Section 22 - Forward Lower Fuselage

Started Section 22 today after taking a day off to tidy up the shop and run a bunch of errands.

I was forewarned about Page 22-02 and now I know why. The instructions here need a bit more verbiage, and some of the steps appear to be in need of corrections. I'll take them step by step and add my comments. Maybe the folks at Van's will take note and use some of the suggestions. I would suggest that prior to doing any riveting that you dry fit all of the components on Page 22-02 with cleco's to give you a good visual representation of the finished assembly. My comments are in parentheses.

Step 1. Dimple the (two) #40 holes, flush aft side. (No problems here, though, I almost dimpled them from the wrong side. Label the F-1201C, Firewall bottom, FWD and AFT after looking at Figures 1 and 4. As mentioned in some of the other blogs, the figures give one an optical illusion. Figure 2 on Page 22-03 is also helpful).

Step 2. Machine countersink the tunnel ribs, fwd fuse skin and the stiffener (stiffener is flush forward side!!!). (No problems).

Step 3. WARNING!!!! 2X!!!! Dimple the nutplates and rivet them to the Tunnel ribs and the firewall bottom as shown in Figure 1. (The nutplates do NOT need to be dimpled because the rivet holes in the tunnel ribs have been MCS. You ONLY want to attach nutplates to the sloped portion of the tunnel ribs. There is no nutplate on the firewall bottom shown in Figure 1. You DO NOT want to rivet any nutplates to the firewall bottom here. They are riveted in Step 9 and Step 13. I riveted the nutplates and had to drill them out!!!)

Step 4. Cleco, final drill, rivet the engine mount brackets. (No problems.)

Step 5. Machine countersink #30 the holes in the forward flange of the tunnel ribs. (No problems. Check your countersink depth by cleco'ing the pieces together to see if it is deep enough.)

Step 6. Cleco then rivet the tunnel ribs to the fwd fuselage skin. (There is no mention here about riveting the 6 nutplates, they are attached in Step 9. Would be nice if a note was added). Cleco then rivet the firewall bottom and the left and right fwd fuselage corner skins. (There is no mention here about riveting the 7 nutplates, they are attached in Step 9. Would be nice if a note was added). (You also have to look at Figure 4 to see where the LP3-4 rivets go.)

Step 7, 8. Trim and rivet F-1288. (The nutplate rivet holes on F-1288 need to be MCS to match the pre-dimpled holes in the firewall bottom. The nutplates do not need to be dimpled. Also, Step 8 references Figure 4 unnecessarily).

Step 9. Rivet the tunnel rib nutplates. (No problems.) Rivet firewall bottom nutplates (No problems). (Nowhere do the plans tell you to rivet the firewall bottom to the tunnel ribs/engine mount brackets and the tunnel ribs to the fwd fuselage skin. I did it at this time.)

Step 10, 11, 12 Make and install spacers and cowl attach plates. (No problems).

Step 13. Rivet the single nutplate to the firewall bottom. (The holes are dimpled so it would seem logical that the nutplate be dimpled).

Step 14. Use a unibit to enlarge the hole. (A caution should be added here that there is a flange behind the hole and as it is drilled the unit-bit will wander, guess that is why the plans tell you to draw the cross hairs).

Finished half of the steps today on page 22-02 although I've added my comments on all of them. Should finish page 22-02 tomorrow.

Time - 5 hours (Includes removing a bunch of nutplates!!)

Section 21 is Now History

Completed Section 21 today. I was hesitant to attach the steps at this time, so I first match drilled and riveted the F-1048 Facet Pump bracket and then installed the six systems block studs with the help of Adam. Then prepared to rivet the step floors into place. At this time I installed and torqued the steps.

When you install the step floors there is one nutplate where the plans telll you to reach thru the lightening hole to position the corner nutplate. THIS IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE! What I did was VERY easy and is shown in the pictures. Attach the step floor with a 3/32" cleco thru the corner nutplate rivet hole, support it on blocks and rotate it out of the way around the cleco. Reach in, attach the nutplate to the cleco, position the nutplate and the rotate the step floor around the single cleco back to its normal position. The nutplate did not move, was positioned perfectly and was now able the cleco and rivet the step floor. PAINLESS!

Final step was to deburr and install the F-1207B rear bulkhead. Then installed the snap bushings.

