Thursday, February 23, 2012

Getting ready for the first Tank Sealing installment

So far I have prepared as much as possible for the first sealing riveting session that will happen to morrow. I have performed a dry run, building the tank with clecos and installing it in the plane, behind the passenger seat. This allowed me to fit the filling neck and position the hole in the top of the tank. My challenge is that I have a finishing kit dating October which is pre SERVICE BULLETIN 11-12-14 which requires the addition of two clips and fungible bolts. The instructions for building the tank have been updated but are based on the updated hardware. Not a big deal as the additional work consists in match drilling holes and drilling the filling neck's hole in the tank top skin. I made my first mistake in doing the latter and had to reorder the tank top skin, my first messed part reorder (not bad for a beginner, although the term is arguable after almost 2 years of building!).
Anyway, I leave my workshop tonight with everything ready: tools sorted and protected with duct tape, skins and parts scored and cleaned for sealing application, rivets sorted, notes taken for tricks and traps unearthed during the dry run and tons of gloves, rags and MEK for the cleaning. I have the feeling that I can do the job on my own but to be safe I invited Terry Gardner, one of the chapter's tech. counselor to assist me for my first sealant application.

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