Fitting Wings

[Mark Dickens]

I'm just getting started on fitting the wings and am confused right off the bat (not a new condition). On the instructions (page 8-24, last full paragraph), it states that I need to mark on the W-804PP (bottom inboard wing skin) the screw locations at each unused rivet location on the bottom flange of the W-810 root rib. The only problem is that there are no unused rivet locations and when I went back to drawing 17 to see if I needed to drill some rivets out, there was no notation about leaving holes open on the bottom skins. There are open locations on the top skins, but none on the bottom skins.

Can anyone clear this one up?

[cfiidon]

Mark,

The bottom skins seem to have rivets installed when they should be open. Simply match the top holes and drill out the corresponding hole on the bottom. If I recall, there should be about seven places. You'll be drilling out the rivet and replacing it with a nut plate.

I was able to drill them in place using a home made square I could slip in. I subsequently used #8 clip nuts rather than remove the wing and rivet nut plates. I don't think it saved any work though in the long run. It was simply a personal choice to try and I was successful.

If you have sufficient assistance, I'd pull the wing and do it according to plan.

Don

[RV8MW]

Mark,
I just did this you have to mark 3 inches back towards the wing tip with a felt pen on the bottom wing skin to the open rivet holes that should be open. It is the last row of rivets and there is several of them and you will have to mark them with the wings off. Then when you mate the wings you can make the mark back 3 inches and drill the holes in the bottom fuselage skin then take the wings back off and add plate nuts. I drilled them with a very small bit then went up to the right size. If your rivet holes are not open you will have to drill them out. You could use a hole duplicater if you already have the wings mounted. The mark is just to help you locate where the holes are in the wing skin.

[Mark Dickens]

I found Matt Dralle's page where it looked like every other rivet was open on the bottom side. On the top side it's one open, two close, one open, two closed. Is there a way to verify this today? If not, I'll call Van's tomorrow and ask them why their plans aren't correct.

Thanks

[vmirv8bldr]

I had the same issue, and called the manufacturer. They said "Oh, yeah, what's your email address, we'll send you the updated drawing." Sure enough, the new drawing shows the open holes plain as day.

[Mark Dickens]

Wouldn't it be nice if they would put updated drawings on line in a restricted "builder's only" section? Even with their "new website", it's still so 1990s.