M

mlwynn

Well Known Member
Hi all,

I am just starting my (pre-punched!) fuselage assembly and have a couple of planning questions:

1. I am assuming that there is no reason to prime the firewall, as it is stainless steel. I would also assume that all those aluminum parts that are riveted to the firewall should be primed as stainless and aluminium don't play well together.

2. I saw a discussion some time back on the Matronics list about modifying the gear towers by cutting out the center and building a cover held with platenuts. Couldn't find anything in the archives here. Thoughts on this?

3. Several people have talked about making the floor removable with platenuts. I am a little unclear about what part of the floor they are talking about. The first section to build is right under your feet. Doesn't look like there is anything there you would ever need to get to. The section under the stick where the control linkages live looks like someplace you really need to go. This is the section that folks think should be removable?

4. Anything else I am not thinking about now that I will wish I had thought about?

Thanks,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage (at last)
San Ramon, CA
 
mlwynn said:
Hi all,
1. I am assuming that there is no reason to prime the firewall, as it is stainless steel. I would also assume that all those aluminum parts that are riveted to the firewall should be primed as stainless and aluminium don't play well together.
Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage (at last)
San Ramon, CA
Click to expand...


My (not prepunched) instructions say to prime the firewall parts. Did those angles come prepunched? c-sunk? Just curious.
 
Hi Michael

I was just working on the floor plate nuts this morning. I did all the floor with them and made the comment to my girl friend that I would not do it again that way. I'm thinking now that I will not likely ever need to get in there and if I did I could drill the blind rivets and re-install them ten times in the amount of time it took to do it this way.I guess it sounded like a god idea at the time.

RV 8 fuselage
 
mlwynn said:
Hi all,

I am just starting my (pre-punched!) fuselage assembly and have a couple of planning questions:

1. I am assuming that there is no reason to prime the firewall, as it is stainless steel. I would also assume that all those aluminum parts that are riveted to the firewall should be primed as stainless and aluminium don't play well together.

2. I saw a discussion some time back on the Matronics list about modifying the gear towers by cutting out the center and building a cover held with platenuts. Couldn't find anything in the archives here. Thoughts on this?

3. Several people have talked about making the floor removable with platenuts. I am a little unclear about what part of the floor they are talking about. The first section to build is right under your feet. Doesn't look like there is anything there you would ever need to get to. The section under the stick where the control linkages live looks like someplace you really need to go. This is the section that folks think should be removable?

4. Anything else I am not thinking about now that I will wish I had thought about?

Thanks,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage (at last)
San Ramon, CA
Click to expand...


Michael, here is my take on your questions:

1. No reason to prime the firewall. You should prime the extruded angles that are riveted to the firewall. These parts have no protection and are succeptable to corrosion (as are all extruded pieces in your kit).

2. I didn't make an access to my towers and wish I had. You will have to get in there to re-torque the landing gear. You will be very glad you made this modification.

3. The floors that are sometimes installed with nut-plates are the rear floor and the baggage compartment (the instructions/drawings have you pop-rivet them). I didn't do this have haven't needed to get under there. To each his own... By the way, this is a very time consuming mod. Many, many nut-plates.

4. Nope, just get started. You'll think of more stuff later. We'll be here to answer questions. :p

Karl
 
Because in my experience, rivnuts were created by the devil to torture us. The work great at first, but when they loosen after years of use and vibration, they are a pain to remove. They just spin.
 
Re your #3. I made all of the floor panels, behind the spar, removeable. I actually created about 7 removeable floor panels, including the foot wells, so that I could get at all of that space.
Things that I installed under the floor include: trim system (relays, speed control and servo), all of the connectors for the Infinity grips, relays for the flap system, back up battery and hub for two EFIS, auto pilot controller and it provides access to the com and Txp antennas mounted on the belly, as well as all of the normal wiring that gets routed around.
In my opinion, it's a lot of space, close to the COG, that can be utilized for these type of things, that can be hidden.
If you only have a couple of things to hide in there, make one or two panels removeable. Or, if you have room for everything elsewhere, just use the blind rivets and forget about it, but it is free space.
 
G-force said:
Because in my experience, rivnuts were created by the devil to torture us. The work great at first, but when they loosen after years of use and vibration, they are a pain to remove. They just spin.
Click to expand...
The kit that I just purchased had nutplates, not riv nuts, installed for all of the floor and baggage panels. Not sure yet if it was worth the effort but it was worth the effort that I put into it :rolleyes: .

I don't know if I will ever have to get under the floors again but I do like the idea that if I do, I can do it without drilling out rivets.

Greg
 
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