Time: 5 Hours
Today I finished up the remaining priming and painting of the long longerons and the lower aft longerons.
I also put the rear baggage floor nutplates in the mid aft longerons before priming and painting them.
In between those tasks I worked on the forward NACA vent. I laid out the 6 rivet holes and drilled them through the vent and skin. I then deburred the holes and dimpled them for flush rivets. I sanded the surface of the plastic vent so that it was pretty smooth since I will be painting it with the skin as it will be slightly visible from the cockpit.
Before I riveted the vent to the skin I cleaned the skin and primed the surface. In between the coats of primer I took the time to make a clear plastic template of the bottom section of that skin. There is a hole on the bottom side of the skin that will be where the wing fuel line will come through. I have read that it’s kind of a pain to make these fuel lines with all their bends after the skin is in place. This template that I made will allow me to make up the lines before the skin is in place and the fact that it is clear helps the alignment.
Once the priming was done on the skin I grabbed the ProSeal and mixed up some to create a seal for the vent to the skin.
I had just a couple pieces of the seat ribs that need to be primed and painted. While I was waiting for those items to dry in between coats I got to work on a couple new items I had. I had ordered a battery contactor, a starter contactor, ANL fuse base and a 24/48 tab grounding block from B&C specialty products. The grounding block will allow for 24 tabs on the engine side of the firewall and 48 tabs on the fuselage side of the firewall. I planned on putting the ANL base, starter contactor and grounding block on the firewall. The master contactor was going to go on the forward side of the right gear tower. These placements will allow for short cable runs between each of these items in the battery. I use the same layout as my buddy Glen’s RV-8. I will say drilling through the stainless steel firewall is a real pain!
I also got the rudder cable guides that go on the seat rib support cleaned up and riveted the nutplates on them.
I then grabbed the drill and a 8″ 3/16″ drill bit and match drilled the 4 engine mount holes. From the inside drilling forward. These holes will be enlarge to a bigger bolt size but for now they just needed to be match drilled. It’s easier to do this now without the side skins on and later the larger drilling can be done from the outside in.
Another good day in the Hangar and I’m getting back into the swing of things after the long holiday break.
