8/15/2007-Happy Birthday to me! 30!
SWEET night tonight!!! The wings are mated! My dad, Rob Johnson (RV-7 Finishing), Larry Enyeart (RV-7X Wings), and Terry Wendling (RV-7A Finishing) all came over to help me get the wings mated to the fuselage tonight. I have something around 15 pictures to get in this entry, so lets get started.
First, I had my dad come over a few minutes early to help me get the wings off the walls. We set them on carpet strips top-side down because I hadn't yet set the rivets on the inboard rib to bottom skin.
The plans are VERY vague here as to what holes the rivets actually go in to. When Rob showed up, I had him prepped to tell me which holes get rivets. He had just done this a couple months ago. Start at the rear spar, put one in, and skip every other hole. That's the order. Also, BEFORE you put the wings on, mark the location of the screw holes that will be drilled for the root fairing. We put one on, then realized I forgot to mark them, and we had to take it off again.
After we marked the holes, everything got a layer of lube, and we put the left wing back on. You'll notice that we put a stool under the wing because the right wing is not yet on...
Then the right wing went on...
With five of us doing this, they went on very quickly. Even with having to take one off, and back on, we were done in an hour and fifteen minutes. I didn't take any pics of the drift pins, but they were just ground down bolts that I borrowed from Rob.
Here's a pic of the spar from both sides of the fuselage skin. Two bolts per side is all that is needed to keep them nice and tight in place. These are just hardware store bolts, NOT the NAS bolts that will be used in the final fitting. I did put wingnuts on each bolt, and hand tightened them.
The biggest part I was fearing of all this, was the rear spar matching up with the fork. Edge distance is CRITICAL here, and you must have 5/8" in ALL directions, or you have a problem. There won't be an issue here on either side.
There is one rivet that I drilled out because it interferes with the rear spar, and would cause an issue with sweep of the wings. I drilled them out on both sides, and will countersink the holes to put Cherry Max rivets in there. Here are two pics to show what I'm talking about.
I didn't take any pics of the rivet before it was drilled, but it was a universal head rivet the was touching the rear spar, and would not allow for any movement if I need to correct for sweep. This is a very common issue in this area.
Here's the motley crew that helped me do this tonight. Terry, Larry, my dad, and Rob. THANK YOU GUYS!!!
Another shot just for fun...
Me in my sweaty Ferrari t-shirt...Enzo would not approve.
This was a great birthday present to myself, but now I want to go in, and spend time with Brit.
2.25 hours