Brief Description: A long weekend of experimenting and learning
Between a session yesterday and another today, I've spent 8 hours working on the wing issues. The first thing I did was to remove the front and rear wing uprights on the right side to see if the center spar doublers would open up. What I quickly determined was that the uprights were not cramping the doublers. I replaced the uprights and used a blunt metal bar to see if the ends would pry open sufficiently to accept the main spar. By my measurements, the answer was "yes" but barely -- a problem that was exacerbated by the slight over thickness of my main spars. I spent quite a bit of time using Scotchbrite to remove the primer on all mating surfaces and to carefully make the outer edges of the main spar doublers somewhat rounded to be able to pry open the center spar doublers on insertion. I then put white lithium grease on all parts and began to put them together. I found that it goes in all but about 3/4" before getting quite tight. What I'm beginning to suspect is that I may need to remove the center spar and remake it to relieve constricting pressure that I must have created when I did the modifications. Needless to say, I'll be calling the factory tomorrow to do a reality check. The journey continues...
