Motor Mounts & Replacement Front Fuse Skin


Beginning the upper motor mounts - traced the templates to card and then rough cut the part with the bandsaw.



The other side.



My replacement front fuse skin from Sonex - Kerry was happy to ship me the correct skin.  I let them know that I had inventoried the entire kit and there were no other part swaps.  Be sure to inventory your kit when it arrives - it will save you headaches down the road.



There is a sheet of plywood in the cardboard to protect the skin from bending.



Unfortunately the skin shifted during transit and poked through on one end and it bent.  Not pretty.



Just a bit of a bend, but definately going to need some work.



The replacement skin.



The replacement skin with a bent corner.



Of course its bent at one of the holes.  I'll never get this perfectly straight, but no one (except for those of you that have read this) will ever know :)



Even the part number sticker is correct.



The replacement skin is sitting on top, the skin I'm shipping back to Sonex is flat on the table.



To prevent the returned skin from getting damaged like the one Sonex shipped me I wrapped the front end with shipping wrap and taped it to the plywood.



A bit more tape and plastic - a pain, but I want the skin to be useable when it gets back home.



Back to our regularly scheduled program - Since the legs on the table are on the outside of the frame they provide a great clamping surface.  I clamped a 2x4 to the leg and I've been using it to hold the angle pieces while I filed on them.



A different view of the filing block.



I use a 9" bastard file to do the heavy cutting.  



The metal vibrates (squeeks) occasionaly when filing.  Putting a spring clamp on the piece changes the resonant frequency and stops the annoying squeek.



The part taking shape.  The inner round corner is a pain to shape correctly.



To get the raidused corners correct I'm using my round file.  I cut in the radius first and then file down the flat areas.



I've had this file forever - I bought it in college to replace a u-joint I broke on a buddies jeep while he was out of town.  We got the joint changed on the side of a road and he was never the wiser.  Its a bit worn, but it still cuts great.



The finished part - I filed just a bit to much off the bottom end.  It looks worse in the photo than it really is.



The completed part.  All the edges cleaned up and the part sanded.



Another view.



And just one more.





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