Progress report

After ordering a whole bunch of pieces/parts from Aircraft Spruce including the SCEET tubing, I've been busy getting the work completed on the kick panels. I needed to shorten the aluminum air duct vents in order to accommodate the SCEET tubing bend inside the panel but now that's all done and it looks good. This should greatly enhance the heat distribution to the rear seats in the winter.

I've also moved the headphone jacks to the center console and placed them inside some new housings (also from Aircraft Spruce) where they make much more sense to be located and look a ton better. I'd also ordered new aircraft-quality jacks to replace the (Radio Shack?) jacks that were previously installed and had broken a few times already, not to mention the noisy connection problems. I've not yet replaced all the jacks but hope to have that done soon.

The pilot-side air distribution box had a broken plastic bracket so I fabricated a new one from some scrap aluminum and pop-riveted into place. Now for the final tasks of getting the pilot side air ducting finished and the kick panel trimmed, drilled, and painted.

Back at it

I've been getting back to the plastic work over the last few weeks. I got the plastic panels exchanged with Plane Plastics and have gotten the passenger-side panel fitted. I found the old CAT tubing used to connect the airbox to the lower panel vents had deteriorated badly so I ordered new SCEET tubing to replace it. I used SCEET instead of SCAT because SCEET has an internal lining that covers the interior wires with another layer so they're not exposed to moisture. Being that these vents scoop in air directly from outside that some form of moisture protection is required. I also found that the air ducts were installed on the wrong sides the last time they were removed/replaced AND the pilot-side air manifold mounting tab was broken which I'm working repairing. No wonder those panels never seem to fit right and the plastic was all broken up. I've got the tubing as well as some other parts on order from Aircraft Spruce. Being that our headphone jacks are simple angled-aluminum pieces, I'm considering whether or not to replace those with some more stable and aesthetically pleasing.
Also, I found that the insulation behind the pilot's side kick-panel was saturated with brake fluid. It looks like the brake cylinder is leaking and dripping down behind that panel. I'll be having the mechanic check it out this week.