I was on the road for most of the week, so didn't get out to the hangar to work on the aircraft until today.

This morning I attacked the problem of the aft end of the forward elevator pushrod rubbing inside the torque tube that connects the two control sticks. I disconnected both pushrods at the aft control stick, and peered inside the torque tube with a mirror. It was clear that there was nothing sticking down from the top of the torque tube, nor was there any anomaly with the pushrod. The problem is that the bottom of the stick rises as the stick is pulled aft, and this brings the pushrod closer and closer to the inside of torque tube. I had rigged the aft stick angled a bit aft to ensure that it didn't hit the front seat back at full forward stick. This probably is why the aft end of the forward pushrod hits the torque tube at full aft stick.

Today I lengthened the forward pushrod, and shortened the next most aft pushrod, to change the angle of the rear stick. Now there is no interference problem at full aft stick. I forgot to take the front seat back to the hangar, so I couldn't check to see whether I will have to put a bend in the rear stick. But, even if I need a bend in that stick, this isn't a problem for now, as the aft stick won't be installed until I start carrying passengers, which will be many hours after first flight.

I rechecked the elevator travel, and found it matched Van's recommended limits, except the down elevator travel was about a half degree more than recommended. This shouldn't cause any issues in service, so I am not going to do anything about it.

I adjusted the lengths of the two long aileron pushrods to put the stick vertical when the ailerons were neutral, then measured the aileron travel. Everything was inside the recommended limits.

The freezing rain that was forecast arrived earlier than expected, so I shut down operations and came home before the roads got too treacherous.