Seat Frame

As the first thing to build this was approached with the greatest of trepidation. 

The first thing you should do on getting the kit is to identify all the parts, and do a complete bolt audit. I didn't: Mistake. There were a few times when a missing bolt or part would stop the build all together whilst the missing part was sent. This was very frustrating when the time was allocated and couldn't be used. Mind you Mainair were always very quick at sending the part out, and I usually got it within a 1-2 days. I think this problem stems from the picking list for the kit not having been maintained with the ongoing enhancements to the Blade as they are not a high volume product!

The manual does not say how tight things should be so first lessons was how to judge that the fasteners were just right, and not squashing the tubing.

The AN bolts are chosen such that the shank of the bolt is sufficiently long that the thread clears the tubing. This is to prevent the thread from filing the tube and elongating the hole. A washer or plate is then normally used so that the nut can be tightened without impinging on the shank. If the bolt chosen doesn't meet these criteria then generally something is amiss! Bolts without a hole in the thread at the end use nylocs without exception and those with a hole use castellated nuts with a stainless split pin. The castellated nuts are generally used on fasteners that are required to take some form of rotation but this is not exclusively so.

Most bolts are done to the point where they "just nip", which tends to be when about 1 1/2 threads are visible above the end of the nut. There must be thread visible at the end. NO EXCEPTIONS!

If a component doesn't fit question yourself first as to what YOU are doing wrong, and never, ever modify a component that does not appear to fit! In all I found one poorly machined component, and one major wrong one! Remember its probably you that is at fault!!!

There can be a problem when fitting a bolt that it is very tight. Mainair recommends using a reamer as during plating the hole size is reduced slightly, so can cause particularly AN3s to be very tight. Don't even contemplate taking an AN3 out to an AN4 bolt. Suspect that AN4 shouldn't go there in the first place!

The other point to watch for is the orientation of the nylon washers used to locate the skiffy caps that cover the fasteners in certain locations. These retaining washers have a ridge halfway along there depth. One side of this ridge is angled, the other is at 90 degrees towards the center hole. This 90 degree edge should be furthest away from the end that is being capped. You will know if it's wrong as the cap till not stay on!

Ok, to start. FIRST step is to put the frame into the seat fabric. The manual shows how the various webbing straps are orientated. Note that the long thin straps fall free of the cross support strap. This is crucial. The cross strap is very tight, and supports the passenger!

Once happy with this part insert the lower frame into the tags that you can see at the bottom of this picture and only fasten those parts of the frame that the manual shows. The long bolts left unfastened are to take the hand throttle fittings.

This picture shows brass spacer and the retention cable that is used to keep the R clip that pins the telescopic arms under the seat. This is the throttle side, hence the long bolts. The main joint has skiffy caps both ends, that are different sizes. This caught me out as the smaller skiffy cap will not fit over the castellated nut!

I found that the lower frame had to be persuaded to properly line up with the upper frame. There was a 15mm difference in alignment.