Manual Trim Overall Route
Bob,
The fun is just beginning with the manual trim cable. I'd install one again rather than electric, so don't take my cautions wrong. I am writing from recollections aged up to four years, so hope they're accurate, since you won't encounter these difficulties until you're hot to assemble the airplane and go flying.
The hole drilled in the main spar web of the stabilizer is large enough to pass the largest diameter of the aft end of the cable and not cut into the web reinforcements (you riveted on as practically the first assembly operation of the kit). Therefore, at installation, you cannot insert a large enough bushing to pass the entire cable without opening up the hole and removing material from the reinforcements to accommodate the bushing. (Also, the overall thickness of the spar is too great for a snap-in bushing to lock in place.) I did not open the hole, but I'm not worried about chaffing as it's not a knife edge sheet metal hole, and the cable is metal sheathed. How you route the cable plays a role in whether or not the sheath bears against anything. I found the most direct route with the largest radii to be through the bulkhead lightening hole above the horizontal's saddle, not up through the saddle. Also, an adele clamp here and there will help stabilize the installation.
From the baggage bulkhead aft you must suspend the cable in some manner so that it can't touch the fuse bottom skin or it will wear through the skin eventually. Plan which way to face the bulkhead plastic bushings so that you can (adele) clamp the cable against the bushings in the direction they are inserted. I also added several clamps to ribs forming the center section elevator pushrod tunnel to further secure the cable against shifting fore and aft and drooping.
There is a "sweet" radius for the cable that bests accommodates the angle of the knob/fuel selector mounting plate with the floor (actually, the cover over the floor center). Find that first, eliminate slack aft to the baggage bulkhead and forward from the stabilizer blukhead, then deal with any slack in the run between the baggage and horizontal stab bulkheads where you have some sway space in the fuse cone.
Further, plan now your wiring/coax/static & fuel tube routes. Drill all the holes you think you will need in ribs, bulkheads, and wing spar center section web, and then some, allowing for bushing O.D, and how you will access those holes to install/remove bushings and their occupants, and not interfere with control movement. Van's instructions are really weak on systems installation and the numerous holes needed, understandable since every airplane's different.
John Siebold
89 hours on a 7