Over a couple of sessions, I’ve installed additional m4 rivnuts, permanently riveted together the VS structure and mounted the VOR antenna base to Rib 004 – previously reinforced with its doubler.
Edge grommets have been applied to lightening holes of the rear channel and rib 003. I’ve elected to replace the factory-supplied rubber grommets with Heyco 0.375in nylon snap-bushings – to protect the coax and strobe light wiring where it passes through the VS structure. I enlarged the forming holes to 9.5mm, as directed. The forming holes at the front of ribs 002 and 003 were similarly enlarged to accommodate the bushings for my (optional, build-specific) VOR antenna coax cable. Routing the coax near the front of the structure is intended to keep the cable clear of the ‘works’ for the elevator.
After a bit of experimentation with my newly acquired rotary coax stripper, I installed the Amphenol BNC male connector to the RG-400 coax cable. As mentioned in a earlier post, I’ve decided to use M27500-20TG4T14 for the strobe – rather than the factory-supplied PVC jacketed wire. Some heat shrink tubing bulks up the cables as they pass through the bushings and the edge grommets. A few dollops of aluminum-compatable gasket-forming RTV locks down the bushings and the cables to the structure. I don’t want any movement from vibration.