Closed the left tank

Posted on May 25, 2020 by KC

Alright, for better or for worse, the left fuel tank is sealed. I’ve gotten back into the habit of going to the workshop after the kids go to bed instead of watching re-runs of Forged in Fire so I’ve gotten some time in over the last couple of weeks.

After preliminary leak test, I pro sealed up the tank skins and the ribs and slid the “baffle”, or aft bulkhead, into place and 100% clecoed then riveted

And… in full disclosure, I was an idiot and left off the most inboard Z-Bracket and drove a handful of rivets. I know, I know.

So I opted to let the proseal cure before trying to remove those rivets and properly install the bracket the next night. So after curing for 24 hours, I removed the rivets and fixed the bracket.

So left tank closed. I’ve ordered some loctite from the aviation section of Amazon that I need to finish installing the fuel fittings. While I wait for that to arrive, I’ll probably switch over to the right side.

Fuel Tanks Almost Ready to Close

Posted on May 23, 2020 by KC

6 years ago I gave up on the step where you bend the fuel float wire to a shape that allows it to swing from top to bottom without hitting anything along the way. I’ve dreaded the thought of coming back to that step and making it work even more than I’ve dreaded working with proseal.

I’m happy to report that I pulled the right tank off the shelf and pretty quickly got the float adjusted so that it stops about 1/8 inch above the bottom and 1/8 inch below the top. Pretty good. This is why it’s a good idea sometimes to set something aside for a little while and come back.

And a little video:

Well the next step in the plans is to install the tank “baffle” or the aft bulkhead. This will essentially close the fuel tanks so I decided to do a little interim leak test.

I took each tank and filled it with water up to the level of the remaining openings (sender unit and fuel pickup and return lines). Happy to report that after filling and letting each sit a bit, no leaks from either tank.

More work on the tanks… both of them

Posted on May 16, 2020 by KC

Spent a couple of sessions this week working on the right fuel tank. Attached the outboard tank rib, sealed up all of the rivets for each of the ribs. Made sure there is a good bead along each edge and ensured that all of the vent openings and the stiffener channel is free of proseal. That stuff is nasty.

Next up is the top skin J-stiffener. It’s a bit of a mess to do because you have to apply proseal then try to work it through the small channel opening all the way into the tank. I took the approach of applying a relatively thin coat of proseal to the stiffener before inserting, then after I got it in the channel, I pulled the stiffener away from the skin as best I could and used the sealant gun to squirt more sealant in-between. Worked good I think. I 100% clecoed and observed good squeeze out along the stiffener. I let it set over night and riveted it the next day

Next up was the tank attach bracket and the inboard aft rib. Both pretty straight forward. Proseal, 100% cleo and I went ahead and riveted these wet. Only hiccup was that I put two rivets in a spot on the tank attach bracket that I should have waited because it also had to go through a tab in the inboard aft rib. So after removing those rivets, I got the inboard aft rib in place and riveted it.

The J-stiffener with proseal on the rivet shop heads.

The tank with all but the attach bracket and the inboard aft rib and the aft bulkhead.

Tank vent line installed

Getting closer

Grayson using a scrap piece of the 1/4 inch aluminum tubing to learn how to form a proper flared end. These are the (short little) times that I dreamed about when I found out we were having our first baby the same month I started this build.

Right Wing, First Rib

Posted on May 3, 2020 by KC

The proseal set up overnight and looks pretty good. So I took an hour today while the boys were playing on the slip and slide to rivet the first rib. I do like this process better than the wet proseal method. Here’s the top of the wing skins with the first inboard rib riveted:

Here’s a view from the inside of the wing showIng the proseal added on top of the completed shop heads.

That big glob of smeared proseal is a result of trying to clear out the channel for the J-stiffener which will be installed after the inboard ribs are completed.

Here’s a view looking down the J-stiffener channel…

Proseal on the Right Tank Ribs

Posted on May 3, 2020 by KC

I been watching Jason Ellis’ fantastic YouTube channel as he’s building his RV-10. He did his tanks with a different technique than I used when I did the Left side tank. So I thought I would try something new.

If you recall from my highly rated and critically acclaimed post “Fuel Tanks 4”, I used the technique of applying proseal then allowing it to set up with clecos before riveting (with more proseal) the next day.

