Category Archives: Forward Section

Fuselage Riveting

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Time: 6 Hours

Today I started riveting the fuselage back together. First thing to do was to put the forward skins in place, along with the spacer’s, the gear tower box plate’s and the auxiliary longeron’s. The plans call one step prior to putting the forward skins in place, some ProSealing. They tell you to put a bead of sealer right at the corner edge of the firewall, presumably to prevent fumes and such from the engine area migrating into the cabin. I decided to skip this step and take care of it later. I will eventually fill the notches on the firewall from the forward side and run a bead of sealer on the aft side of the firewall where it meets the skin. It’s a tight space but with a long nozzle and my Semco ProSeal gun I should be able to do it pretty easy. The reason for all this was cleanliness and I didn’t want to create a bulge under the skin. ProSeal is thick and the fact that you don’t rivet this firewall flange until later means that you only use Cleco’s at this time. Cleco’s are not strong enough to properly squeeze the skins together with ProSeal between them causing the bulge.

(null)Once those your place you start with four rivets at the bottom of the skin by the wing spar. They are in a tight spot where a bucking bar won’t fit so you use blind rivets.

(null)Here is a view of both skins and parts all in place before riveting.

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(null)Once I have the skins in place I started the riveting process working forward to aft. I carefully studied the plans for all the different rivet call outs, in the holes that will be riveted later. I used my tungsten bucking bar and both of my rivet guns. For the upper longeron in the rivets around the wing spar I was able to use my pneumatics squeezer. I only had to drill out one rivet, not too bad.

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(null)It was getting late so I called it a night, I have a few more rivets left in the forward skins. Next I will start on the middle skins and work my way back on the tailcone. Saturday my buddy Glen is coming over to help me read at the bottom skins and the other rivetsthat I can’t reach.

Rudder Pedals

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Time: 2 Hours

I spent a little time in the Hanger this afternoon after flying. I just wanted to assemble the rudder pedals so I could set those parts aside for curing. As I did this I found that the aft end of the weldaments bound a little with the Matco brake actuators. I didn’t think about trial fitting these before I painted them so I had to grind them down a little and repaint them. After a couple of hours they were dry enough to handle and I reassembled them.

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(null)I then removed all fuel pump/filter and their fuel lines to set aside for the riveting process.

(null)If in the future I would need to remove the fuel pump for servicing I would need a way to disconnect the power. There are several ways to do this with different connectors. One way is to use a terminal block and have the wires connect via ring terminals. I grabbed a #8 screw two place block as Fry’s Electronics and installed it on the forward side of the left gear tower. I will then cut the two fuel pump wires the right length and add a couple ring terminals. That way when I need to remove the pump I just need to remove two screws. This also tidies up things versus a loose connector.

(null)Since I had the rudder pedal assemblies all put back together I riveted the floor angles to the forward floor using LP-4 blind rivets.

(null)The aft end and forward end of the angles get cherry max structural blind rivets.

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(null)So I think that I’m done with the small tasks I wanted to do before we set out to rivet the skins. I have the day tomorrow flying to think about anything else I want to do before I get to riveting. Not a lot of stuff done today but every bit gets me closer to flying!

Fuel/Brake Lines

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Time: 12 Hours

After I ran my errands yesterday morning I grabbed the left forward skin that has the NACA vent in it to prime and paint it. If you remember I had already primed the skin then riveted and Pro-Sealed the bent into position. I left the seal cure for two weeks which was today.

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(null)I also scuffed up and cleaned the seat back roll bar for priming and painting.

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(null)My buddy Glen was able to come over late morning to give me a hand at running the brake/fuel lines and a lesson on flaring the tubes properly. First up we started with part of the brake line system. These parts will be from a fitting under the dash and thru the gear towers down to another fitting exiting the bottom of the aircraft at the gear legs. This is a long task of trial and fit with a million tweaks as you fit the parts. Here is the finished product.

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(null)Next we ran the fuel vent lines. These will run from the fuel tank (I already put the line inside the tanks when I built them) into the gear towers at the bottom and run up to the top of the tower and back down to finally exit out the bottom of the aircraft. This will allow for the fuel to drain out slightly as the fuel heats up during the day and not damage the tanks. For these lines I started with the right and made an exact copy in reverse for the left side. I strayed from the plans a little with the terminating end of these lines. Van’s has you run the vent line thru a snap bushing out the floor skin and eventually the gear cover plate for an inch or so with a 45° cut on the end. I was worried that I would end up bending or damaging this end durning the rest of the build as I moved the fuselage around. So I followed other builders and terminated the vent line to a AN832-4D bulkhead pass thru. This allows me to be finished in the gear tower area and add the last bit later down the road. Here you can see the straight fitting for the vent as well as the 90° that will continue the brake line down the gear legs to the brakes.

