Six feet of new hinge arrived from Spruce. Which is good cause I used a lot of it.
I started by aligning the half of the hinge to the trim tab and clamping everything in place. Then I drilled the holes, cleco'ing after each hole. After I had drilled the half that attached to the trim tab, I reassembled the hinge. I clamped the trim tab into place on the elevator and then clamped the second half of the hinge to the elevator. I drilled the holes one by one clamping the hinge and cleco'ing the drilled out holes. Now the trim tab is perfectly aligned and the hinge pin slides in and out easily. Whole thing moves without any binding.
The regular rivet squeezer will not fit in the trim tab lip. I am going to get a small piece of steel bar to rivet. I will cut a little piece and glue it to the long slender rivet squeezer. That way I can get around the hinge lugs without crushing anything.
