Finishing, Wing Attachment (Part 4)

In Part 3, all 18 of the F-14122 Root Fairing Stiffeners were prepared.  Today, we prepared the two Upper and two Lower Wing Root Fairings.  The work on these fairings was pretty straight forward, so I didn’t included any pictures of the preparation…..just the finished product.

The Fairings themselves had the edges cleaned, holes final-drilled #17, appropriate holes dimpled for #6 screws, treated with Alumiprep, treated with Alodine and sprayed with Akzo primer.  The nine Stiffeners for each Fairing were of various lengths, so they only fit in one location.  I could have back riveted the Stiffeners to the Fairings, but I decided to squeeze them with the pneumatic squeezer.  Either method would have worked fine.  Here are the completed F-14188A-L (top) & -R (bottom) Upper Wing Root Fairings.  You can see all 18 Stiffeners have been riveted into place and the appropriate holes have been dimpled.

These are the F-14118A-L (top) & -R (bottom) Lower Wing Root Fairings.  For preparation purposes, these two Fairings were prepared the same way as the Upper Fairings with one additional step.  You can see the forward portion of the Fairings are bent upward.  The plans tell you to mark two tangent lines onto the top side of the Fairings.  One line was 6 3/8” and the other was 8 7/8” from the forward edge of the Fairing.  The Fairings now had to be bent around a piece of tubing.  (I used a spare piece of tubing from an Aileron counterweight that I secured in a bench vice …..worked perfectly).  You place the rear tangent line on the top center of the tubing and bend the Fairing downward around the tubing until the forward tangent line touches the tubing on the bottom side.  Sound complicated?  It wasn’t!  We had to tweak the bend a few times to match the airplane, but it work out pretty nicely.  The plans do a very good job of explaining the process.  Here are the two completed Fairings.  The hole in the center of each fairing will be for the fuel vent line to go through.

Here is a little closer look at the bends we made on the Fairings.  Very happy with how they came out.

Backing up just a little bit…..prior to dimpling the holes in the Lower Root Fairings, they had to be used to mark the installation locations of the K1100-08 nutplates (circled in the two pictures below).  The first picture is the right side installation and the second picture is the left side.  The two Root Fairing Attach Angles (angles the nutplates are riveted on) did not have any prepunched holes in the bottom portion of the angle.  These holes were made by match-drilling the corresponding hole locations in the Lower Root Fairings.  After these holes were drilled (which will be where the screw passes through to the nutplate) you can use one of the nutplates to match-drill the nutplate attach holes.  Pretty easy process that was been used throughout the airplane on several occasions.

Lastly, the two F-1099C Wing Walk Spacers were installed as shown in the two pictures below.  The plans instruct you to scuff the lower surface of the Spacer and its bonding location on the upper surface of the Main Spar Assembly.  I initially used grey Scotchbrite and finished up with 80 grit sandpaper.  The plans tell you to use proseal to bond the Spacer, but I didn’t have any available.  So, I used RTV adhesive for the bonding.  I applied the adhesive to the Spacer, used a popsicle stick to smooth the adhesive evenly on the surface, pressed the Spacer into position, and wiped away the excess that oozed out the sides…..done!  Looks pretty good to me.

Service Bulletin, 16-03-28

On March 6, 2106, Van’s published Service Bulletin 16-03-28 relevant to RV models RV-3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 14.  The reason for the SB was due to cracking of the wing aft spar at the inboard aileron hinge bracket attach rivets.

It’s my understanding (and happened in my case) that all new kit orders will have previous SB’s included in the kits (at the time of order) and any SB’s published prior to receiving your kit, need not be ordered separately.  I completed this SB on January 11, 2018 and the work is covered in Section 15:  WINGS, REAR SPAR (PART 8).

Fast forward to today….. 

Since the Wings are now installed, it’s time to install the Flaps and Aileron’s and adjust their fitment to neutral positions.  I installed the aileron and had a problem immediately…..the two AN470 rivets circled in the picture below (same two on the other wing).  These rivets didn’t allow for the proper clearance for the Ailerons and the Ailerons rubbed on the rivet heads.

Initially, I reference the SB instructions to make sure I didn’t accidentally install the incorrect rivets…..AN470AD4-11 were the correct rivets.  So, I searched the Van Air Force forums and found this thread from February of 2018 discussing options to fix the problem.  

