What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

37-07 Fuel Neck and Sealant

Gandalf

Well Known Member
I have my fuel tank and air vent in on a temporary basis. Now I am working on the fuel neck. Everything looks good except a very large gap between the flat flange on the fuel neck and the curved fuselage skin. It is my understanding that the sealant is used to close this large gap, correct?

Edit: Re-reading the instructions, I am to "bend the flange" to match the aircraft skin. I guess I will try with a vise and vise grips unless someone else can chime in with what they used.

Jeff
 
Last edited:
You can bend the flat flange to match the curve of the skin. The fit was close enough to use a gasket to make removal easier than using a lot of sealant on the flange/skin surface. I did run a small bead of sealant around the recess created by the pipe-skin contact area (inside the pipe flange).

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS
 

Attachments

  • RV12 Fuel Pipe.JPG
    RV12 Fuel Pipe.JPG
    352.7 KB · Views: 97
You can bend the flat flange to match the curve of the skin. The fit was close enough to use a gasket to make removal easier than using a lot of sealant on the flange/skin surface. I did run a small bead of sealant around the recess created by the pipe-skin contact area (inside the pipe flange).

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS

Thanks for the ideas and photo!

Jeff
 
I slightly bent the flange to approximate the curvature of the skin. I placed a piece of Saran Wrap (or equivalent release agent) on the inside of the skin at the flange/skin interface. Then I loosely installed the flange using a good bead of seml-flexible/fuel-tolerant sealant on the flange face. Don't fully tighten the screws until the sealant has cured and the Saran Wrap has been removed. This has worked well for me. Whatever you do, do not permanently adhere the flange to the skin -- one day you may have to separate the two.
 
Last edited:
I slightly bent the flange to approximate the curvature of the skin. I placed a piece of Saran Wrap (or equivalent release agent) on the inside of the skin at the flange/skin interface. Then I loosely installed the flange using a good bead of seml-flexible/fuel-tolerant sealant on the flange face. Don't fully tighten the screws until the sealant has cured and the Saran Wrap has been removed. This has worked well for me.

Thanks for the advice.

Looking forward to installing the canopy next.

Jeff
 
Back
Top