Showplanes this morning about the seat back, and within an hour I had a detailed response. Here it is:

Hi Peter,

I apologize for not having instructions addressing this, it was not a issue on the earlier RV-8 fuse.The extra parts you show do not get used, these photo’s hopefully will help. Cut the back angle off the seat back and fit the fiberglass seat top as shown. Once you have fit the seat to the fuse and drill a couple of holes to hold it’s location you can remove it and add the .032 angle and backing material. Cut the extra fiberglass flange material to fit. Please let me know if you have further questions.

Regard’s,

Bryan

My final project for the day was to back rivet the stiffeners to the cockpit floors. Its been a long time since I did any back riveting. So quick! So easy!

***UPDATE October 31st*** I didn’t notice a note in the instructions to not rivet the -C stiffeners at this time (that would the first three starting from the left in the photo below on both seat floors – 6 total) I believe this is so that you can still insert them easily. I think I will be ok, but don’t make the same mistake I did.

One other quick note. I bought this 175,000 BTU monster last winter. A few reviews noted that the heater wouldn’t start up after a summer in storage. With cold weather approaching, I wanted to test it out, so that if any repairs are needed I can get them done before its needed. Thankfully, it fired up immediately, and I cannot see any problems with it whatsoever. Now, to buy some more tax-free diesel!

Session time: 6.0 hours