Ken Jones wrote: >>IF certifying under FAR 23, and using other than the listed materials, >>then the fire test is required. Who knows? Perhaps .005" stainless over >>Fiberfrax is better than .015 stainless.,<<
I bought the .015" thick stainless for my firewall, because I couldn't find anything thinner. But as I was taking it out of the box, I'd already come to the conclusion "there's no way this is going on my plane!". It weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces, and almost all of that 2' x 3' sheet would end up on the front of my plane. In his book "Firewall Forward", page 60, Tony Bengelis recommends .016" 2024-T3 aluminum over Fiberfrax, although he doesn't say how thick the Fiberfrax should be. I used the thicker of the two (1/8") Fiberfraxes that Wicks sold (it's VERY light). Then I found that Rand Robinson did sell the .005" stainless, so I bought that and made a .005 stainless / Fiberfrax sandwich. Lopping three pounds off the firewall is not always easy to do, so here's one place you can do it the easy way, probably cheaper than .015" stainless, when you consider that the .005" can be rolled and shipping is lower. See http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/fiberfrax.php?clickkey=6977 for Fiberfrax, although it ain't cheap, now that I've seen it...about $30 for what you'd need. Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
