Someone recently asked about the treatment of the firewall edge. This is not my
idea ... Pretty sure it came from one of the Tony Benglis books (should be in
everyone's library)
?? I did a light tack of spray glue to attach the fiberfax and again a light
tack to attach the stainless to the fiberfax. The fiberfax was trimmed to the
exact edge of the plywood firewall and the stainless was about 3/8" bigger on
the 2 vertical sides and bottom. The top portion from the top shelf up and
around to the top shelf on the opposite side was about 5/8" bigger. The bottom
and side edges were folded over to cover the edge of the firewall and the paint
finish of the matting surfaces was matched to the stainless edge with the lower
cowl edges covering the junction. ?The top radius I drilled a very small hole
in the stainless right at the edge of the firewall plywood about every inch or
so. Then at every drilled hole a small cut was made in the stainless from the
edge into the drilled hole. This left a number of one inch long tabs that now
were folded over one at a time with 2 bends that made them wrap the top edge of
the firewall. I then drove a very ...very small st. stl. brad into the top edge
of each tab to ensure that I did not bend them up or damage them. The foreword
deck was fit tight to the firewall and overlapped proud of the fire wall and
the joggle of the top cowl over laps in the opposite direction. This is a
perfectly water tight seal from the outside elements and can and should be a
smoke tight seal. Which reminds me was on my squawk list to reseal a spot or 2
on mine. This is a pretty labor intensive step but yields great results
?? Just to throw fuel on the fire (pun intended). I read some of the fire posts
with interest. I am a firm believer that worrying about fire in the plane or
any of the buildings that you enter on a daily basis is very misguided. It is
the smoke that you will scum to long before the flames are licking at you.
Sealing the firewall is the first defense just like smoke alarms are in the
buildings you enter everyday (not sprinklers like your led to believe). I had a
incident of smoke in the cabin and the situation becomes dire in about 5
seconds. I was able to open the canopy (and yet another argument for foreword
tilting canopy), Vision and breathing restored I was then able to asses the
situation. And make the decisions needed. (in my case it was making an airport
and salvaging me and the plane).
Just food for thought,
Joe Horton,
N357CJ
