Zodie


Flipped over the wing. Now on to work on the top

Located the hole for the sender. First traced the lightening hole from the nose rib. Then used the measurements to locate the center.

Cut the hole with my fly cutter. First a practice hole in a piece of scrap to make sure of the diameter. Then in the tank.

Shook and did everything to get rid of the chips. But then got a stick and tape and blotted the bottom till it came up clean. A good look in the hole. This didn't work near as well as blowing air. See further down the page

Bent the wire on the sender to the specs. Put the tank up for a little while

Cut the holes for the nut plates. First I made a jig and use it to cut the holes. Then counter sunk to accept the rivets. after cutting the first small hole I stuck a solid rivet to locate the jig. With the thin skin I only counter sunk it a little bit and then dimpled it also. I will wait to install after I prime.

Taped up the tank and fit it in the wing. Haven't taped the ends yet. I want to get the fittings done first

A look at the holes for the drain and the vent. This was kind of tricky to locate. I ended up dabbing a little wood glue on the plastic cap and touching it on the inside skin. Then measured it and saw how close the two marks were to each other. Measure twice cut once. IT FIT.

Started laying out the cable for the wing lights.

Also located the hardware for the aileron bell crank and dry fit.

The wing is all square and level. Started bending the LE skin to check the edge distance on the spar cap, LE skin, and upper skin.

I must have checked this 4 times before I cut the holes. It worked fine. Everything lined up

Started locating the filler hole

One little issue. There is a gap between the outboard ribs and the nose skin. I am going shim to prevent the nose skin from being pulled down and dimpling.

I cut a test hole in a piece of scrap. The assembly manual has a different cap. It looks like it is recessed in the hole. This one works well to have the flange on top of the skin.

Had to be very careful when making this cut. But it turned out great.

Ok time to start assembling the tank. I used fuel compatible pipe dope from Lowes.

Before installing the sender I checked to see how clean it really was. I also ended up enlarging the hole. The plans called for a 59 mm hole I think a 61 works better, 59 was very tight. Any way this put more shavings in the tank. I ended up putting tape partially over the sender hole and blowing air with an extender in the filler hole. This took a while, about 45 minutes, but the tape finally came up clean.

Everything assembled and leak testing. I got some good advice off the Matronics discussion board. What I did was put a balloon over the vent tube, taped off the filler hole, and blew it up through the finger screen, then sealed it off with another balloon. It held pressure. I also checked the fittings with soapy water and no bubbles.

Mounted the flap and then then the aileron

Trimmed the wing tips. Started with a rough cut and then kept working it in to make the shape.

Bent the angles. The tool ZAC provides works great

Mounted the nav lights and checked them out. Works great.

The wing tip is done.

Put the wing back in the jig and installed the tank. Had to remove the nipple to get it in and it took a little persuasion to get into place with the drain in also. The sender was easy to wire up.

With the Leading Edge skin pulled down there was a gap between the skin and the cap. I built up with some cork to apply a little pressure from inside. It worked well and no gap.
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Had the EAA Tech counselor take a look. Here is what he did and some of his recommendations. - Checked rivet set. He thought it looked fine - Checked edge margin problems. Again no problem - Checked concept for fuel system. - lower fuel lines to bottom of fuse - lower valve and use extender - use AL tubing for fuel lines in cockpit - Inspected wiring. Need to secure better - Taxes and registration. Best to do this early rather than late. - Add washers to capture uniballs - Secure pitot and static hoses better - Showed technique for Debur with a drill bit. This is easy and does a nice job - Use 4130 for aileron horn, Checked with ZAC and they don't see a problem using the 4130 - Secure strobe wires and RTV - Remove RTV from fay sealed parts. Acedic Acid in RTV corrosive to AL Over all he was happy with the workmanship. The biggest thing was the RTV I had used as a fay seal on the aileron bell crank fittings. Take a look back a page in red. It only took about 15 minutes to drill it out and then I reprimed and reinstalled. This was really useful to get some one else to take a look.

Ok ready to close it up. Before I did I checked the operation of the LED lights. They sure looked good. The strobe worked too, Hard to catch on a camera....

Here are the wires and hoses.

The Fuel Filler turned out good

All done.

Next step is to turn it over and finish the bottom

Ok she is ready to store. I made this cradle. It worked well. I cleared the Pitot tube by dumb luck. When I made it I should have figured it in. Oh Well it worked.

All sealed up. Brandi is checking it out.

Put away till the next one joins it.
On to the right one.

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