Skybolt Spacing on Firewall

Hello -

Has anyone figured how to keep the skybolt spacing on the RV7 firewall sides at the standard 3.5" and keep from having the skin/firewall rivet holes from falling right in the middle of the "curve/joint" in the skybolt mounts? I was hoping I would not have to trim a lot of the skybolt mounting tabs...but perhaps that is going to be the way to go.

If anyone has suggestions on your sequence of installation of the skybolts and the new mounts that are provided in the new skybolt kits it will be most appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

Spacing

Starting at the centerline of the top cowl at the firewall I have 3" spacing on 6 fasteners, stretching the next 1 out to 3 1/4", the next one is 3 3/8' then 3 1/2" on the vertical portions. There are a couple of rivets in the curve of the flange on the verticals, but they set just fine. I have 3 fasteners on the bottom on each side of the cooling air exit spaced at 3 1/2" and no issues with rivets falling in the curves. Here are some pictures.

nice photos

Thanks Don,

This gives me a good idea of how to proceed with the spacing, and it was good to hear that you didn't have issues where the rivets fell on the curved overlap of the tabs.

Thanks for posting the photos - I like the idea you did of slowly extending the spacing around the curved area to transition to the 3.5" spacing on the sides.

Thanks!
Paul

Skybolt VLoc Fastener

Thanks for posting the info on the spacing, that's a great post and very helpful. I just purchased the Skybolt VLoc fastener kit for my RV-7. I would appreciate any additional information anyone has on the installation. One question I had is when to start the fastener installation. From your pictures I see you have not yet riveted the top forward skin and the baffling is not complete. How much of the installation can be done without the top forward skin being riveted?

I have the engne installed and most of the FWF done except for trimming the baffles, the instrument panel 90% completed but the top forward skin is not riveted to allow access for wiring. Looks like I need to start on the cowling fasteners.

Vmax

Wait, Tom.

I've often told newbies to wait 'til you're ready for the first flight to rivet the top forward skin on You'll be amazed at how many times you'll be in there with wiring and such.

You can cleco everything together, including the camlok strip with camloks. Since the cowl extends further back than the camloks and needs to be trimmed, they'll be in the way then and if you're absolutely sure that you're done with installing all pitot/static lines and all wiring for your instruments, then go ahead and rivet the top skin on.

It's a bit of a fight to make that skin bend around to the upper longerons but screw-type clecos work well in that they exert a whole lot more pressure, along with ratcheting straps around and under the fuselage to help.

Best,

Vmax said:

Thanks for posting the info on the spacing, that's a great post and very helpful. I just purchased the Skybolt VLoc fastener kit for my RV-7. I would appreciate any additional information anyone has on the installation. One question I had is when to start the fastener installation. From your pictures I see you have not yet riveted the top forward skin and the baffling is not complete. How much of the installation can be done without the top forward skin being riveted?

I have the engne installed and most of the FWF done except for trimming the baffles, the instrument panel 90% completed but the top forward skin is not riveted to allow access for wiring. Looks like I need to start on the cowling fasteners.

Vmax

Click to expand...

You can completely fit the cowl and leave the top skin until the very last thing you do before final assembly.