did you use a hand drill for this? I'm also considering trying the slosh method w/ the different sealant before I start to drill

well i went out today and retested it since I tried the mek thinned proseal/vaccum trick, the thinned sealant has had about 12hrs to harden

other than one rivet on the top inboard side, which I can cover with my thumb to eliminate (i'll fix it, but that's easy) the balloon inflates now!!

I'm nervous about how well i've sealed it though, because what if this shows up again down the road.....so I scraped off all visible sealant between the rear baffle edge and the skin, so there is no "bead" that could be providing me with a false sense of security

it still holds air!!!

And for those of you who aren't here yet or don't understand, I didn't wet-rivet this (seal each rivet on baffle) so putting a bead between baffle/skin is pointless, the rivets will still weeep......must be done the hard way

I've had the same problem with the baffle rivets. I drilled some leaking ones out, wet-sealed them, and all was well. So now I'm going to drill them all out, and wet seal all the baffle rivets.

spoke too soon, the balloon deflated after 2 days, I'm going to drill out all of the rivets in the rear baffle, pry back the rear baffle/skin seal and do the vaccum/proseal technique, then wet rivet all of the rivets back into place.


good news is i mounted the tank and all of the zbrackets lined up and the W-423 joint plate to the outboard leading edge matched up perfectly

Cut the holes
 

I'd cut access holes (because I did it) before I'd drill out a bazillion rivets and attempt to pry off the rear baffle.
That's why Vans sells the AS6x12x063 aluminum. Split in half, it's just the right size to cover 5" holes in 2 bays. ProSeal and poprivet in place.

yeah, i'm not planning to remove the zbrackets or the rib->baffle connections, i'm just going to reseal the baffle->skin joint and wetseal the rivets

Don't drill yet! The balloon is not there to determine is you have a leak --it's there to be a pressure relief valve in case you overpressurize the tank during the leak check. The real check is either A) soapy water applied to every rivet and seam looking for bubbles or B) a manometer.

The balloon can deflate without leaks for a number of reasons:

- The balloon skin itself is permeable allowing air to escape over time
- Changes in atmospheric pressure
- Changes in temp (cool the tank down and the balloon will deflate)
- Leaks around the balloon/vent interface itself or the gas cap, both of which are non-issues.

Bottomline, the balloon deflating after 2 days doesn't mean you have a baffle leak unless a real leak check confirms it. My $0.02.

excellent point, maybe i will do the soapy water trick one more time, I think resealing the rear would just make me feel better....:D

Hey, understand completely. I've scraped more than one part that was probably OK, but that I just didn't have a warm fuzzy about or just generally wasn't thrilled with my effort.

Yes, an ordinary DeWalt 7 amp 1/2"

<<I'm going to drill out all of the rivets in the rear baffle, pry back the rear baffle/skin seal and do the vaccum/proseal technique, then wet rivet all of the rivets back into place.>>

No way I'd remove and replace the rear baffle, not when I could install access holes. Working through the access holes allows the installation of a proper 250 mil filet along the rear baffle/tank skin line, something you cannot do using the standard assembly proceedure. Sliding the baffle into place gives you something like one of the three bad examples, and sealing becomes a mix of technique and luck.



BTW, with a filet joint in place it doesn't matter if the skin-to-baffle rivets are set wet or not.