Brief Description: Finish riviting on the turtle deck and rework some
Got my missing rivits from Vans and was able to finish riviting on the turtle deck. There is one rivit that sits proud and will be drilled out. There is also a rivit on each side on the fwd upper bulkhead that could use a shim between the skin and the bulkhead flange. I will do that next session.
I saw some info on Vans Airforce webbsite forum about proper fuel line flares and began to question the quality of my completed fuel and brake lines. I removed the rt side fuel vent line and the brake line. The flares were in range after all ( 0.34 to 0.36 inch in diameter) but could use some slight polishing. I then inspected carefuly with a magnifying glass for any cracks or grooves. Looks good so far. I washed out the tubes with naptha and blew out with air. Reinstalled and finger tight only. The fuel vent line needed to be shortened a 1/2 inch and I did that and re flared.
I inspected the 3/8" fuel line from the fuel pump fwd to the fire wall. It was in the 0.46 to 0.49 range too. It appears that 5 1/2 to 6 half turns on the flaring tool achieves the correct flare diameter. The flares were inspected closely, polished some and cleaned out. Here is where it went south. I tried to twek the bends because I didnt like how tight it fit. Ended up flttening a bend too much. Had some extra tube and tried making another but ended up kinking it. That was 1.5 hours of wasted work. Now I need to buy more 3/8 AT-great!
