Tonight I just had a few minutes, and managed to complete a couple of steps installing nutplates on the baggage floors. This was very straightforward, nothing interesting to report.
Nutplates
Priming the baggage area parts
Today I primed all of the baggage area parts. This included the floors and side panels, and flap motor bracket.
For some reason the paint job was not as good as I had hoped. I still need to figure out how to optimize the spray gun to get consistently good finishes. My guess is that I’ve not got the right ratio of paint to air, and that I’m blowing too little paint. The finish is rough, like a fine sand paper, which is possibly caused by paint particles that are already dry, sticking to the part. It’s not terrible, and it’s just primer, but I will soon be painting the cockpit, and I want it to look good.
Dimpling and counter sinking
Today I dimpled and countersunk the parts needed for completing the baggage area. Most of the work was dimpling the floors, but some countersinking was needed in a couple of places.
Dimpling was easy enough, although I made a mistake and dimpled the 4 CS-4 rivet holes using my regular #30 dimple dies with 120 degree dimples. I then realized my mistake and redid them with my 100 degree dimples dies. Not great, but it will be ok. I correctly dimpled the corresponding rib holes, after I carefully measured to make sure I identified the correct holes.
Torquing aileron pushrods
Today I torqued up all the bolts on the aileron, and lock nuts on the aileron pushrods. The lock nuts on the pushrods use thin jam nuts, so I referred to AC43 page 7-9 table 7-1 and used the 320 nut values. For the short pushrod this was 40, and the longer one, 100 inch pounds.
I applied torque seal on all the nuts I final torqued.
I also took the opportunity to apply touch up paint to the pushrods, painting over the ends of the aluminum rivets in the shorter pushrod.
Fuel pump, fuel lines
Tonight I reinstalled the NPT fittings into the wing tank using Loctite 565. I also reinstalled the fuel filter and pump, securing the NPT threaded fitting with Loctite 565. I completed the torquing of the flexible fuel line at the pump end, leaving the firewall fitting end finger tight. Once I have installed the elbow fitting onto the firewall, I’ll torque that end. I torqued the nuts on the outboard elbow fittings, setting those to 120 inch pounds, after finding that value on VAF. Then I installed the fuel line between the selector valve and the pump, and final torquing those fittings.
I also final torqued the bolts on the aileron torque tubes in the wing root area.
Fuel lines
Tonight I secured the fuel lines between the wing root and fuel selector valve.
I installed and torqued the bolts holding the plastic fuel line clips.
I also made a realization that I have used the wrong product on the NPT fittings; fuel filter, fuel strainers, and fuel tank drains and plugs. To address the issues, I removed all the fittings and cleaned all the threads with acetone to remove the fuel lube I had mistakenly used. I have ordered some Loctite 565 which I will use in it’s place.
Fuel selector value
Tonight I installed the fuel selector valve.
The valve outlets need to be oriented correctly, then screwed down using Loctite 648, according to Andair’s directions.
With that done, I installed the value into the cockpit, and then torqued up the flared fittings on the aft end of the valve.
Bottom skin riveting
Today I riveted the j-channel to the bottom wing skin on the right wing.
Right wing bottom skin
Today I spent some time riveting the bottom right skin. I was able to rivet all then way up to the j-channel. So far it has been straight forward and no issues, but I suspect it will become increasingly challenging as I get closer to the main spar.
I slipped in the j-channel, making sure to go between the inboard j-channel and the skin, and then clecoed it into position. I then checked the clearance between the j-channel and the rib cut outs, and everything looked good.
Right bottom skin riveting
Today I made a start riveting the right bottom skin onto the right wing.
It want easier than I thought, perhaps because I’ve done it before on my previous set of wings. I didn’t finish the job, and expect it will take a number of sessions to get this set done.
