By the title, you can tell that I totally forgot the vent clip on the right tank’s fuel cap flange.
I spent a week preparing myself, reading everyone’s posts on VAF and their build logs, all of which said, “don’t forget the vent clip.”
Of course, I forgot the vent clip.
Before we get into the proseal again, I got a tool order in from the Yard.
Boelube, safety wire (0.032″), safety wire pliers, a few clecos, a new flush set, and a whole bunch of drill bits.
New toys!
Here’s my old flush set and the new one. I”m a little nervous to try it out, so I’ll probably do some practice rivets first.
It's much bigger, and has a nice rubber ring to it.
Okay, let’s get to fixing that forgotten vent clip.
Surprisingly, after a day or so, it was pretty easy to just pull off the proseal dab I had on the rivet.
The uncovered rivet is on the upper right.
Oh, someone mentioned on VAF that I shouldn’t use the blue stuff as electrical tape. I pulled off a few sections to see how it went, and I actually like the way it works. I’ll stick with the blue stuff.
Worked okay for me.
Okay, this paragraph represents the 3 times I had to drill out and reinstall the rivet.
Here’s the first try. When it set, it was a little proud, and I just couldn’t stand for that.
The rivet in question is the lower left one.
After trying two more times, I ended up with this one.
It’s pretty great, except for the fact that it’s differently colored. (I think that particular rivet came with the practice kit.
I can live with that (barely).
Here’s the vent clip side. After reading more, some people who forget this just leave it off, as the next inboard rib is so close.
I figured that Van put it there for a reason.
My clip is a little tall (which means it will be lower), but everyone just bends the very tip up anyway.
The rivet in question is the bottom one. If I still decide to polish the airplane, the rivets will all turn to the same polished color. I just need to remember to get rid of that tiny sliver of proseal sticking out from beneath the head.
Overall, today was a REALLY frustrating day. Didn’t set any new rivets, but drilled 3 times.
I guess I have to have days like this so that the other days can be good ones. Onwards and upwards.
Andrew's RV-7 Build Log 