Building a Cozy MK IV Head Rests, Seat Belts And Heat Ducts

Chapter 8

Head Rests, Seat belts and Heat Duct



Click on the pictures for a larger image.

I am starting this chapter while waiting on some foam to here for chapter 6.
I started this chapter by laying out the parts for the head rests and shoulder support on a piece of 3/8" low density foam. Like the heating duct these will get laid out and glassed before getting cut out of the sheet. I applied micro slurry to the foam and fiber glassed the sheet with BID fiberglass. I then covered the sheet with peel ply. I cut the four shoulder harness hard points out of 3/8" birch plywood and inset them into the shoulder supports. I cut out the head rest parts and using flox, I assembled them with the fiber glassed side on the inside. I used nails to temporarily hold the assembly together until the flox setup.










Here is a picture of the parts to this point.
Below is a picture of the rear heat duct. It is constructed in the same manner as the front heat duct was in chapter 6.









Below is a picture of the heat duct transition piece. This piece will be attached to the top of the rear heat duct to allow a hose to be attached to the duct. To make this piece I took a piece of low density foam and made a 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch block. Then I used a hole saw and turned it into the foam by hand. Next I wrapped it with electrical tape and then I covered it with two layers of Bi directional fiberglass (BID). Notice the pretty air pockets in the fiberglass, it is a good thing this is not structural. This was not the easiest piece to cover. After taking this picture, I realized I had forgot to put wax paper under the rubber band so I went back and did it before the epoxy set up.










The next night I drilled a one inch hole through the inside of the transition piece to remove most of the foam. Then I dug out the rest of the foam with a screw driver which left the fiberglass shell. It turned out the air pockets where between the fiber glass and the tape so no harm was done. I fiber glassed the outside of the rear heating duct and did the extra reinforcements over the seat belt attachment point. The next night I taped the rear heating duct in place, floxed the transition piece in place and installed the additional seven layers of fiberglass over the seat belt attachment points, both front seat and back seat. Then I peal plied the edges of the seat belt reinforcements to make a smooth transition to the floor. Below is a picture of the rear heating duct with the transition piece in place. Not much to see for the 10 hours of work it took.










I used 5 minute epoxy and assembled the two pieces of the shoulder support. I then floxed the inside corner. I test fitted the part into the fuselage again and cut the BID fiberglass to glass the inside of the shoulder rest. I marked the 1 inch hole that gets cut in under the longeron and drilled it through the shoulder rest and the seat back. 








I then cut the slots in the shoulder supports for the shoulder harness nut plates and I made the nut plates.



















I am going with the "cone head" head rests per plans. These head rests are to protect the occupants in the case of a roll over. I am going to wait to install them until after the canopy is installed.
I then made from 1/4 inch birch plywood the seat belt/step hard points and installed them. I then made the outer seat belt attachment brackets. Below is what this looks like.









I sanded the corners of the headrests and fiber glassed the outside of the headrests and applied the 3 extra layers over the top of the head rests. These will be installed after the canopy is installed.
For the seat belt brackets, I drilled holes and counter sunk for the screw heads in the fuselage. I then applied flox to the seat belt brackets and bolted them in and used micro to fill the counter sinks.








This completes chapter 8 on 12/17/09.
At the end of chapter 8, my project weighs 103 lbs. minus the seat belts and head rests.




If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to email me @
Jfisher59@gci.net


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