Then I started
drilling from one end of the hinge and drilled and clecoed each hole on one
side of the fairing. The drilling and
clecoing went fairly well. My drill
battery ran down so I installed another battery and continued to drill and
cleco while I charged spent battery. I
finished drilling the first side and turned the assembly over and drilled and
clecoed the other side. I removed the
clecoes and using my microsink, prepped the holes in the leg fairing for
riveting the hinge in place.
I took the fairing
into the shop where I had clamped my rivet squeezer in the bench vise. One by one I inserted and squeezed the rivets
attaching the hinge assembly to the leg fairing. I also located the attachment point for the
hinge clamp and drilled a hole for the screw.
I reinstalled the fairing on the gear leg using the hinge pin and screws
to hold it in place.
I reinstalled the
wheel pants to make sure the gear leg fairing and the wheel pants had the
correct amount of clearance. I ended up
trimming the lower flange of the leg fairing to allow the proper clearance at
the top of the wheel pants. There has
been considerable discussion and issuance of SB's concerning the attachment of
the main gear legs to the center channel.
It appears I will be working on these attachment points in the very near
future. A statement from Van's dated
10-12-12 leads me to believe I will be removing the gear to make some structural
modifications. It also looks like I will
be installing some fuselage skin doublers at the wing roots. Someone said, once a builder always a
builder. I guess that is true.
