11/1-4/2007 - 6 Hours

Left and Right tanks. Match drilled all holes, countersunk  and started on deburring. Left side is done, still need to do the right. No pics.

11/5/2007 - 1.5 Hours
Mitch deburred ribs and baffle on one of the wings... I forget which one. Also started on the stiffeners. I cut the stiffies to length and Mitch ran them through the deburring wheel. This worked smooth... looking forward to having Mitch in the shop again. We knocked out quite a bit of work in half the time. Of course I got to pay  the little sh!t... $5 per hour. Darn kids... always wanting something!

Olivia was the photographer tonight... check us out!




11/6-14/2007 - 6 Hours
It's been slow moving for some reason. Anyway... in these six hours I have been working on the tank stiffeners and the inboard ribs for each fuel tank. Forming/installing the reinforcement plates, cutting the large holes in the two ribs for the access cover. All the work associated with those covers as well... drilling, deburring dimpling etc. The major problem is that I deviated from the plans somewhat and am going to install two flop tubes. The written plans as well as the drawings aren't the best in the world so a call to good ol' Chad cleared it all up. I have to order the T-411 access plate - it doesn't have any holes in whereas the ones that came with the kit (T-407/408) have holes for float sender and rigid fuel line. Here's some pics:

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11/15-21/2007 - 10 Hours or so:

Not really sure how much time I spent in the last week on all this but 10 sounds about right.

T-40 something or other riveted on:

Fuel caps drilled to the wing and deburred:

Formed the piece that will hold the vent line near the fuel cap.

Fuel Drain - drilled, deburred etc etc.

Brackets formed and riveted - these will prevent the flop tube from getting stuck when I am inverted! I love saying that.

The 2nd most inboard rib gets a little trap door that prevents fuel from sloshing back into the other fuel compartments further outboard. This will keep fuel near the flop tube. I put flops in both wings so I had to make trap doors on both sides.

The manual says rough up the areas (and don't be bashful about doing so) to be sealed. This little wheel from Menards did the trick quite well and FAST! Basically it is a scotch-brite wheel with fine sandpaper every inch or so.


11/24/2007 - 4 Hours

What a day of fun! NOT! I did the left fuel tank stiffeners. You can add me to the list of people that would rather not work with tank sealant anymore. That stuff gets everywhere!

Started with drilling hole on the inboard ribs where the flop tubes will go.

on to the tanks - put tape down where I didn't want sealant applied. A little overkill but I know better next time. Also a pic of the rivets taped down.

Completed work - hope it doesn't leak!