Old builder coming up to the List - Windshield installation

[Wayne G. O'Shea]

Francesco, the pictures show an installation with the firewall in the original position. Yes if you follow the 3" cut back instructions the windshield hangs over the firewall/engine compartment, which to me is NOT acceptable. The fuselage I built a year ago for M.F. had the firewall cut back 3", as he requested, but I only installed an extension wide enough for the fiberglass retainer to sit on in front of the firewall. The factory windshield can be trimmed back enough along the bottom, so that the lower lip sits directly above the firewall panel. This way only the retainer will sit out over the engine compartment about an inch and the windshield is safe behind the firewall where a fire couldn't come up through it. Don't forget to leave enough of a lip for the cowl to mount to as well in front of the firewall. If I remember right the extension I put on extended an 1 1/2" (38mm) in front of the lip. This leaves 3/4" for the cowl to sit on and 3/4" (plus the width of the firewall lip) for the retainer to be riveted to.

P.S. Still would have loved the change of venue, but not in the cards!

Cheers,
Wayne G. O'Shea
www.irishfield.on.ca

----- Original Message -----
From: Francesco.Simioni@atptelec.com (Francesco.Simioni@atptelec.com)
To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com (murphy-rebel@dcsol.com)
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 2:09 PM
Subject: Old builder coming up to the List - Windshield installation pics by WayneO'Shea



Hi to every one
I am an old and slow builder of Rebel 562 R and have been monitoring this list since June 1998 when Brian Godden , at that time European rep. in nearby France ( Epinal ), gave me address of the web site DCSOL
Now I have decided to subscribe to the list and to come up and thanks every builder for the hints and problem solving messages that are one of the best resources we have , and one special thanks have to be extended to Wayne O Shea and Bob Patterson for their expert opinions .
Unfortunately in Italy I am the only and first Rebel builder building with all the registration rules and our burocracy does not certainly help the process ( there have been 2 Rebels UltraLights built by a commercial company about 8 years ago and one of them crashed last year killing the 83 years old pilot , a probable steep turn stall ) .
The question to Wayne is : you posted some beautiful pictures ( better than 20 pages of Manual ) about the windshield installation, was that Rebel with the Firewall cut back or with the the firewall at regular distance ?
That is because I see that the wind shield rests well behind the firewall , and in the past I read messages saying that by cutting the firewall back , the front edge of the wind shield was resting above the Hot side of the engine compartment and therefore some stainless steel separation was required .
I am not at that stage of building but just to clear my mind because on this subject the manual is not the best for a first timer .
Thanks again and hope to give my modest contribution in the future

Ciao

Francesco Simioni
562R