Time: 4 Hours
I set out today to get the inboard ribs sealed and riveted along with a few other little tasks. I re-cleaned the parts and the skin from any oils my hands may have gotten on them while moving things around. Then I mixed up a batch of ProSeal after setting out all the required tools I would need. My plan of attack was to do both tanks at the same time and start with rib flanges. After buttering them up and sliding them into position I grabbed the pneumatic squeezer and set all the rivets. This went fairly fast but it was still messy. With those set I grabbed the rib nose reinforcement plates and the attachment brackets. I put a thin layer of ProSeal on the mating surfaces of both of those and clecko’d them in place. The plans call for AN470-7 rivets here and after I set one realized they were a little to short so I moved up to -8 rivet. My second rivet I made a really bad smiley face on the head and split it. So out came the drill and punch set to remove it. This process is a pain under normal conditions but with sticky ProSeal everywhere it’s that much worse. Once removed I had to clean all the parts to remove the drill shavings. Being careful all the rest if the rivets set real nice.
I then grabbed the flop tubes and placed them in their spots and threaded the AN nut’s on and torqued them to specs. Now I needed to seal up the nose of the ribs inside and out and create fillets along the edges. The Semco gun makes this an easy task.
I also grabbed my 9/16″ crowfeet and attached it to the torque wrench to get the fuel vent lines.
As a little added security I placed a little ProSeal under the rubber O-ring that is on the end of the flop tubes. This cushions the weight of the flop tube as it moves around and I wouldn’t want it to come off. I also added a little sealer to the hinge pins of the trap doors, the baffle will prevent it from coming out but a little ProSeal will keep it from moving and rubbing.
So I have to install the inboard fuel capacitor plate and wire it, install the anti-hang up guides and clean up some edges and I will be all set to install the rear baffles.
