Finally the seating area is behind me and I can move forward to the forward section of the fuselage. As Vans makes you work from the back to the front (once the canoe is turned), that also means that I'm getting near to the end of the regular construction work on the bottom side of the fuselage.

This part of the assembly is described in plan DWG34. The search started for the required parts and started the traditional edge deburring of all of them. You'll need the F-782C center cabin cover (that funky looking part), a smal rectangular part F782D heat baffle that fits behind the center cabin cover and serves as heat baffle for the warm air that comes through the firewall. And finally F-982E, a cover access plate through which the mixture, throttle and carb heat cables will run.

First step is fairly easy. Draw centerlines on the flanges of the F782D heat baffle and position it behind the F782C center cabin cover.

The F782C is predrilled so all you need to do is spot the centerline everywhere through the holes and cleco clamp all in place.

Drill #40 for AN426AD3 rivets

Matchdrill the F982E cover #19 for 8R8

Deburred all holes and dimpled the cover and baffle.