Posted for "Bill Harrelson" <n5zq@verizon.net>:

 Rob,
 
 I did not ground (earth) any of my fuel tanks. I am not aware of any 320/360
builder who has done so. Having said that, it is certainly not a bad idea as
long as you do it in a lightweight manner.
 
 As far as the fibrefrax, it’s good stuff. I put it in beneath the stainless
steel firewall per the manual. What I found is that under compressive loads it
gets squeezed flat causing the stainless to wrinkle. This will have little or
no practical implication...but it looks like crap. I removed everything from
the firewall and replaced the fibrefrax with washers everywhere that something
was bolted to the firewall. This included the engine mount bolts. Now, I have
solid, no compression, surfaces at the bolts and no wrinkles in the stainless
while retaining the heat/fire resistance of the fibrefrax.
 
 The first photo shows the fibrefrax cut out around the washers (phenolic
behind the battery) and ready for the stainless to be added.
 The second photo is the completed firewall with everything torqued down and
no wrinkles. I burnished the stainless with scotchbrite and a hand drill.
 
 Let me know if you need more info.
 
 
 
 Bill Harrelson
 N5ZQ 320 2,050 hrs
 N6ZQ  IV under construction
 http://www.mykitlog.com/harrelson/
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
From: Stevens Family
 Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 8:27 AM
 To: lml@lancaironline.net
 Subject: [LML] LN2 queries
 
 Another couple of queries for those who have built the L320/360 aircraft.
 
 
 
 1.       I notice that the instructions make no mention of earthing the fuel
filler on the header tank. On my kit, which I purchased partly built with the
wings completed, I notice that all the metal parts of the wing tanks are
electrically bonded, including the fuel filler port inserts. However in the
instructions for building the header tank, there is no mention of bonding the
filler port. It would be quite simple to do with some copper bonding strap
glassed into the inside of the forward deck, and passing through the flox bond
where the tank is bonded to the forward deck. What has everyone else done?
 
 2.       I am researching the firewall forward part of the manual, and notice
they talk about using 2 layers of fibrefax behind the stainless steel fire
shield which covers the firewall, all bonded into place with “ high
temperature silicone”. As this section of my construction manual is dated
1994, I am wondering whether this is still the recommended process, or have
fibrefax and high temperature silicone been superceded by something more up to
date.
 
 
 
 I appreciate any suggestions offered.
 
 
 
 Regards,
 
 
 
 Rob Stevens
 
 Perth,
 
 Western Australia.