You start constructing your RV-8 aircraft interior by building the two seat backs.  Then you fit the floors and finish up with the seat ramp and consoles.  I faced a few tricky spots in this process.  Here's how I handled them.

Seat Backs

The new match drilled front seat back is straightforward.  Because my seats weren’t match drilled, I had to ensure the F-832A was the correct length overall, before I drilled it to the F-832C-L&R.  I also needed to ensure the F-832B missed the WD-808 when the seat back was installed.  So I couldn’t drill it until the floor and bottom half of the F-832E hinge were in place.

The old rear seat back had a fiberglass top that needed to be fitted to the seat back at an angle that made it lay smooth against the F-807 bulkhead.   I clecoed the turtle deck skin on to hold the top half of the F-807 bulkhead in the proper position.  Then I put the fiberglass top into position and marked where it met the top of the seat back.  I put the seat back and top flat on the bench to drill the parts together.  Then back into the fuselage to ensure the top was lying flat against the bulkhead, and I drilled the holes in the sides of the seat back.  Lastly, I cut the fiberglass to size, ensuring it didn’t cover the holes in the bulkhead for the seatbelts.  The exact shape isn’t important, as long as it looks good.

Seat Floors

Locating and drilling the platenuts for the Flap actuator and F-445 Flap Bearing Block was difficult.  I had the hole for the bolt, and tried to center the platenut in it with a temporary bolt while I drilled the rivet holes.  I got the holes drilled and the platenuts installed, but getting the bolts to start threading was tough.  The platenuts must not have been exactly centered in the holes.  I had to install the four bolts in a particular order, or I couldn’t get the last one started.  The new match drilled kit may take care of this problem.

I have seen others who have a rear mounted battery install an inspection door in the lower half of the F-835 rear baggage shelf.  This allows access to the battery by unscrewing only a few screws instead of having to remove the entire F-835.  If you are going to do this, mark and cut the hole carefully, and you can reuse the center part you removed as the access panel.  Make a doubler out of material at least as thick as the F-835 (.025).  Rivet it to the F-835 so that it provides a lip for the access panel to rest against.  Then drill holes for screws though the panel and the lip of the doubler.  Finally, rivet platenuts to the back of the doubler.  This panel within the aircraft interior is similar to the access panel in the F-866A Fwd Baggage Bulkhead.

Consoles and Seat Ramp

Locating the fuel valve handle hole in the F-881-L mid cabin cover took some thought.  I ended up clecoing the cover in position.  Using a pencil through the hole in the F-878-L mid cabin brace, I marked the location on the bottom of the cover.  Of course this isn’t precise, so I initially drilled a small hole to check how I was doing.  Then with a unibit, I widened the hole one step at a time, checking as I went to ensure the hole was centered.  If it was off center, I put side pressure on the unibit as I drilled to the next size.  This moved the center of the hole in the direction of the pressure.  When I got to a 3/8 hole, it was nicely centered.

I built the F-865 right console of my aircraft interior just like the plans, but I wasn’t happy with the throttle quadrant, so I made my own.  You can read all about it in my Throttle Quadrant article.

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