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May 21, 2005:
(1.0 hrs.) I have been traveling the last 3 weeks for work and
have not had a chance to work on the plane. Now I am finally home,
but have lots of catching up to do with the family and projects around
the house... I have really been chomping at the bit to get back at it.
I did manage to spend an hour riveting the final interior rib on the right tank. I did this one by myself and it came out much better then the other ribs where I had a partner. I think handling the bucking bar and rivet gun at the same time gives me a good feel for how the rivet is setting (since I cant see anything with all this ProSeal goop in the way). It still would be helpful to have a partner to help moving the clecos, inserting the rivets, and keeping the tools clean.
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May 22, 2005: (2.0 hrs.) Today I fabricated an anti-rotation bracket for the fuel pickup tube bulk-head fitting. I altered from the plans a bit by cutting the bracket across the center of the 9/16" hole where the AN fitting is held. This makes it much easier when final attaching the bulk-head fitting. |
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Mixed up some ProSeal and then riveted the root rib into place. The hand squeezer made quick work of these rivets. |
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Next, I riveted the attachment angle and reinforcement plate into place. This was a pain! First, when I went to cleco the thing into position, I noticed I could not get the parts to line up with the pre-drilled holes. Turns out that the newly formed rivet shop heads on the inside of the root rib flange were interfering with the fit. I had to clean all the ProSeal from the attachment angle and then grind away some material. That took care of that issue, but then I soon found out that riveting the parts was difficult because the anti-rotation bracket made for a tight squeeze with the bucking bar. |
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May 27, 2005: (2.0 hrs.) Installed the fuel bulk head fitting and flop tube. This is the bulk head fitting from the outside of the tank with lots of ProSeal around it. |
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Next, I inserted the plastic grommets and slide the 1/4" fuel line into place. The vent line gets held into place at the high end of the tank with a small aluminum clip that is riveted to the fuel cap flange. |
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Once the vent line was in, I installed the vent line bulk head fitting (blue in the picture) and the fuel sender BNC fitting. These are installed in the inboard root rib with ProSeal. |
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This is the vent line bulkhead fitting and BNC fitting from inside the tank. As you can see, these need to be completed covered with ProSeal |
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Attached the 18 gauge wire with end terminal to the outboard fuel sender plate and coated it with ProSeal (the glob on the lower left of plate). Installed the outboard fuel sender plate. |