Yeah, since my last update about a month ago it's been drilling, drilling, and more drilling. Insert not a few clecos, silicone, and lots of jigsaw puzzle work applying the Thermo-Tec sound/heat barrier, and that's been a big portion of my time lately. I enjoyed aspects of this part of the build. It's somewhat mindless, so I can put on some tunes and go to work.

All of my floor pieces in the cockpit are riveted, silicone applied, and Thermo-Tec installed. Here's a shot looking rearward at the rear cockpit wall. The fit wasn't perfect--probably due to my noobiness--but it is solid, and should function as well as something that looks prettier. Pretty sure this is my personal best for number of clecos used! I will apply the Thermo-Tec to it once I have the fuel lines, brake lines, and e-brake installed, so as to leave me easier access. My trusty Black & Decker electric drill my wife bought for my birthday 25+ years ago is still working well!




It was fun to try my hand at making my first bracket (firewall support). I'm sure this is overkill because my firewall is 0.090, and already very rigid. But, it gave me a good excuse to try my hand at making a bracket that won't be seen. Plus, I needed a good excuse to pull the trigger on a new tool: this is a metal brake made by Klutch. True confession: I had to YouTube how to use it, as this is new to me as well. The bracket came together just fine.







Finished mocking up the DS footbox. Clecos only for now, of course, until the body is ready to put on.




I couldn't think of any reason not to rivet and silicone the push-out section on the left side of the DS footbox, so it's done too.




Another fun thing (and a new tool as well) I did was try my hand at powder coating. I picked up a small toaster-style oven for dirt cheap off Amazon (~$40), and a powder coating gun from Eastwood. I PC'd the accelerator pedal bracket, and the circular bracket for the metal fuel filler tube on the gas tank. This color is matte black. I put two coats on the pedal bracket. It was fairly straight forward after I went through the whole process. Quick, and not very messy and no odor (had plenty of that recently from my clear coat rattle can work). The original pedal bracket I received was bent backwards (middle). I show it here to give a before and after comparison. F5 sent me a replacement, which I PC'd (right).