After reading the posts in the thread, I decided to drill the rivets out and replace them with AN426AD4-11.  One suggestion was to move the associated washers around on the Aileron attach bolts to try and create the proper clearance with the rivets.  Other builders tried this method without success.  I wanted to make it as right as I could, so I decided on replacing the rivets.  Ultimately, I followed the guidance from Scott McDaniels from Van’s.  This is post #15 from the thread referenced above written by Scott:

“Drilling the head off of a rivet and then trying to drive it out with a punch or other tool (regardless of the force applied, I.E., rivet gun, etc.) is problematic because the force you are applying is actually trying to further swell the rivet. Just like when it was originally installed. The situation is even worse when it is a long rivet through thick material because it just increases the friction that resists the rivet from sliding out.

If you instead drill off the head as usual, and then drill an undersized hole down the center of the rivet (#40 in the case of an 1/8" rivet) and stop about 1/16" shy of drilling the full dept of the hole, you have a hole that you can drive at the bottom of with a pin punch of appropriate size.

With this process you are stretching the length of the rivet instead of compressing it. The stretching process actually reduces the diameter of the rivet enabling it to more easily slide out of the hole.”

__________________

After deciding to follow his guidance, I now needed to figure out how to drill out the rivets.  Then it hit me…..the 90° angle drill.  There was just the right amount of space for the drill head and it worked out PERFECTLY!  Here is the result of drilling out the first rivet…..

…..and the second.  In this picture, you can also see the space available for the 90° drill.  As suggested, I used a #40 bit to drill the hole.

Once I got to the correct depth, I popped off the rivet head like normal, inserted a 3/32 punch and used a hard plastic hammer to tap out the rivet.  It took several light taps, but eventually came out pretty easy.  I repeated the same process for all four rivets.

*****CAUTION***** 

Do NOT drill all the way through the rivet or you will be screwed.  You will need the “base” of the rivet at the bottom of the drilled hole for the punch to have something to push against to remove the rivet.  Be careful!

Here is what it look liked on the punch…..

…..and all four of them were successfully removed!  Score!

Lastly, the four holes need to be countersunk for the new AN426 rivets that will be installed.  I attached the #30 countersink cutter to the 90° drill and made the countersinks.   There was plenty of room for this also.

Here are the four completed holes after being countersunk.  Here is the right Inboard Aileron Bracket…..

…..and the left Inboard Aileron Bracket.

I didn’t have any AN426AD4-11 rivets, so I had to order some.  Once they arrive, I will install them and post pictures of the final product.

Finishing, Wing Attachment (Part 3)

This work session was completed on June 3, 2021.

Attaching the Wings is a BIG deal.....and a heavy one!  So, my Uncle from Atlanta came down to help.  He has said since he started helping that he wanted to be here for this milestone.....and he was!  Thanks Uncle Jim!

We installed the left Wing first and I forgot to start the camera (remembered for the right Wing install.....see below).  We initially used the two work tables to support the Wing next to the Fuselage.  The tables turned out to be about 4 inches to high.  So we ended up putting both tables together near the outboard end of the Wing and a plastic trash can near the inboard end.  As the plans instructed, we lubricated the mating surfaces of the Main Spar Assembly and Bulkhead Assemblies with Boelube to ease installation.  Once the Main Spar Assembly was inside the Bulkhead Assemblies, we lined up the holes and inserted two drift pins (previously fabricated) in the lower inboard hole and upper outboard hole.  With the drift pins inserted, the Wing was “stable” enough to remove the trash can.  Then, my Uncle inserted all nine bolts as I gently rocked the Wing up/down/fore/aft to aid in the installation of the bolts.

The four larger NAS1309-58 bolts (two on top and two on bottom) were installed first.

The four smaller NAS1306-58 (two on top and two on bottom) were installed second.

The single AN6-11 was installed last to secure the Rear Spar Assembly to the Bulkhead Bars

All the shanks of the bolts were lightly lubricated with LPS #1 (but not the threads.....the plans state doing so can result in incorrect torque values) prior to installation.  Each of the bolts had to be lightly tapped into place using a hard plastic hammer.  After all the bolts and associated hardware was installed, they all got fully torqued in the order they were installed.  The picture below shows the left Wing fully installed to the Fuselage.

In this view, you can see the heads of the eight bolts installed between the Main Spar Assembly and the Bulkhead Assemblies.

Not the best picture, but you can see a couple of the nuts attached here to the bolts.

Just another view of the attached left Wing.

