Brief Description: Fuel Tank Service Bulletin Compliance
Wow! It was like Christmas at my house today! First of all a box from Avery arrived, in which was the safety wire drilling jig I've been waiting for; now I can tackle the fuel tank service bulletin. And then a box arrived from Experimental Aero with my DRDT-2 front end kit. Sweet. I'll have to give the fab shop a call now and see how they're getting on with the frame. It's all good! Anyway, to work: read, re-read and read again the instructions from Vans on the fuel tank service bulletin and decided I thought I knew what I was doing. Went ahead and drilled the nut for the safety wire using the jig; too easy! Of course, once done back up the hole doesn't match the same as the Vans drawing. Still, it will stop the fitting from rotating and falling off, so that's the main thing. In the picture you can see my first ever attempt at safety wiring. Perhaps not perfect but looking at everything I've read I think it is adequate (you have until tomorrow night to tell me otherwise, since it will be going back into the tank then). I then read the instructions further and punched the nut at the flop tube end to lock it in place. I was going to cover the whole thing in proseal, but I think I may just leave it the way it is; seems safe enough and at least I can pull it to bits again if ever necessary. Tomorrow night I'll clean up the hole in the rib (didn't have a knife small enough to get in there) and then I'll proseal this sucker back on. I'll leave it a few days, inspect it and then proseal the access cover back on once new screws arrive from Vans. Then after a week or so I'll cross my fingers and test it for leaks...
