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Date:  1-22-2006
Number of Hours:  2.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Sealed outboard left tank rib

Tonight I sealed and riveted the outboard tank rib for the left fuel tank. I started out by mixing 4 oz. of proseal so that I would have plenty to seal this critical outer tank rib. Then I started to squeeze the 1/8" rivets to the nose piece doubler, but things started going awry. There are no call outs in the plans for the size of the rivets for this piece, so I guessed a #6 rivet length. Wrong. It was too long and it just slumped over. I then drilled out the two rivets I tried (trying to hurry so that the proseal did not set up) and selected shorter ones. Then, the pneumatic rivet squeezer refused to budge the 1/8" rivets. I had to hand squeeze them, calling Vicki downstairs to help me hold the rib while I strong armed the manual rivet squeezer. What a mess!Thankfully, the rib went onto the skin much easier. I squeezed those rivets with the pneumatic squeezer (it works on 3/32" rivets fine). Then I used the Jim Anderson patented method of applying proseal to the rivet heads and the seams with a gloved finger. It is a little messy, but it works like a charm.This time I also used tape extensively to prevent proseal from sticking to the tank skin and ribs where it is not supposed to. That worked great. The pictures show how much cleaner the final product is. Cleanup was minimized greatly. I intend to use this method extensively on the right tank.As usual, cleanup lasted almost longer than the sealing and riveting session.
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Outboard left tank rib

Outboard left tank rib

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Using the tape makes thinks much neater

Using the tape makes thinks much neater

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