The right Wing was installed in the same manner as the left Wing.  Although this is a time lapse video, you can still see how we used the tables and trash can to aid in the Wing installation.  Using the trash can was money!

Here is the completed right Wing installation.

Such a big milestone, I took several additional pictures.

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 9)

The last part of this section was to install bolts into both the left and right sides of the F-01404 Aft Center Section Bulkhead Assembly.  Not much to show here, but there were:

(2) AN5-11A bolts (one on each side)

(6) AN6-12A bolts (three on each side)

The plans are straight forward and the bolts installed very easily, so nothing to really post about it.

SECTION COMPLETE!!!!!

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 8)

In this session, we installed the two U-01439 Gear Leg Caps.  (In Part #4, you can see what is underneath these Caps).  I prepared the two aluminum parts like all the rest.....sanded the edges, treated them with Alumiprep/Alodine and sprayed them with Akzo primer.

Once the primer on the two Caps was dry, they were installed on the Engine Mount as shown in the pictures below.  For the installation:

1.  The Caps were placed as close to the center of the hole on the Engine Mount as I could get them

2.  The perimeter of the Caps were traced onto the Engine Mount and removed

3.  Clear silicone was applied to the Engine Mount inside the traced circle (minus a small gap at the most bottom point of the hole - to allow expanding air in the Gear Leg to escape during ascent Van’s says)

4.  The Caps were then replaced and pressed into place

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 7)

This work session was completed on May 3, 2021.

I thought I took several pictures during the fitting and installation of the Tail Gear Spring, but can’t find them if I did.  So, the only pictures I have are of the completed and installed Tail Spring.  The excerpt below shows the installation process for the Tail Gear Spring.

(Excerpt from the Van’s RV-14 Builder Plans)

The first step in the installation process was to clean the inside of the U-00018 Tail Gear Mount Tube and remove any surface rust, roughness or powder coating overspray with 400 grit sand paper.  In the excerpt above, the Tail Gear Spring needs to have grease applied in two specific areas.  In those areas, I also used 400 grit sand paper to clean those two mounting areas prior to installation.  The cleaning of Tail Gear Mount Tube and Tail Gear Spring with 400 grit sand paper was a process that took awhile.....sand, fit, sand, fit, sand, fit.....just like most everything else on the plane.  It took ALOT of sanding to get the two pieces to fit together properly.

Next, AeroShell Grease #5 was applied to the two areas on the Tail Gear Spring and it was inserted into the Tail Gear Mount Tube.  (I also applied some of the grease inside the Mount Tube).  A previously fabricated drift pin was inserted into the mounting hole (from the bottom), the assemble was clamped together with a C-clamp to prevent it from moving, the drift pin was removed and the undersized upper hole in the Tail Gear Mount was final-drilled to 1/4”.  Lastly, the NAS1304-19 close tolerance bolt and associated hardware was used to final install the Tail Gear Spring to the Fuselage.

Here is the completed and installed Tail Gear Spring and Tailwheel Assembly from the left side.....

.....and the right side.

I also don’t have ANY pictures of the installation of the Tailwheel assembly, but it really doesn’t matter!  I will be removing the stock Van’s assembly and replacing it with the “RV-14 Tailwheel Assembly Including the Steering Link” (in white) from JD Air.  The picture below shows the JD Air assembly out of the box.  Just to be clear, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the stock Van’s assembly.....I just don’t like the springs and chains.  The JD Air version uses a steering link instead of the chains, so it’s a little cleaner installation in my view.

Please see the complete installation of this kit under Modification and Upgrades - Tail Wheel Assembly.

.....BUT FOR NOW......

SHE IS STANDING ON HER OWN FEET FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 6)

The work during this session was completed on May 7, 2021.

These are the U 55-204 Grove 5.00 x 5 Wheel Brake Caliper Assemblies.  Initially, we applied pipe thread sealant to the pipe threads of the blue elbows and installed them in the Brake Caliper body.  Here are the two Brake Calipers with the elbows installed.

To install the Brake Calipers, the two bolts were removed from each Caliper to allow it to be separate into two halves.....the back plate and the Brake Caliper body.  The back plate goes behind (outboard) of the brake disk, the torque pins get inserted into the brake torque plate and the bolts are reinstalled.  The process is the same for the left and right Brake Caliper Assembly installation.

(Excerpt from Van’s RV-14 Builder Plans)

Here is the left assembly installed.....

.....and the right assembly installed.

