One thing I don't recall if I mentioned before. A lot of folks have ideas on how to mark the wing skin holes for match drilling the fuse skin (which is unmarked). I originally intended to just use a hole finder, but found the fit was too tight for it to work for more than one or two holes.
A friend of mine, Kent, mentioned an idea he had used that is the best I've heard yet. Rather than just draw straight lines with a mark at a certain distance, Kent suggested drawing two angled lines for each hole. Once you have the wing assembled you just re-extend the lines onto the fuse skin and you have a cross marking the exact drill spot - you can see the lines I drew. I actually did one better and drew the straight lines as well.
Every hole came out dead on. Worked great.
Drilled all the inboard wing holes to #19, dimpled and installed the K1100-08 nut plates all around.
A couple of the screws had to be trimmed short - they came uncomfortably close to the fuel tank bracket that marries up with the corresponding bracket on the fuse.
Once that was done I added some additional wiring holes in the fuse where the conduit comes through.
I also drilled a 3/4" hole and installed a bushing to allow the pitot and aoa tubing to pass through to connect to the tubes coming from the tail
Spent some time going over all the preparations. I'd forgotten to install nut plates on one of the access plates on the left wing, so I did that. Much easier when the wings are on the stands.
Also freaked myself out on the roll servo wiring. I couldn't figure out why I hadn't run it. Finally remembered it was rolled up in the fuse because it's a run from a Dynon hub with a couple of extra power lines and the central disconnect. Since the hub is in the tail and the power/disconnect came from forward, I ran them in reverse and will pull them into the wing now that it's mounted for good.
On Sunday Becca, Greg and my Dad came out and we put the wings on for the last time. Having been through the process once before helped immensely. Start to finish it didn't take us much more than 30 minutes for both wings.
Making sure we've got all the bits and pieces ready. Since Becca is the smallest, she sits on the spar with a light, mirror and the ground down bolts to put them into the spar holes when Greg and I get the wing lined up.
Won't be needing the wing stand any more. Any RV builder's need one?
Making sure we have the correct wing in place for easy installation.
Becca watched the holes as we moved it into place and told us when to stop.
I'd greased up the spar root, so it slid in pretty easily. Just a little wiggling and fore and aft to correct the alignment with the fuse.
Using an inspection mirror helps you know when the holes are exactly in line. The first one is the hardest.
You have to spread the aft spar "hand" with a screwdriver so the aft wing spar can slide into place.
You also have to wiggle the wing up a bit to make sure the wing doesn't hand up on the lower fuse skin and get bent out of shape.
Repeat the operation with the right wing. We put all 4 hardware store bolts in each side. I plan to pull them one at a time as I'm installing - that should hold everything in alignment when the close tolerance bolts go into place.
Fini - total time was only about 30 minutes. Sure helps to have experienced help! Thanks for taking the pics Dad!
I took a vacation day today, which turned out to be great timing. A cold front went through last night and this was the best weather we've had in weeks. High was around 82, but with the low humidity it felt great all day. Probably should have gone flying but I wanted to get the spars bolted in.
I don't have a lot of pics of the install. I started with the two upper bolts on each side. I wiggled the wing until they were as loose as I could get them, then pulled them one at a time, lubed it up and drove it in.
At first I tried a dead blow hammer, but that didn't work very well. I then tried my plastic Avery hammer (supposed to be used for the dimpling jig but I have a DRDT so I never used mine) They worked great for driving in the bolts.
I froze the bolts in our chapter fridge. I don't know if it helped or not, but I can tell you it wasn't nearly as horrible as the tales I've heard, so maybe it did. I read last night that Paul Dye always freezes his (although I think he uses dry ice, which is much colder than any freezer).
At any rate I started at 8am, and had all 8 bolts in by just after 9:30, although they were not torqued yet, and the bottom ones didn't have the nuts on yet. Getting those on behind the gear weldments on an "A" model are tough.
*Don't* forget to put washers on all the lower bolts on the head side. Twice I forgot and had to pull the bolt back out so I could put it in.
Also, do *NOT* drive the lower AN7 bolts all the way in - just leave enough thread to get the nut started, then use a ratchet/wrench to pull it home and tighten it up.
I was able to wedge a 5/8" wrench in place that allowed me to tighten all 4 lower bolts.
Right side large bolts done, working on the lower 1/4" (yes, you'll notice I forgot the washer). :< Argh. Had to pull it back out, which took longer than getting it in.
All the bolts in place, including the AN4-13A's that go in the nut plates in the middle.
Vent and fuel lines connected. If anyone wonders, I found that several folks said 3" works well, and I can confirm that 3" for the vent line was perfect.
I'm using Tom's braided lines for the fuel lines, so they were a non-issue.
