Vans use flush rivets on the firewall to make adding parts in the engine bay easier and it helps to keep the bay clean too. So first task was to dimple the firewall panel.
Next I cleco’d all the parts onto the firewall panel.
Once it was clamped it was time to rivet the parts on. True to their word at the beginning of the fuselage instructions Van’s don’t tell you which riveting method to use for the firewall so I followed other builders logs and started with back riveting. Unfortunately, I didn’t get very good results so I switched to riveting using a flush set in the rivet gun with my tungsten bucking bar. For me, I got really nice results so I stuck with it.
That’s the firewall finished. For now!