I got a few more small items done this week. This weekend, I had planned to bond the engine preheater pad to the oil sump, but I got distracted by the box that arrived on Friday from Flightline Interiors, containing aileron pushrod boots and firewall insulation. I completely forgot about the engine preheat, and attacked the aileron pushrod boots.

The aileron pushrods go from the bottom of the control stick weldment, in the middle of the fuselage, through holes in the fuselage into the wings. Apparently a large quantity of air will travel from the wing into the fuselage through those holes. This is not a big deal in the summer, but it causes a very cold draft in the winter. The standard solution is to install fabric cone-shaped boots, with the point of the cone on the aileron control rod, and the base at the hole in the fuselage. The fabric blocks the air flow, but allows the control rods to move freely.

I stumbled across Flightline Interiors when I was looking for firewall insulation. I had seen many positive comments from Abby's customers, but had never visited her web site. When I was looking for firewall insulation, I discovered that Abby also sold aileron boots. The price was right ($19), and it looked like a way to save a bit of time, so I ordered a pair.

I was a bit chagrined when they arrived to find that the kit does not include the metal rings that are used to attach the outer part of the boot to the fuselage, nor is any hardware included. I had lots of spare metal and hardware, but I had somehow expected that stuff to be included. To be fair to Abby, the description on the web site is quite clear - I had just not read it properly. I should have woken up when I thought "Wow, $19 is a very good price for aileron boots, metal rings and hardware".

Heads up to any other RV-8 builders using this kit - the paper template for the metal rings is a bit small. I figured that out before I cut any metal, and it only took a few minutes to make my own, correctly sized template, so no harm done. I drilled five holes to mount each ring to the fuselage. The top hole is where a rivet used to be. The rivet would have been in the way, so I drilled it out and used it as a screw hole. The instructions show the nutplates being riveted to the fuselage, but I decided it would be easier to do this retrofit if the nutplates were on the ring.

The small end of the aileron boot has some elastic sewn into it, so it will fit tightly over the aileron control rod.

I need to get some spray adhesive to hold the boot fabric in place while I screw the rings on to the fuselage, and this job will be done.