A little more creative problem solving here. The factory upgraded the throttle controls and now are shipping vernier versions instead of the simpler push-pulls. When I was preparing for this step, I experimented with then throttle and promptly discovered that it comes apart when you pull it too far. Six oblong steel bearings fell out. I was ready to ship the thing back to MacFarlane Aviation for re-assembly, but they reassured me it was actually easy to take care of myself and pointed me to a nice YouTube that demonstrated the process. Wonderful!
Upon reading closely, I discovered that the vernier throttle requires a 3/4” hole, but the panel only has a 1/2” hole. There’s room to simply drill it larger with a step drill, but that doesn’t leave room for turning the nut behind the panel to secure the throttle. The Book has you grind a flat spot on the lock washer and turn the throttle into the fixed nut, but that will scape up the paint. The Book then helpfully suggests that you remove the panel. Not Going To Happen.
Instead, I made a 3/4” hole in scrap aluminum, then suspended that over a dowel (cap from the Sharpie) and traced a 3/4” hole that was tangent at the top relative to the 1/2” in the panel. Some ginger work with a dremel drum enlarged the hole in a downward (and lateral) fashion to approximately the right size, then finished it off with a step drill. Viola! A properly sized hole that is far enough away from the under panel to permit ordinary installation.
Throttle & Choke controls
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