FWD Upper Fuselage Install...

[rocketman1988]

Ok, kind of hesitant to put this out there but I am getting ready to hang my engine...

The question is:

Who has hung the engine prior to riveting the upper fuselage skin on, and has there been any issues?

When queried, the mothership indicated that it SHOULD be riveted BEFORE hanging the engine...

Thoughts?

 

[Carl Froehlich]

Rivet the skin first. There is nothing to be gained by not doing this first, so why risk the engine sag screwing up alignments?

Carl

 

[rocketman1988]

Exactly...

That is what I thought but then read in the forums here that it was ok to leave it off.

That is why I just called Van's, and they said rivet first...

Just sharing...

 

[clutch22]

Hi Robert,
I went back and looked at the page in the plans where it talks about building the panel on a workbench. I see it doesn't say anything about the engine. Sorry for misspeaking a few weeks ago about it. I guess my memory failed me .
On the other hand, in my situation, I've had the upper fwd structure on and off a handful of times with all holes lining up. I'll stand by my previous comment that the upper fwd structure doesn't react the load of the engine (at least to any significant amount sitting in your garage), but i will no longer advocate it since the mothership told you otherwise.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[gfb]

Which upper fuse skin? Do you mean the very fwd one that rivets to the fw & sub-panel?

 

[rocketman1988]

Yes

As we are all "manufacturers", there is nothing to prevent one from leaving it off and hanging the engine. I will be following the mothership's guidance and rivet the thing on first.

I know that means I am going to be upside down in the footwells but I am fairly certain there is no way to prevent it...

Hey, I know what we need! How about a giant hatch on the forward fuse! That would fix all the problems!