Tip for other builders.  Don’t forget to follow the steps that aren’t in the plans that you don’t know about but absolutely have to do in order even though nothing says to do them in order.  For example, the door strut bracket that attaches to the top of the cabin.  Yup, I forgot that.  I realized that in a moment of sheer panic and terror about 3 am one morning.

The strut bracket is a bit rudamentary from Van’s so I had ordered a very nicely CNCed version from Sean at PlaneAround.  Those have been sitting in my parts bin for two years now and despite all my hard work at the overhead console and finishing the interior of the cabin top, I forgot to install them.  It would have been a five minute job had I remembered.  It turned into a five hour job.

I would have to cut a hole in the overhead console and grind away part of the filler on the cabin top without screwing anything up to make this work.  Fortunately, I took my time and went at it very methodically.  I located the exact position it needed and drilled a few holes to start opening up the rectangle for it to slide in.  I got pretty luck and it proved to be a nice finished fit once all the filing and trimming was completed.

I then made up a jig to locate the screw holes since I couldn’t drill or mark from below due to interference of the console.  The jig allowed me to drill pilot holes from the outside and then enlarge to get the proper alighnment.  Worked like a charm and in no time the first bracket was screwed on.

As with everything, the second one goes quicker and easier so in one evening I corrected a big mistake with really nice results.  I doubt anyone could tell that they were installed out of sequence and looking back I wager it was even easier this way vs trying to sand and sculpt the filler around them while filling in the console.