Brief Description: Fuel Return line installed for left tank
The first step was locating the line penetration on the ribs. I loosely inserted the inboard capacitive plate and drew a line at its most forward edge to make sure I stayed clear. Like others have done, I picked the upper half of the interior portion of the stiffening ring on the rib. I drilled the starter hole #30 in most inboard rib while it was clecoed in position. I then chucked my long #30 bit and drilled the first inboard rib with the bit passing through the first hole to help with the alignment. I initially thought I could do the next two interior ribs this way as well, but although I could chuck the bit in my Sioux drill in the next bay over, I couldn’t get the air-line attached and still have enough room to drill. So, I got out the 90 degree angle drill and drilled the next two interior ribs #30. I then opened up all the holes to ¼” to get ready for the step drill bit. It was a little awkward on the interior ribs, but I was able to drill them to ½” for the snap bushings. I wasn’t happy with the most inboard rib 9/16” hole. I drilled it with the hand drill and it came out pretty sloppy for some reason (I’ll do the next one with the drill press). The hole is not very round and is bigger than it should be for the bulkhead fitting. I think I will use one of the big AL washers from the wing kit to sandwich the rib to fix this. I deburred all the holes and put the snap bushings in. I then cut the tube to length and flared the end. I assembled everything and it looks good. On final assembly, I think I will bend the end of the return line down toward the bottom of the tank. The line terminates one bay inboard of the outboard capacitive plate.