I decided to purchase aftermarket brake lines for the airplane.  I ordered the Gear Leg Hose Package from Aircraft Specialty.  (I have also previously purchased the Cabin Fuel Line and Cabin Stainless Braided Hose Kits.  Very high quality products and WAY better than anything I could make).  Pictured below is the Gear Leg Hose Package.

Here is the line installed on the right side of the Engine Mount....secured with two clamps and connected to the elbow in the Firewall.....

.....and “wrapped” around the Gear Leg and connected to the Brake Caliper Assembly via the previously installed elbow.

This is the left side installation on the Engine Mount.....

.....and down at the Brake Caliper Assembly.

The orange tape you see on the Gear Legs is just temporary to hold the line in position.  I will replace the orange tape with the proper “friction” tape prior to installing the Gear Leg Fairings.

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 5)

This work session was completed on May 1, 2021.

Now it’s time to install the U-00009 Axles (in blue).  There are a couple of parts that get bolted together with the Axles during this step.  The U-01418 Inboard Wheel Fairing Bracket (black piece on the left with the two holes) and the Brake Torque Plate (black piece on the right).  The whole assembly is held together using four NAS1304-21 close tolerance bolts.  This is the completed left Axle.....

.....and with the left wheel installed.

The same parts and pieces went into the assembly of the right Axle.  Here is the completed right Axle.....

.....and with the wheel installed.

Just a head on picture with both wheels installed.  

Now, I had an “issue” I had to call Van’s about.  In the picture below, the MS24665-359 cotter pin did not fit into the predrilled hole in the Axle....the cotter pin was to big or the hole was too small.  I wondered if it was the incorrect cotter pin size, mis-drilled during fabrication, etc.....so I called Van’s to inquire.  They didn’t really have any answers, as they haven’t run into this “problem” before.  One suggestion was to drill the hole out to 1/8th (correct size for the cotter pin), but I didn’t like the idea of “modifying” the Axle.  Another suggestion was to use a smaller cotter pin in the hole.  I didn’t like the idea of using a smaller piece of hardware than the plans called for during installation.  My A&P buddy Jeff said it was the right sized cotter pin.  So, what do I do?

I put a 1/8 drill bit into my drill and put the drill bit up to the hole to see the actual size difference.  I spun the bit (slowly with my hand) about a 1/2 turn and the drill bit went all the way through the hole!  Guess what?  Turns out there was a tiny burr on the hole from the manufacturing process the was stopping the cotter pin.  Once the burr was removed, the cotter pin also went right through the hole.  Much to do about nothing apparently.  So, the moral of the story here is.....check for a burr prior to installing your cotter pins!

After installing the Axles, the plans instruct you to verify the Axle alignment is correct by using a method they fully explain.  I have decided to wait until the airplane is finished (airframe, engine, prop, interior, panel, etc) to verify the toes.  The reason being.....to fix any out of alignment of the Axles, shims will have to be used to correct the error.  I would rather wait and correct any errors with the proper weight on the wheels.  I fell like I would get a truer result doing it this way.

Finishing, Tail Dragger Landing Gear and Engine Mount (Part 4)

This work session was completed on April 30, 2021.

With engine mount installed in the previous session, we can now put on some legs!!!!  

As it turned out, the sawhorses I had the Fuselage sitting on (for a long time) were to short to allow the U-01413 Main Gear Leg to be inserted into the FF-01401 Engine Mount.  So, I used and engine jack and some straps to lift it the extra height needed to clear the ground.  This picture shows what that looked like.  Even though the Fuselage was lifted by the jack and was clear of the sawhorses, I left them in place....just in case.....a six inch fall would be better than a two or three foot fall (I guess).

After following the instructions in the plans fabricating drift pins (to line stuff up), reaming holes (Gear Leg and Engine Mount) and applying grease (to areas not powder coated), the left Main Gear Leg is shown below final installed.  I was surprised at how easily the Main Gear Leg went into the Engine Mount.  After my “battle” with the tail spring, I guess I was expecting a harder time.  It fit perfectly.  At the end of the Gear Leg is the U-01421-L Gear Axle Fitting which is attached with only ONE (1) NAS1306-25 close tolerance bolt.  The Main Gear Leg is also only attach with ONE (1) NAS1306-38 close tolerance bolt to the Engine Mount.

Here is the right Main Gear Leg attached the same way as the left side.

This is the best shot I could get of both Main Gear Legs.  Getting closer to standing on its own two feet (or tires)!f