My plane has approx. 370 hrs. and I'm currently doing my condition inspection and found wear pits on the bottom and front of the fuel tank:
1. There are two wear pits on the bottom of the fuel tank caused by contact with the two aft most rivet heads of the right most set of rivets on the baggage floor.
2. There is a wear line on the bottom of the tank caused by the front edge of the center rear baggage floor cover F-1206E (now F-00081 if an owner has the two piece version for leaving the fuel tank in place).
3. There are two wear pits on the front right portion of the fuel tank caused by two rivet heads from F-1204F-R that is attached to the center section.
My plans are to glue down strips of silicone rubber baffle material over all of the offending rivets and baggage cover edge. I may also try adding washer(s) between the center section ?C? channel and the front of the tank (F-1205 forward tank bracket) on one or both of the bolts (BOLT-00002) that secure the front of the tank to see if this will push the fuel tank away from the offending rivets in front of the fuel tank. Any ideas on how to better remedy this problem?
I suggest that all owners consider inspecting these areas of the fuel tank because although the pits are not deep, I'm sure that these will not take long to become deep. As much work as we all have put into these tanks, we don't want to lose the integrity of these and have to repair them. Also, no one wants to see anyone have a safety issue due to a suddenly leaking fuel tank. Note that not much wear can be detected on the rivet heads.
1. There are two wear pits on the bottom of the fuel tank caused by contact with the two aft most rivet heads of the right most set of rivets on the baggage floor.
2. There is a wear line on the bottom of the tank caused by the front edge of the center rear baggage floor cover F-1206E (now F-00081 if an owner has the two piece version for leaving the fuel tank in place).
3. There are two wear pits on the front right portion of the fuel tank caused by two rivet heads from F-1204F-R that is attached to the center section.
My plans are to glue down strips of silicone rubber baffle material over all of the offending rivets and baggage cover edge. I may also try adding washer(s) between the center section ?C? channel and the front of the tank (F-1205 forward tank bracket) on one or both of the bolts (BOLT-00002) that secure the front of the tank to see if this will push the fuel tank away from the offending rivets in front of the fuel tank. Any ideas on how to better remedy this problem?
I suggest that all owners consider inspecting these areas of the fuel tank because although the pits are not deep, I'm sure that these will not take long to become deep. As much work as we all have put into these tanks, we don't want to lose the integrity of these and have to repair them. Also, no one wants to see anyone have a safety issue due to a suddenly leaking fuel tank. Note that not much wear can be detected on the rivet heads.