[RVG8tor]

I am well into the wiring process and have wires running under the left and right consoles. Before I get further I thought I should fit the wings since I will have to drill into the side of the fuselage for the wing tank bracket. I fear between wires and fuel lines drilling and bolting on these brackets would be a problem.

With all that said, when fitting the wings did you guys cleco on the top forward skin or leave it off?

As it is I think I will have to remove most of the fuel lines to get to the gear attach bolts.

Thanks

 

[SHIPCHIEF]

I'm building in a different order than you, I think.
But I did wait until the top fwd skin was riveted on and the fuselage as stiff as it's going to be, then I installed the wings. I just rolled the plane out of the garage into the driveway, leveled it, ( and again, and again) and got some family help to put the wings on with hardware bolts. It took me about 3 days of work getting it all lined up, drill & ream the aft spars, and fit the flaps, fairings and tank bracket. I do have some wires in the right console, but the drill is in the upper and lower forward corners of this area,and well out of the way. Your fuel lines would be likely as hard to nick with the drill, especially if you use a drill stop.
The rain started just as I was getting done. I should have done this last month when the weather was better, but I lucked out this time.
I'll put in the fuel lines and wing wires upon final assembly at the airport.
I don't plane to have wire connections at the wing roots. These will only be added if I have to remove the wings later, so I'll leave a service loop for that and build on.

 

[captn kirk]

wing fit

Hi Mike
I fit the wings last I built everything in a two car garage fit the flaps aileron and wingtip with the wing on saw horses moved the project to my friends hanger and set the wings made the root faring?s fuel lines ect then took it all apart and headed to the paint shop everything lines up as it should and flew hands off from the first flight

 

[glider4]

I waited too!

Mike, I just attached my wings today for the first time. Took about an hour to get all 8 temporary bolts installed. A bit of wiggling with the left wing but the right one went in just fine. I'm about 80% done with my panel and all the wiring. Fuel and brake lines are all in too.

I held off due to lack of space and lack of help. Today I had two experienced RV builder helpers which made it easy. The only downside to waiting I can tell is getting the fuselage side of the tank support bracket in place which you are aware of. I'm going to drill the holes very carefully with the wires pulled back out of the way on the right side but I don't think that's too big a deal. The left sides has fuel lines running in the general area but they are over an inch away from the side of the fuselage.

I'm aiming to have the wing sweep and incidence set by next week and get those rear spar bolts drilled soon after that. I was off less than 1/2 inch from the plumbline and distance from wingtips to tail without making any adjustments this morning. From what I could tell the rear spar joint has plenty of room to meet the hole to edge distance minimum.

I also pre-drilled the bottom wing skin holes where they attach with platenuts to the fuselage "skin" running between the main and rear spar. After the rear spar bolt is in place, I'm going to use a small diameter 12" drill bit to come down from the top to drill through the fuselage fairing "skin". Final size drilling for the platenuts (11 per side) will be up from the bottom.

Hope this helps!

Albert Thomas
RV-8A N880AT
Last 200 hours or at least I hope so!