Riveted the brake pedals together. Decided to machine countersink the front of the pedals and use flush rivets. I plan to put grip tape over the front of the pedals. So the universal rivets wouldn’t have worked for me.
I’ll hit the pedals with a final coat of paint to cover up the rivets tomorrow morning. Once that dries, I’ll apply the grip tape and cut out the lightening holes.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 1.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 161.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 615.5 |
Machine countersunk the baggage floor splice plate and riveted in place.
dimpled the flap motor channel and installed the nut plates. Then riveted it in place. Riveted the flap motor brackets to it.
Riveted the baggage side walls in place.
Bam! Baggage area. Done.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 155.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 609.5 |
Took a break from riveting the the fuselage together. Jared’s lending me his engine-stand-fuselage-rotisserie. So I’ll wait until he drops by next weekend to finish the riveting. It’ll be a lot easier if we can roll the fuselage on its side.
So… Got started on the fuel system tonight. Picked and inspected all the parts.
Separated the fuel line brackets and riveted to the cover ribs.
Disassembled the fuel selector valve. Oriented the fittings per the plans but couldn’t screw them in because I didn’t have the Loctite 648 that the instructions called out. Ordered some from Amazon. I riveted nut plates to the flanges of the valve. Finally I machine countersunk the screw holes in the face plate.
Crimped the connectors on the leads from the fuel pump. Added thread sealant to the fuel filter fitting and screwed it into the pump. Mounted the pump and filter into the into the fuselage.
Attached the AN elbows to the firewall and fuselage sides.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 136.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 590.5 |
Dimpled the bulkheads and riveted the nut plates to them.
Joined up the front and back and clecoed together. Starting to look very airplane-like.
I neglected to chamfer the top aft edges of the seatbelt lugs when I did the fabrication. So did that and Machine countersunk them. Then shot them with some rattle can primer and stuck them in the vise to dry.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 131.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 585.5 |
Match drilled the side gussets to the upper longerons and Machine countersunk the holes in the gusset.
Riveted the cross brace to the fuselage.
Riveted the gussets and intercostals into place. Bolted on and torqued down the roll bar braces.
Trimmed and scuffed the NACA ducts for the fresh air vents. The instructions recommended waiting until section 35 to assemble and install.
This was a really long section but the result is really rewarding…
Next up I attach the aft fuselage! Exciting next step.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 129.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 583.5 |
Taped off the holes that were not to be dimpled. Deburred and prepped the edges per the plans. Dimpled the skins.
Countersunk all the outboard holes in the upper and lower longerons.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 105.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 559.5 |
Took the side skins, longerons, side plates, and upper drag fittings off and deburred all the holes I match drilled. Then I countersunk the holes in the side plates.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 1.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 102.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 556.5 |
Applied a bead of tank sealant to the bottom flanges of the muffler shroud sides and riveted them to the forward skins. Riveted the muffler shroud ramp to the sides and added a fillet of sealant to the bottom of each seam.
Positioned the firewall assembly on the forward skins and muffler shroud. Added sealant between the skins and firewall and around the curved area where the muffler shroud connects to the firewall and clecoed everything together. Riveted the cover bases to the skin. Riveted the curved part of the firewall to the muffler shroud sides and ramp.
Riveted the firewall angle to the firewall and skins. Dimpled the cowl places and shims and riveted them in place.
Riveted the tunnel sides to the skins and muffler shroud.
Riveted the routing bracket and fuel selector bracket in place.
Riveted and bolted to forward center section bulkhead to the tunnel side. Riveted the skins to the cover ribs.
Sealed and screwed the firewall penetration fittings to the firewall.
Fabricated and assembled the cabin heat vent assemblies. Then riveted them in place on the firewall along with their control cable brackets.
Machine countersunk the battery box attach holes and riveted it to the firewall.
Dimpled the cover panel and riveted it to the forward flanges of the cover ribs along with a gazillion nut plates.
Forward Fuselage Lower Structure… Done! On to the side structures!
| Today’s Time (hours): | 8.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 73.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 527.5 |
Dimpled the firewall sides.
Machine countersunk the firewall angles to mach the dimples in the firewall. Unfortunately I got distracted and neglected to tape off the holes I wasn’t supposed to countersink in the diagonal firewall angles. So two new additions to the scrap pile. New parts ordered. Moving on to the next section in the meantime…
Before moving on to the next section, I was able to dimple the firewall top section and countersink the associated angle as well the relay doubler.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 53.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 508.0 |
Primed all the aluminum firewall parts.
Machine countersunk the firewall angles and riveted on the support angle.
Dimpled the tunnel sides and riveted the nutplates to the top flanges. Dimpled the cover angle brackets and riveted nutplates to the top flanges. Then riveted the brackets to the tunnel sides. Riveted the nose gear brackets and firewall angles to the tunnel sides.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Fuselage Time (hours): | 51.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 506.0 |
Ron's RV-14A Build Log 