Started 03/01/06
The firewall is made from a sheet of stainless steel. This is a very important part of your airplane because it keeps the smoke, fumes and, God forbid, any fires out of the cockpit. It's made out of stainless steel instead of aluminum to better withstand any heat.
The firewall must be properly shaped and sized as it defines the shape of the fuselage as it progresses from the spinner and nose bowl, back to the instrument panel on top, and door frames on the sides. To make sure the firewall is the correct shape and size, you must first mount the engine so you can mount the prop spinner and nose bowl. You must also mount the instrument panel (or at least a mock up of it).
The nose bowl was temporarily clamped into position using some 1/4" pieces
of wood as spacers between the spinner plate and the nosebowl.
Then a string was ran from the top of the nose bowl to the top of the instrument
panel as shown below:
Using the measurments in the drawings make a firewall blank out of plywood.
Here is my plywood cut-out of the firewall being match drilled to the
fuselage from behind:
The plywood firewall form was then placed on top of the sheet of stainless
steel and the outline was traced with a sharpie marker pen:
Click here to go to Firewall page 2