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(null)That took me the rest of Saturday and I waited to finish the work until today, Sunday. Next up was to work on the fuel lines that run from the firewall back to the fuel pump to the fuel filter then to the fuel selector valve. From the valve I needed to run a line to each tank. Each fuel tank line terminated at a 90° just outside the aircraft sides. Normally they would just go straight out but since I put inverted fuel pick-ups for aerobatics they need to run to the forward edge of the tanks. The run from the firewall to the pump was a tight space so I copied my buddy Glen’s solution of a 360° tube bend.

(null)The stretch that runs from the pump to the filter travels thru the left gear tower via two 5/8″ holes. This proves to be a problem as the nut and flare will but fit thru the holes so you need to do one end and place it into position and flare the other end in place which is the tough part. I started with the fuel filter end already flared and worked on the S turn bend it needed. The other end would be a straight shot to the pump. This was all easier said than done! You have to work these tubes in a 3D view and each bend affects the others. I strayed from the plans that have you use plastic snap bushings for these two holes and added rubber grommets based on my buddy’s recommendations.

(null)From there I worked on the filter to valve run, the valve to the left tank and right tank. Again this was a trial and error task as I worked all the angles and bends.

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(null)I received my cabin heat cable and red anodized pull knob from McFarlane Aviation and worked on its lay out so I could have access to it will the skins were off.

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(null)Where the cable ends on the firewall will eventually be a box valve that will be open or closed by pulling/pushing that cable. The valve will be connect via a tube to a shroud that will encompass part of the exhaust pipe which will transfer engine heat to the airflow. Again this layout was stolen from my buddy since its a proven design and I like how it looks. One last task to do today was to add a copper strip from the starter contactor to the ANL fuse, this will transfer energy produced by the alternator thru the ANL fuse, down the copper strip and the hot side of the starter contactor back to the battery. I made the required bends and drilled for the two bolt holes. A few passes on the scotch-brite wheel to clean up all the edges and I put it into position. I also had to trim part of the ANL cover to accommodate the copper strip.

(null)Another great weekend in the Hangar! A few more little items and I’m ready to start riveting the fuselage back together. I’m so thankful that I have access and the friendship of my buddy Glen Vokac! He is a proven builder and always willing to lend a hand or advice. I feel privileged to be in his company and able to learn from his award winning building skills (he is one of the most modest guys I know and will not acknowledge his incredible skills). On another fun note my girl just sold her home in Omaha after being on the market for only 5 days! What this really means is she will soon be living with me in the same ZIP code and I can not wait! Congrats T!!!

Ground Adjustable Rudder Pedals

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Time: 5 Hours

While I have to wait until Saturday to do the brake and fuel line plumbing when my buddy Glen can come over and give me some pointers I moved on to some other tasks that needed to be done. I grabbed the parts for the ground adjustable rudder pedals and started their work. Back when I was working on the firewall and forward floor I took care of a couple of rivet changed in anticipation of these parts. First up was to clean up the edges of the floor angles. I then laid out the rivet holes, 12 per side, and drilled them on the drill press.

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(null)At each outboard end of the rudder pedal assembly there is a triangular shaped bracket. You need to have a spacer/bushing made out of a plastic called UHMW. This will allow smooth movement of the rudder pedal frame. Van’s gives you some blank stock and you need to shape and drill them per the plans.

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(null)Next I match drilled the 1/8″ holes and enlarged them to 3/16″ for AN3 bolts.

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(null)With the holes drilled in the floor angles I placed them into position and carefully lined them up per the measurements on the plans. I matched drilled them to the forward floor and clecko’d them into place. With the fuselage slid forward so the front end was accessible from the bottom I drilled up thru the lower firewall angle and the forward gear tower angle. This gave me matched holes for the two ends as they hit this angles.

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(null)I reamed all the holes in the parts, cleaning out the powder coating. I also scuffed up all surfaces with scotch-brite pads so that I could prime and paint. While I started priming the UPS driver came and delivered my fuel pump/filter from Van’s.

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(null)I located all the parts for the fuel line runs including the fuel vents. So I should be all ready to run the lines this Saturday. For now I just finished up the painting of the rudder pedal parts and will let them cure for a few days before assembling them.

(null)I think I will keep on this painting roll tomorrow and work on the two roll bars and get them done as well!

Fuel Pump Bracket & Power Pass Thru

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Time: 2 Hours

Due to the bad Midwest weather events my UPS shipments have been delayed a day or two so I’m still in a holding pattern for riveting the fuselage skins. I need to run the fuel lines and brake lines before I do anymore riveting as I have great access now. I did however get a couple of things done today. I blind riveted the fuel pump/filter holding brackets to the forward floor after priming and painting them that I did last Thursday. I used the rubber strip that Van’s supplied and trimmed as instructed to give the edges some protection.

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(null)The second item that I took care of was to drill and install the Jegg’s power pass thru. This will allow my “hot” battery cable to pass thru the firewall to the starter contactor and give a nice clean look. Again drilling through the stainless steel firewall is a pain!

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(null)Not a lot of work but still progress. I should have the fuel items this week and Saturday my buddy Glen is coming over to help be make the lines so that I can prep for skin riveting.