ordering parts

I can't afford to buy complete kit right now so i have been buying tools and parts as I can. Anyway, i'm starting to rivet the firewall together. Plans call for F-704 Bulkheads next, however, it also says these are made in a fixture in assembly with the wing spars to ensure an exact fit. I've already completed the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. Question is, could i go ahead and assemble the bulkhead and tweak later to fit (which i am inclined to do) or should I move on to something else? Might not ever get a plane finished but i sure enjoy piddling in the garage. Thanks for any advice.

F704

john morgan said:

I can't afford to buy complete kit right now so i have been buying tools and parts as I can. Anyway, i'm starting to rivet the firewall together. Plans call for F-704 Bulkheads next, however, it also says these are made in a fixture in assembly with the wing spars to ensure an exact fit. I've already completed the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. Question is, could i go ahead and assemble the bulkhead and tweak later to fit (which i am inclined to do) or should I move on to something else? Might not ever get a plane finished but i sure enjoy piddling in the garage. Thanks for any advice.

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John. Thank you for your service.
The older kits wing spars and center section were matched but new techniques eliminated that problem so builder could build components as funds allowed. I think that means you can build the fuse and still match wing spars to it later but it depends on the age of the kit. Contact Vans. They can advise based on your serial #s on the center section.
The only tricky part is getting the center section space perfect. Since you don't have a wing spar to measure, you'll have to guess. If it helps my center section spacers were 1.444". About .004" clearance for the wing spar. It was snug but they slid in.
Just my uneducated opinion. I may be way off base.
Maybe Scott will chime in fod expert advise.

While the -7 wing spars will likely interchange among center sections, the real issue with that bulkhead is that it's actually riveted to both the center section and the fuselage parts. The fuselage is basically built on/around the wing center section. At least it was back in the early part of the century, when I started mine. I asked about which I could build 1st, & which could be QB, and the factory told me that if I wanted to build the fuselage 1st, I'd have to buy both kits to get the center section to build the fuselage around.

You could just skip the assy of the 704 & move on to other bulkheads, but when you start actually assembling the fuselage, everything builds out from the spar center section, based on my decade+ old memory.

Thank you.

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john morgan said:

Thank you.

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I have some RV-7 spar thru fuselage members here at my hangar. They look like universal fit to me.