Essentially, the difference is that Jason applied proseal then riveted while the proseal was still wet. Then allowed the proseal to set up overnight before proceeding further.

So I tried it on the inboard forward half rib.

It’s messy stuff. And here’s a view from the inside

There are gaps in the aluminum where it’s formed to create the rib flange down by the nose so you have to be sure to get those filled with proseal.

But in the end, I decided to go back to my previous technique for the remaining ribs. I just think it is a little less messy. So I applied proseal to the 5 inboard ribs and will allow them to set up overnight under 100% clecos before moving to the rivet steps.

I then used the remaining proseal to apply a fillet to the non-flange side of the ribs. I’ll worry about the flange side after riveting.

Fillet on the left and you can see pretty good consistent squeeze out on the flange side of the rib on the right.

Fuel Tanks 4

Posted on January 3, 2014 by KC

Last day that dad’s in town so I’d better get a full day’s work out of him…

We started by riveting the stiffeners, drain flange, and fuel filler flange on the right wing. Then we put the left side back in the cradle and set up to rivet the ribs. This is the time that fuel tank construction gets serious. For each rivet, the process goes something like:
1. Remove Cleco
2. Clean out hole of excess sealant from the overnight set up
3. Apply small dab of sealant to the dimple
4. Insert rivet. It will sit in this bed of fresh sealant.
5. One person holds the bucking bar, the other drives the rivet.
6. Repeat about 30 times for each of the 5 inboard ribs.
7. Use a small brush and apply a dab of sealant to the newly formed shop head of each rivet.

Short version of the story is that we worked all day and finished the inboard ribs.

One of the inboard ribs

Bottom of the fuel tank. You can see the vertical rows of rivets for the ribs and the horizontal rows for the stiffeners

Fuel tank drain flange

Inside of the fuel tank drain. You get a good look at the sealant applied to the rivet shop head.

I’m very pleased with the progress we made over the past week. We worked nearly 30 hours (58 man hours) and made significant progress on the fuel tanks. Thanks for the help Dad!

Fuel Tanks 1

Posted on December 31, 2013 by KC

First of all, Vans changed the numbering of the sections so I’ll just stop using section numbers in the titles to avoid confusion.

We have started on the tanks. I have been putting it off for a while because I was intimidated by the pro-seal. After reading quite a bit online from builders logs and forums on =VAF=, I decided to go with the method described by Rick Galati in this thread.

Speaking of other builders sites, I want to point anyone to Jim Novak’s RV-8 build log. Dad and I visited Jim’s shop yesterday and I spent most of yesterday evening catching up with his build log. I’ve gotten behind on several things since G was born and Jim’s log is one of them but he does a very good and thorough job of documenting his work. I read his section on tanks twice last night and this morning before we started sealing the ribs. Rather than go through the details of the process here, read Rick’s thread above and start here on Jim’s log and read from there.

Freshly dimpled and prepared skin ready for ribs, sealant, and rivets…

First sealing step is to proseal the fuel line fittings to the inboard rib. We applied a healthy (if not pretty) layer of pro seal to the mating surfaces then clecoed every hole. We’ll leave this set up over night and rivet it the next morning.

and here is the completely riveted piece.

Next step is to seal then rivet the tank stiffeners onto the lower portion of the skin. Since I neglected to take any pictures of this you’ll have to use your imagination but we layer a bead of sealant then 100% clecoed the stiffeners. They set up over night and we riveted them this morning.

Next we installed the inboard ribs in the tank skin. We did this by applying pro seal to the raying surface (mating surface) of the rib then 100% clecoed them into place starting at the nose and working our way back.

After that, we used the pro seal that squeezed out plus some additional pro seal to make a fillet on the non flanged side of the rib. We’ll do more on the flange side after riveting but it seemed like it would just make a mess to do it now. You can see the fillet here.

and here

This is what the flange side of the ribs look like. You can see that pro seal has squeezed out from the raying surface but we’ll add another layer after the rivets go in. Better safe than sorry….

We’re going to work on the right side tomorrow and probably rivet the left side Thursday.

K.C. & Ashley's Airplane

Our Van's RV-14a Build Log

Tag Archives: proseal

Closed the left tank

Fuel Tanks Almost Ready to Close

More work on the tanks… both of them

Right Wing, First Rib

Proseal on the Right Tank Ribs

Fuel Tanks 4

Fuel Tanks 1

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