Work done on the rollover area and heating ducts didn’t take into account where the canopy latch pushrod would go. My mistake. Easily fixed with a couple of days work and a bit of a tidy up around that area.

I’ve started cutting away that nut plate holder and showing you where the air vent has to go. Not where you can see the old hole was! By the time this shot was taken I’d also cut away the seat back for the latch push rod to fit. There is also a matter of that canopy latch in the picture needing clearance to move freely.

I decided to do a good job of making the hole area sound again so I could re-cut it.

Here the piece is microed in place with peel ply either side (now removed) and good as new. I did use a piece of scrap foam that had been glassed so it saved a lot of time.

Now I’ve recut the hole for the air vent. I’ve added a fence too to contain the hot air from the heating system, rounded a few edges for better flow and made good the foam where the push rod goes just to the side.

Of course my beautiful heat system cover was just a bit too high for the pushrod. I’ve glued that block on and I later reshaped it to a much smaller footprint at the back, and glassed it on the outside. The front side was also rounded and glassed checking that the push rod would give easy clearance in all positions.

Here’s my reshaped duct and the back of the eyeball trimmed. I think the air will flow better around here and its all starting to get a little neater.

Meanwhile time to tackle the bolt issue that has to be a part of the rollover. I just used a AN509 type machine screw which has a low profile curved head. I put a slight notch as you see above into the glass filler on the side of the longerons so the timber itself was hardly touched. I also added a groove onto the screw so that it could be held with a screw driver while putting the latch nut on. The point is that the latch stays on the rollover when you remove it rather than the latch bolt going through the longerons from the outside. That scenario would mean the rollover would become non removable. I could have done a nutplate thing but why make the longerons weaker with a hole if it is not necessary?

Here it all is sitting with clearances. The grey tape is a ‘release’ for a nut plate mount while it cures. The shelf top I’ve shortened from its previous length and it will still be a handy shelf. It needs to be removable so I can have access to the eyeball vent which is absent for this picture. You can also see some of the ducting living in the cavity.

With the rollover back on you can see how it all sits. I’m thinking a leather zipped bag will go in that space between the oxygen system and the shelf. I’ll claw back a little storage here.