delay riveting aft upper skin?

[bmellis11]

As I have posted in my build thread, I'm building in the basement of my NYC townhouse, which is going to make removing the plane an interesting endeavor. I'm going to be doing some slight modifications to the basement exit that will allow the fuselage to be removed to street level. I'm trying to make removal as easy as possible, so I am thinking about not riveting the aft upper skin and upper bulkheads to the fuselage until I get the plane to the hangar. This would significantly reduce the height of the tail, which will help when I have to angle the fuselage through the opening to the street. However, I want to complete the canopy work before removing the fuselage.

So my question is--will there be any interference issues between the canopy and the clecos holding the aft upper skin on? Maybe I could cleco from the inside? Are there any other issues than the clecos that I'm missing that would make this not feasible?

 

[Mikeyb]

I like a lot of -8 builders installed the aft skin and upper bulkheads just before final assembly. The clecos (or lack thereof) were only problematic fitting the canopy skirt. If I was to do it again I would put a few rivets in the offending areas at the front corners to get the aft skin fitting well and then remove them as necessary.
Mike

 

[bmellis11]

I like a lot of -8 builders installed the aft skin and upper bulkheads just before final assembly. The clecos (or lack thereof) were only problematic fitting the canopy skirt. If I was to do it again I would put a few rivets in the offending areas at the front corners to get the aft skin fitting well and then remove them as necessary.
Mike

That's good to hear, thank you. I'm also thinking about removing the engine before I move the fuselage out. Other than being a PITA, do you see any issues with removing the engine after finishing all the FWF work?

 

[claycookiemonster]

As for the aft upper skin, sure, delay that as long as possible. It's a long narrow tunnel back there once the skin is on, so there are many reasons to delay installing it.
As to removing the engine after "finishing all the FWF work" you may find yourself delaying much of the detail stuff once you realize you're going to undo it as soon as it's done. The basic engine block gets pretty much surrounded by cables and scat tubing and wiring and the baffle. Putting all of that back together the second time will be easier than the first time, but it might not be much easier. Consider leaving the engine in the crate until you can do it once and be done with it? IMHO.

 

[riseric]

Instead of clecos, you could use "temporary" soft aluminum pull rivets in 1 of 4 or 5 holes for examples.
I moved partially assembled tail, wings and fuselage that way to hold each part fair and square together.
I used regular hardware store (not aviation) 3/32 aluminum pull rivets and they were very easy to remove.
As Clay said, delay as much as possible permanent rivets, I thought I was done then realized I had to add a few things behind the battery box... a pain to do...

 

[Mikeyb]

Engine R&R

The best advice I got on home building was to build at home. R&R of the engine will take days. The time it’s going to take to do the FWF stuff saves months in a hanger.

The photo album of Martins RV8 engine removal and replacement task will give you some idea.

http://www.mykitlog.com/goatflieg/