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Firewall bracket, F-1040 & F-1001B not the typical problem

mciaglia

Well Known Member
So I have finally progressed through chapter 29 and up to now its been smooth sailing. I bent the F1040 and F1041 to the exact angle of 20 and 8 degrees using a digital level. After clecoing them into place I noticed a problem. I know there have been issues with the firewall bracket during production welding getting out of alignment and there being an issue with the alignment of the top and bottom tabs aligning with the long axis. But mine line up perfectly.

My problem is different. There is a perfect and parallel gap between the top of the F-1040 and the F-1001B. It is almost exactly .063"

Exactly the same on both sides

I am stumped on this. I looked forward through the plans and there is no bracket that attaches between these parts. Did I miss something?
The rudder bracket attaches to the longeron in later steps.

Would it be appropriate to make a shim spacer and upsize the rivets appropriately?

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[/url]Untitled by mark ciaglia, on Flickr[/IMG]
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[/url]Untitled by mark ciaglia, on Flickr[/IMG]
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[/url]Untitled by mark ciaglia, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
Same thing noticed

Hi Mark,

While I don't have an answer to your question, I'm at the exact same point in my build and notice the same problem. I've, apparently, also have the problem of the bracket tabs not aligning very well under the f-1040. Very curious.

Cheers,

Mark Easton
 
Made a spacer

I contacted Van's about this and there is no spacer mentioned in the manual. Eric, in tech support, emailed me a picture of his -10 under construction and there isn't one. He suggested that it would be ok to make one if needed, though, so I cut the flanges off some scrap .063 angle and it lines up nice now. Since the brackets all come pre punched, I'm sure that this not something I messed up so I wouldn't doubt if it's a common problem.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4jBFS6vhdDZ0inP02

Cheers
 
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