6 hours
Most of the day was spent on final preparation of parts for the right tank... duburring, dimpling, scuffing, and cleaning.
I used my robo flaring and parker bending tools for the first time on the vent line, I need to pick up a set of crow’s feet to torque the fittings and finish the inboard rib.
What seemed like a great shop day turned a bit sour as I realized that I drilled the right tank access reinforcement ring without regard to its orientation to the access panel... after much head scratching to come up with an acceptable fix; modify the access plate to orient the sender correctly, fabricate a new pickup tube, replace the access plate, replace the rib, fabricate a new plate, order a blank plate...
...since I have finalized my planning for landing lighting on a pair of duckworks for wig-wag function and I have a small list of miscellaneous items to order from vans anyway, I have decided to simply order a new rib and plate from the ‘big list’.
I had hoped to break out some proseal... at the end of the day there remains a significant amount of prep to complete though... tomorrow...
The access plate is shown in the correct orientation, you can see the reinforcing ring is offset by 20 degrees or so... doh!
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| inboard rib on the left tank with access panel ring in place |
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| bulkhead fitting for the vent line |
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| vent line at the tank high point near the filler flange |
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| ready to start the right tank... clean! |
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| cutting the access panel |
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| Error! I misaligned the ring when drilling it to the rib... |
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| getting ribs and parts ready to start fitting the tank together |
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| access panel misalignment |
As it turned out I ended up fitting the right tank with a flop tube fuel pickup and could have just fabricated up a new blank plate here rather than replacing the rib...
