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mark donahue

Member
I am getting to the prep and paint stage of my 9a. I am trying to decide if when I paint the wings if I should have the fuel tank screws in place, or paint and then intall. . I hopefully will not have to ever remove the fuel tanks, but if I did, would painting the wing with the screws in place create a problem with the paint upon removal. Appreciate the experience of others here.
Thanks,
Mark Donahue
RV 9a...getting closer
 
Mark,
I recently replaced all the screws (painted in)in both my tanks using a neat little tool, a "paint cutter" in a drill. I believe they are available from Avery?
I removed every screw without any chipped paint and replaced with stainless, whole process took about an hour.
Dick
 
The tank screws near the wing root often loosen slightly (at least on my Rocket and my RV-4 they did.) I've seen others do similar.

The cure for this is to weld the tanks on. :eek: Just kidding.

Prior to painting, slightly loosen the screws so that there is a small gap beneath them. Then paint. Then replace the screws with shiny new ones. Or ones that are painted only on top.

Or just paint everything and buy one of the paint cutters if you ever get loose screws or need to remove the tank.

There are many ways to "screw" this up! (pun intended).
 
Paint and Screws

Removed my tanks (for slosh work) last summer for first time since painting the airplane with automobile polyurethane in 1999. I had painted the wings with the screws in place and had been dreading the removal exercise for years - knowing I had to do it and thinking I would need to cut around the screws or have a big touch up job.

Finally did it. Every screw came out cleanly with the paint fracturing very close to where it needed to. Tanks were off in just an hour or two. They are now back on and it is hard to tell they were ever off.

Just one data point.
 
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