Time - 5 hours Total Fuselage - 80 hours Total Empennage - 108 hours Total Wings (Complete) - 175 hours

Steps-Getting In and Out of the Fuselage

Fabricated the step attach angles and riveted the nutplates. Found a minor error here on Page 21-17, Figure 3. My plans call for a MK1000-4 nutplate. Beleive it should be a MK1000-428 nutplate. Did a lot of match drilling here. Primed the non-alclad parts and primed the step. Fitted the right and left steps and then removed them. Could not quite make the step pad horizontal without violating the note which says keep the top corner of the step; "corner even or below the beginning of radius" (Figure 5, Page 21-17). But it is real close to horizontal. Riveted the bulkhead to all of the components. Pay attention to the plans, there are a couple of holes that do not get rivets (had to drill out one of them). Looking forward, once I bolt on the steps, it will be hard to rotate the fuselage on the workbench. There are also a couple of nutplates on the step floors that are going to be hard to insert. Got some ideas. More tomorrow. One more day for Section 21!! PRO Bowl on Sunday. The dreaded Section 22 is next.

UPDATE: When installing the bushings per Figure 5 on Page 21-18, do not install the SB750-10 bushing next to the SB437-4 bushings. It will have to be removed to intall the wiring in the finishing kit.

Time - 6 hours

Bottom Fuselage Skin Riveted

UPDATE: I was past the point of attaching the bottom skin when this suggestion arrived, but, it is a good one. Before attaching the bottom skin, perform Step 1 on Page 28-06. Attach the fuel line bulkhead fitting NOW! You will not be sorry!! It is extremely easy to do now. If you wait, it will take 2 people and is not the easiest to install if you wait.

Took the entire day to prep, deburr, prime the mating surfaces, attach the nutplates and rivet the bottom fuselage skin and stiffeners. Wish I had an air cleco tool!!

All went relatively well. Suggest cleco'ing the skin to both the left and right side at the corner skins first. I initially did not do this and had to remove all of the clecos and start over. The skin just did not fit right. Had to use the awl quite a bit, especially at the corner skins. Did not have to touch drill any of the holes, but, again the awl is a needed tool here. Ensure you peek thru the lightening holes to ensure no tabs have been bent and all rib flanges have been picked up.

You may notice in my pictures that one of the stiffeners appears to be primed. Initially primed the wrong surface and had to paint both sides of that part.

There are also several holes in the skin that do not get rivets. (Because there is nothing under the skin to rivet the skin to.) One, a #30, curiously is under the flaperon mixing assembly (and it is NOT shown on the figure). All must be used in the future.

Flipped the fuselage over and it is now right side up. Had the garage door open today for the first time in a long time. Was near 60 degrees this afternoon.

Time - 7 hours

Still On Section 21

Forgot to take a bunch of pictures before Renee and I flipped over the fuselage. Attached the left and right ramp floors and then attached again the multitude of nutplates. Inserted the control column and bolted it up to the specified torque value. Free as can be. Used two AN960-10 washers on each side of the brackets. Using a piece of scotch tape made inserting the washers sort of easy. Riveted the step ribs and cleco'ed the bulkhead. Flipped the fuselage and inserted the bushings.

UPDATE: Do not install the SB750-10 bushings in the tunnel because they will have to be removed for the wiring in the finishing kit. There is a SB750-10 bushing on F-1203A and F-1204A. These are next to the SB-437-4 bushings. You can slit them and install them later.

Completed the day by priming all of the mating surfaces and then prepping and cleco'ing the corner skins. Riveting on Friday. No real problems. Follow the plans!!

Time - 8 hours

Bulkhead Riveted

Had more problems today with my squeezer than I did with the plans. During the process of squeezing the AD4 rivets, I managed to bend the male threaded bolt in the Avery squeezer. There must be a better way to squeeze the AD4 rivets. My hands are sore! All in all, good progress today. The pictures show all. Attached the wing stub spar receptacle, and then started on the bulkhead. Riveted the bulkhead doubler, the control column mount assemblies and the multitude of nutplates. There are a bunch. Riveted the bulkhead doubler and then riveted the bulkhead to the seat ribs. Started preparing the seat ramp floors and decided to quit for the day.

Time - 7 hours

Control Column Brackets NOW Complete! Happy, Happy!!

I canceled my order for the new control column brackets. I reassembled the parts and I can move the bearing with finger pressure.

What I did was as follows. I put one coat of Marhyde primer on each of the surfaces after taping off the bearing recess. Let it cure overnight in a warm place. Then I cleco'ed all of the holes ensuring the bearing was correctly seated. Then put in/riveted the nine LP4-4 rivets removing one cleco at a time. Then what I think made the difference was what I read this morning on the forums. Ensured my countersinks were near perfect and symmetrical. Thanks JerryG! When I set the 4 AD4 rivets around the bearing, I squeezed them ever so slightly, attempting to even out any side force. Made about 5 passes. Thanks to Larry Geiger, John Peck and Mark Henderson on the VAF forums. IT WORKED!! Thank you for your assistance.

Time - 2 hours