After one hour of work, all is finally ready to begin assemblin the fuel tanks. The first parts that get riveted are the stiffeners, so I applied along where they go some electric tape so as not to smear everything with proseal. I also cleaned everything with acetone, I'll do a second pass tomorrow before beginning the actual assembly.

After today's session the tanks are almost ready for assembly. First I assembled the left tank fuel sender, it will be in the second bay.



Then I finished the first bay by fabricating the small strips that will prevent the flop-tube to get stuck in the corners.



The right fuel tank also gets a fuel sender, but as the pick-up is more conventional, the sender is in the first bay. I finished the day by deburring all the dimples (sounds a bit strange), this will allow for the thickness of the proseal under the rivet head while allowing the rivet head to still remain flush with the skin.

Today during three hours I made some more small works on the fule tanks. First I had to drill the nut on the fitting for the right tank fuel pick-up. This nut needs to be safety-wired so it has to be drilled first for the wire.



Then I drilled the rivet holes for the purge valves, the holes on the flanges are already countersunk.



Then I drilled the fuel cap holders, the holes on the skin get drilled and those on the fuel cap holder get countersunk. I choose to install the so-called "Deluxe" caps they look better and are lockable.



Then I installed the left fuel guage on the tank baffle. As the baffle is not as thick as the inspection hole cover supposed to hold the fuel sender, I used the cover to fabricate a reinforcing ring I'll mount inside the tank. The picture is taken on the inside of the baffle, I still havt or rivet the nutplates.



All the parts that will get Pro Seal during final assembly get sanded.



And to finis some plumbing work with the fabrication of the vent line and the fuel return line.

Some more small works prepping the tank. I riveted the nutplates for the inspection cover, drilled the vent line and return line fitting holes (the return line is there just in case it might be needed. I also begun assembling the fule gauges. Tomorrow, I'll install the tank caps, the drains and the left fuel gauge.

Today was a big day, first with Sabine we dimpled both fuel tank skins.The skins have also been scuffed at the place where the sealant will have to stick.



Then I fabricated some small parts, beginning with the inspection cover. The right and left cover are different because the left tank is equipped with a flop tube and so the fuel gauge has to be placed in the second bay. On the picture, the cover plate with the holes (to screw on the fuel gauge) is for the right tank and the plain cover for the left one.




The opposite end rib has a tooling hole that has to be closed. Van's suggests to use a big rivet, I have the rivet but not the tools so I did as others did before me : fabricate a small cover plate that will be sealed and riveted over the hole. That's how to make four holes to close one!!!!!



To finish, I made two small holding clips that will hold the vent lines in each tank.