Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

This is the kind of riveting I do not like. Lots of very limited access and difficult angles. I started out trying to use the squeezer, but it was one rivet with this yoke and then one rivet with that yoke and then switch rivet sets, etc. I just went for it with the 3X gun. Much easier, but still not fun with the garage near 80 degrees and me in ear muffs. The rivets on the F-902 right under the canopy deck are particularly unfun. The subpanel structure is mostly riveted in at this point. I can’t wait to get the panel in and start fitting everything together and wiring it up.

Julie was nice enough to jump up after breakfast and help with some riveting, all of which happened to be under the fuselage. We riveted in the floor stiffeners, this time in the right direction. We also got to the COM antenna doublers. And finally finished the riveting on the pitch servo mounting bracket. It all went very smoothly. It’s great to have an experienced riveter around.

Since the doublers were in place, I decided to mount the COM antennas. Looks great except for one minor problem. I didn’t have long enough screws. I added those to the perpetual list. Meanwhile, I’ll leave them clecoed in place. One’s for the GNS-430 and one’s for the SL-40. It’s a little bit of a drag (literally) having two antennas out in the wind, but I’m willing to pay that price to have two good radios. Too many times I’ve heard on the radio “Experiment… shh… shh… two… shh… shh… turning… shh…”. I want to hear and be heard.

Later in the day I started permanently riveting the subpanel structure together. I started with the subpanel ribs to firewall. I realized this was going to be some tough riveting because the engine mount is in the way, so that’s where I started. I back riveted with a bucking bar on the front side. It was really tricky as the firewall is slick and the rivet gun is pretty wiley. I had to drill out and re-do a few of them. And then wouldn’t you know the stupid bucking bar slipped on one of the rivets and I got a little bit of a bump. Oh well. I tried hammering it out a little bit, but it is what it is. Good thing I didn’t bother polishing the firewall.

My major task for the day was to replace the floor stiffeners. I ended up putting them in backward way back. I guess I got confused the the left/right, up/down reversal when the fuse was upside down. All this time, I figured it wouldn’t matter much, but the precut carpets from Classic Aero won’t fit. I could try to re-cut the foam, but I’d rather just make the stiffeners go the right direction. I drilled out the old stiffeneers, as seen in the picture below. Ironic that the one moment Julie decided to capture is when I’m ignobly trying to correct a stupid mistake. I drilled the new stiffeners to the bottom skin, countersunk them, and painted them. They’re now ready for riveting, which probably won’t happen for quite a while the way things are going.

I also worked on the forward upper structure a bit. I riveted a couple of spots that I left undone for some reason. They were tough rivets, but not impossible.

I also dimpled the firewall and the ribs as needed. Dimpling the 1/8″ holes in the firewall was tricky since I don’t have that size pop dimpler set. I ended up using the 1/8″ dimple set in the rivet gun turned way down. Worked great. Trying to rivet in that spot is going to be tight.

I also cut off the front part of the right subpanel rib. I left it on for quite a while, but it’s obviously going to be in the way of the AF-3400 EMS screen. I might move it over. I might leave it out. We’ll see.

I did some other miscellaneous riveting on the structure, but I don’t want to put it in until the floor stiffeners are in. That structure will severly hinder access for riveting the stiffeners.

Julie was willing to help today, so it was time to take care of the miscellaneous riveting on the fuselage that I’ve put off now for quite a while. First up was the baggage ribs to F-706 bulkhead. I was able to squeeze some of the rivets a while ago, but some required bucking because of access issues. Even bucking these rivets proved challenging. The rib flange was half supported by the reinforcement for the bellcrank rib and half not. That made the rivet turn and the buck tail leaned over. No matter what we tried, they all leaned over. It was also a very difficult area to drill out. After drilling out 5 rivets, I decided to bail on bucking them and just used blind rivets.

Next up was to finish the half dozen or so fuselage skin rivets. We knocked those out pretty quickly and easily. Since those were finally complete, I was able to install the bolts and spacers in the outer-most seat rib to F-705 junction. I had to spread the forks a little bit with a wood wedge, but eventually got the spacers located just right. I installed the bolts, torqued them, and marked them with torque seal. I then solo riveted the two rivets on each side in that same rib flange.

I moved on to the bellcrank support. I installed that and was able to buck or squeeze all the rivets solo, except for the ones through the skin. I installed the bellcrank and spacers I made a while back and confirmed that everything fit perfectly. Per the instructions, I removed it and stored it away.

