As I mentioned in yesterday's log entry, I'm working on drilling the 5/8" holes in the bottom of the fuse skin for the brake lines to exit.
Just two holes, that's all. Your truely (I now refer to myself as Major Dip Shit) turned one of the two holes into a minium of 1 week of work and at least $125. That's it. Just 1 hole for 1 week for a minimum of $125. Maybe as much as $275.
Because of the way the directions are written, I enlarged the 7/16" hole in the right landing gear mount to 5/8". This is the hole where the brake line fitting mounts.
I spent several hours trying to determine how to repair the enlarged hole. I finally decided to remove the right landing gear mount and I'm going to take it to an aircraft welder next week and let them correct the problem so it's good as new.
But removing that landing gear is a MAJOR pain in the ass. It took at least 3 hours to remove all of the bolts. In the process I pretty much destroyed every bolt trying to get it out of the center section carry through. So I'm going back with all new hardware in the holes with we put that dirty P.O.S. back in position.
As it sits right now, the landing gear mount is unbolted but still sitting in the airplane. That's because there's one screw that's damn near stripped out and it's keeping me from getting a panel removed so I can remove the gear! Before I picked the entire fuse up and threw it out in the street for the trash man on Monday, I decided to walk away and come back tomorrow. I'm going to try and talk my dad into helping me with this last screw.
I can already tell you than I'm replacing all of the pan head screws with hex-head screws. This way I can install and remove all of the with a screw driver, wrench, or socket. I have no clue why anyone would just put in regular pan head screws. These things are softer than you can ever imagine.
I hope I can report better news tomorrow. But the Texans are playing the Titans tomorrow and we're pro
It should have been a 7/16" hole. Now it's a 5/8".
