RV7-Factory

Left Stiffeners Goop On

So…the time came to break out the ProSeal and start gooping up parts. I can now see why people do not like this stage of the build. I pulled out my digital scale and the rest of my supplies and started going to town.

First things first. I swished some rivets in MEK to get the manufacturing oils, etc. off them. Then I taped both stiffener rivet lines in using my back rivet tape. Then I set each stiffener in place to use as a guide for the electrical tape masking I did on either side and then in between. Don’t make the mistake I made next. I re-wiped the lines clean with MEK. Not a big deal, but it does soften the adhesive on the tape a little. I only noticed it after I peeled it off once the sealant was on.

With the stiffener locations masked off, it was time to mix up a batch and get going. I mixed up 40 gram of white and 4 grams of black to start (10:1). Turns out it was not enough, so I will try 60/6 next tank.

With it mixed up, I slathered the stiffener bottom with a tongue depressor and then pushed over the rivets. I then used my back rivet set/plate and started smashing away. Once the matching pair of stiffeners at each location was riveted on, I smoothed out the excess with a popsicle stick to form fillets. I noticed that on the backside of the stiffener, there was not enough that squeezed out to make a nice fillet, so I tried to add some with the popsicle stick which ended up making a heck of a mess instead.

The trick I then used was to grab one of the free oral syringes I acquired and after cleaning it with MEK, I filled it with ProSeal and was able to apply a bead along the back of the stiffener to make a really nice fillet. The front and sides were fine as is.

As for adding the bit over the shop heads, I also ended up using the syringe here. It made it easy to put sealant where it needed to be.

This took some time to complete…almost to an embarrassing degree. I think now that I have a “method” it should go faster.

Internal Shot of Left Drain

Next up I tackled the drain flange. I smeared the ProSeal on the face and clecoed it on. I was able to get to all these rivets with a squeezer. You need to cover the shop heads here too. Just insure that you do no block the path for water to get around the blobs. I think mine are just fine.

External Shot of Left Drain

Here is a shot of the external side of the flange after A LOT of cleaning up.

Interior Shot of Left Filler Neck with Rivet Callouts

The last item I wanted to attack today was the filler neck. I gooped it up nicely and clecoed it on. I was able to get to the four outboard rivets with a squeezer, but the rest are too far away. I decided to back rivet them and they turned out OK. Do not forget the vent line clip and make sure you put it on the leading edge side of the flange. Since these are the deluxe caps, I had to use various different size rivets for the perimeter. This is because the flange is a machined part that is flat on the bottom and curved for the contour of the tank. You can see my callouts above on the lengths.

External Shot of Left Tank Filler Neck

Here is a shot of the Filler Neck from the exterior after some significant clean up. Looks good to me. For some reason the dimples on at the 0230 and 0830 positions look weird in this picture, but they are just right. The picture is playing weird with the lights.

Once all this was done, I was cooked for the day. I cleaned up the shop, threw away what seemed like 20 pairs of nitrile gloves and all the gooped up cups, plates, sticks and etc. I was surprised how clean I really was after it was all said and done, but I have plenty more sealing to do that will likely prove messy in the end. 🙂

ProSeal Gear

Boss sent me home from work. I guess I was not well enough. On the way, I picked up my tank assembly supplies.

1. 9 oz. Plastic Cups for mixing
2. Tongue Depressors for spreading
3. Popsicle Sticks for mixing and filleting
4. Electrical Tape for masking
5. Paper Plates for placing messy tools on
6. MEK for cleaning parts
7. Syringes for squirting sealant where needed
8. ProSeal to seal

Looks like I am ready to start. I may this weekend, but my wife will be out of town, so I may have to wait.

I spent the day resting once I got home.

Fabricated Vent Line Clips

I called in sick today…and trust me…I was. I have been on the decline for a few days with a cold and figured it was not a good idea to get everyone else sick at the office. However, I rarely can sit still for too long and by afternoon I figured I would see what little tasks I could knock out on the here’s and there’s of the tanks. I swear, I really was sick…ask my wife.

Next up on the to do list was to fabricate the small clips that get installed with the fuel filler flange that hold the outboard end of the vent line. They are simply made out of some scrap 0.025″ sheet laying around. I think they turned out OK.

Next I drilled the outboard T-410 reinforcement plates to the outboard tank ribs. The instructions say that three or four AD4 rivets are OK, but I opted to use 6 like the inboard T-410’s just to keep the nose of the ribs really flat.

I also cut the wire for the capacitive senders and attached the BNC connectors and the terminals per the directions. They seem really secure. I did solder the terminals as well.

Then I deburred and dimpled all the ribs for both tanks and scuffed the faying surfaces that will eventually get sealant. I did the same to the stiffeners.

Nearly ProSeal Time

By the end of the night, I was still feeling lousy, but was able to feel like the day was not a complete waste. I was left with the pile of parts above ready for assembly. At this point, it is ProSeal time. I think I will wait until feeling better to start working with that stuff.

Scuffed and Dimpled

After mowing the lawn for the last time this year…I hope, I headed out to the shop to knock out some more work. End result, tank skins are all dimpled and scuffed and ready for ProSeal. It may not seem like a lot done, but it did take a lot of work. I had to remove the exterior vinyl from the rivet lines, deburr all the holes, dimple, scuff and clean them up with MEK. All in all a multi hour adventure.

These tanks have a LOT of holes. I had a blister in the palm of my hand from the DRDT-2 handle by the second skin. The time is drawing near for ProSeal….yippy! 🙁