Keeping on with the pick-up work, I solo riveted one rivet on each side in the arm rest. I thought I was going to need help with them, but I ended up bucking it solo just fine. And finally, I squeezed the rivets at the top of the F-724 aft fuse bulkheads. The plans called for universal head rivets, but I decided flush rivets would look better and weren’t that much additional hassle.

This is a shot of all the stuff I needed today. We only set maybe 3-4 dozen rivets, but they were all challenging in their own special way.

To cap off the day, I set the seat skins in place and threw in a couple of cushions from the couch. It’s really bizarre to think that this thing is actually going to fly some day.

I went back out to the garage after dinner to work on a little something. I didn’t feel like deburring the seat skins on the Scotchbrite wheel (too noisy and dusty). I pulled out the forward covers, but didn’t want to jump that far ahead. I pulled out the crotch strap attach point kit, but I think I need to verify the thickness of the seat belts before I install that.

I ended up deburring and dimpling the top halves of the bulkheads and the gusset and rib that go under the top skin. A worthwhile task that doesn’t take too much thinking.

I looked ahead in the instructions and there is a fair amount to do, but not too much. I need to install the forward covers, flap actuator, and gear mounts, attach the empennage, work on the rollbar/cabin frame, brake, fuel, and vent lines, and then the forward top structure and skin. I’m going to wait until I’m in the hangar to fit the wings, so I think that’s about all that’s left on the fuselage. Cool.

Lately, I’ve been trying to get more hours in. It’s a little early to be estimating a completion date, but I’m thinking I might actually finish this thing next summer. And I’d like to finish at the beginning of summer vs. the end, so I can have better weather for flying off the test hours.

I didn’t get much done today due to spending a nice Easter over at my inlaws.

I riveted the bulkhead gussets. As with everything else on the fuselage, I used two different yokes on those things and still ended up shooting one rivet on each.

Finished riveting the firewall gussets. I couldn’t reach the forward most 2 rivets on the longerons with the regular yoke, so I just bucked them.

The canopy decks are all painted, so I riveted them together and clecoed them to the fuselage along with the gussets. I tried to figure out a combination of squeezer yokes that would work, but they are going to need bucking.

The last thing I did for the day was remove the top skins. With those off, I could finish the last two rivets on the aft deck and rivet on the F-709 bulkhead.

Lots of random stuff all over the place today. Unfortunately, there’s not much visual progress lately. Lots is getting done, though.

I pulled out the firewall gussets and riveted them to the longerons. I didn’t have much time to spend on the project tonight, so that’s as far as I got.

Now that I finally have some parts primed, I was able to start installing them. I started with the aft deck. I first re-confirmed that the fuselage is level in all directions. I clecoed on the aft deck and confirmed there was no twist. I was able to squeeze most of the rivets using all 3 yokes. There were half a dozen rivets in the corners that were either too close to the bunny ears or too far from a lightening hole. I just used the 3X gun on those. It might have been easier to just shoot most of them instead of monkeying with changing the yokes around. There are still two rivets that need to wait until the top skin is removed.

The aft deck really stiffens up the back half of the fuselage. It feels rock solid now.

I started off by finishing off the top skin drilling. I also drilled the crazy little angle part for the top rib. The instructions say to peel up the top skins on the right side, which is exactly opposite of what you should do. The left side gives much better access for back-drilling the rib to the angle. I managed to do it from the right side using my angle drill attachment.

The next little task was to correct an omission I noticed. I somehow neglected to drill the one hole in the outer seat ribs to a #12 on each side where they connect to the F-705 bulkhead. I took care of that.

The remainder of the day was spent working on the steps. First I layed out all of the holes for the flange. To get the second-most forward column to hit the baggage wall bulkhead, I had to move it over about 1/8″.

The next step was to drill all of the holes. I used lots of cutting oil and a slow RPM. It drilled through great.

I then massaged (i.e. hammered and bent with a Crescent wrench) the flange until it semi-conformed to the side skin. I was not able to get the bottom aft corner to conform very well, so I used a cut-off disk in the die grinder to remove it as the instructions suggest.

I then drilled the step to the side skin after carefully positioning it. I ended up drilling out one rivet in the side skins that lined up almost perfectly with one of the holes in the flange. I just drilled it out to 1/8″ for the flange rivet.

The final step is to drill the plastic blocks that fit on the end of the step tube. I drilled the holes on the drill press and then installed the blocks on the step tubes. Drilling them to the tube and ribs was difficult. I used the angle drill attachment again.

Here’s what the right step looks like, just because I spent so much darn time on it.

I removed everything for deburring, sanded the rust off the step flanges, and coated them with oil. I’m going to store these for now until I figure out what I’m going to paint them with. I’m glad those things are done with, minus some easy riveting.