Did some more prep for the final ProSeal session (on the left tank anyway). I scored the mating surfaces on the baffle. I also decided that the countersinking I did in the skin for the baffle isn’t quite deep enough. There will be ProSeal under the rivets, which will tend to make them stick up. I countersunk the holes just a tad bit more, so that the rivet sits a hair below the surface w/o the ProSeal.
Did some miscellaneous prep work for the final ProSeal session on the left tank. Attached the inboard capacitive sender to the rib. Ground down the nose of an old pop riveter I had laying around. Adjusted the bend on the pre-built fuel pick-up, so that it will lay right on the bottom of the tank. Read through the instructions one more time.
Was gone all weekend, but returned early enough on Sunday to do another ProSeal session. I riveted in the end ribs on the left tank. Along the way I also attached the tip reinforcements inboard and outboard and tank attach angle (with help from Julie), sealed the connector for the other capacitive fuel sender, sealed the coax and vent line connector where they pass through the end rib, dabbed some sealant every few inches along the capactive sender wire to secure it to the vent line, and touched up a few spots from earlier sessions that needed a bit more sealant. Long session. Lots of tools to clean up. Used almost the entire tube this time. The only nice part was that there weren’t many clecos to clean.
Shooting the rivets on the tank attach angle was tricky, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We messed up the first two rivets. Drilling them out was a huge mess. Little aluminum shavings embedded in ProSeal. Yuk! But after that we shot the rest of the rivets perfectly. Had to use the double offset rivet set on the rivet closest to the angle. Should have put that hole just a little further forward.
One thing to watch for: When I made the tank attach angle, it fit the inside countour of the rib tip perfectly. After dimpling the rib, it didn’t fit anymore. Plus I had to take off a bit more to make room for the shop heads. Make sure you sand down the angle a bit before putting ProSeal everywhere.
Hopefully just one more session with this tank.
