The hard we do immediatley, the impossible..... (new brakes)

Several years into the build Progressive Aerodyne went to a new wheel/brake system, it included a reservoir installed on the back of the bulkhead. Jim said it would be impossible to retrofit the new system.

I hate it when he says something is impossible. 

The reason he said it was impossible was because you can't get a drill, electric or pneumatic, between the upper bulkhead crossbeam and the fuel tank. But you can get a Dremel right angle attachment in there. And since there was no other good spot to put the reservoir, I had to come up with a solution. I could not be part of the precipitate.

Not shown is cutting drill bits down so they fit, but start off with a couple small drill bits (my borescope camera helped me see) to make pilot holes. Since Dremels can only fit up to a 1/8" shank, I ground a Dremel router bit down just oversize a 6-8 rivet, and used that for final sizing. Jim just shook his head

 

And the crowd went wild.

With that done, she got her leg spats. Takes a few tries of tweaking the gear legs up and down until you find the sweet spot until the ring centers, and I used #10 stainless screws instead of the factory nutplates. Not my greatest caulking job, one days I'll learn to get it right.

Came home from Sun n' Fun with a couple new stickers and a patch....

 and a new lodger outside my hangar. I was walking the ramp and saw a bird with an injured wing, slowly approached it until it flew off and I went Ok, where's the nest?