Monthly Archives: December 2016

Firewall Fives

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It seems like sometimes it takes me five times to do something right.  The firewall is no exception.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  The next section is the forward fuselage from the firewall back to the spar.  The firewall is a beautiful piece of stainless steel that protects the cabin from the engine compartment and acts as a fire barrier.  There is a lot of structural components on it as well.  After the usual process, I set to riveting.  Bucking the flush rivets went well until I realized that one of the tunnel walls did not seat correctly and I had to drill out 20 or so rivets to correct it.

After the correction, I set about sealing up the gaps in the firewall recess and bolting the aftermarket stainless steel heat valves from Aircraft Spruce.  I also installed the Airward tunnel access plate before riveting the tunnel wall to the firewall.  This will allow easier access to the tunnel and fuel system components once the interior is finished.

 

One item I might have messed up on is the landing gear tension plate.  The plans stated the shop heads of the rivets needed to be on the outside of the tunnel, but I neglected to read and head on the first wall.  Hopefully that doesn’t bite me down the road, but I can’t find any reason other than ease of bucking.

Firewall section is complete now and Laura helped me gather all the parts for the next step tonight so I only had to make 50 trips up and down the ladder.   So it seems that sometimes I do things right the first time, and other times it takes a few more tries!

Bite my shiny metal bottom…skin

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After a visit from my EAA chapter tech counselor and a great report card, I was confident in buttoning up the wings with the bottom skins.  It takes a lot of clecos to position the skins and a lot of time spent drilling and deburring.  Then the dimpling fun begins and priming.  


The riveting process is another dreaded task, besides building the tanks.  You have to start with the rear spar and bend the skins up.  I used duct tape to help hold them in position and allowing me to rivet a few rivets at a time working from the rear down each rib.  


Overall, it really wasn’t bad.  I managed to get the entire skin done alone except for three rivets where my arms just weren’t long enough.  I had the wife man the gun for those on the j-channel.


On the left wing, I installed the pitot mount. I also got the aileron trim servo hooked up mechanically and electrically with a micro Molex connector.  I was worried that the springs on the setup would be a pain to install, but again, it wasn’t too bad.  No picture, as once the springs are on, the access panel goes on.

Finally, before replacing the aileron and flaps, I complied with the service bulletin regarding the aileron mounting bracket. Other builds have suffered cracking and the gap fairing must be cut back to allow inspections at regular intervals.  Replacing it is not recommended per Vans, as it can cause more damage trying to remove the rivets than replacing it.   A quick job with the Dremel tool.