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First step- cut out the front of the firewall and the front underside of the fuselage

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Reinforcement of the joints with bid tapes

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The weather ain't half bad, so I take the opportunity to throw open the rear doors of the garage to let the sun in and the epoxy fumes out

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In case your're wondering what the view is, this is it. Could be worse.

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Drilled the holes in the mounting frame. Of course these holes are positioned in such a way that the rest of the frame interferes with the bench drill. So off to my neighbour again to have it done at his factory

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Same for the top holes.

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To make the frame fit requires an extraordinary amount of sanding, particularly in the top corners (a round file comes in handy here). So much that I was afraid I must have got it all messed up. Another confirmation of the Europa wisdom: "If it fits first time, you've done something wrong".

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Once it does fit I pose for a publicity photo to give the impression it doesn't take any effort

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Before fixing the mounting for eternity I decide to make a bulkhead in the front now that I can still get at it. First with a piece of cardboard to get the shape right, fittted with a wooden handle.

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Tracing the shape onto plywood

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Wrapped the sides of the panel in parcel tape and installed it with bid tapes. After that you can take it out and install anchor nuts.

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Fully installed

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Trial fitting the bolts. The bottom legs spread slightly (...) and with the flox radius on the other side the bolts supplied are too short. Order longer ones.

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Bolting the frame to the tunnel, with some Araldite as a pad. Here again the syringe comes in handy to get the stuff exactly where it has to be and no further.