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RV-7A rebirthing

Ok, so, I am digging into the next big phase, removal of the old bent CTR section.

I have been working towards this for several months and need to get this fuse with windscreen attached flipped over. I thought about dropping it out the bottom, but I can't get the fuse high enough given the dim's of my small 1966 garage. I still might think about just cutting off the 704 struts that go to the side skins, that would work but I am sure they are sound and usable for someone else. I just wanted to do the whole CTR to make myself feel better about the build.

Lots more rivets to remove but I have a pretty good grip on that now! LOL
I think I could put on a class for each type of rivet and the thickness of base metal it is in!

I have a good feeling this will all line up...if it doesn't I will cross that bridge when I get to it and cross it or build another one or whatever it takes.

A few pic's of the left side bulkhead I replaced today. I primed it and wanted to keep the base piece, it looked good save for one oversize hole which can take a #4 rivet or a screw.

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After much investigation and thought...I am building the entirety of the front clip. The windscreen bow looks good will keep that. It is going to be easier than keeping one or two pieces. I have the whole SB fuse kit I bought, so...why not.

The longerons are what I am keeping, and the two aft side skins. Still having fun with this puzzle. :)
 
Love this thread!

I'm curious, how did this RV get wrecked?

Beautiful work!

Jim

Thank you!

It went down short of the field in Nevada. I bought it from Blain(RV8) who bought it from the owner for the motor. He just got his first flight last week I think.
Before:

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After:

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I will say that most of the damage must have been done in transporting the aircraft AFTER the forced landing. Once I got it, was hammered dog doo doo, LOL

Thanks again for the post. I did think anyone was interested, but I thought I would just post anyway. :)
 
Bought a motor today from "The Great White North" on Ebay...Hope it works out, I am sure it will.
 
Dirty side up

I finally got some help to flip this bad girl over! What an accomplishment! Not difficult to flip, tough to get a couple extra hands to make it easier. All is well and I can make some good headway this week.
I just realized I have had this project right at a year! Working on it in that year maybe only 4 months available. Of that time maybe have done 300-350 hours! I need to step it up!


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Haven't seen this side in a while

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Quickie pivot point

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Love this project!

Very interesting thread, thanks for posting. As someone that just replaced my lower firewall , a MUCH simpler repair, I have a small amount of understanding of the process. Drilling rivets is a skill I mastered as well...😉.
One question. How often do you utilize the punching bag in the background of your wonderful pics??
Cheers,
 
Very interesting thread, thanks for posting. As someone that just replaced my lower firewall, a MUCH simpler repair, I have a small amount of understanding of the process. Drilling rivets is a skill I mastered as well...😉.
One question. How often do you utilize the punching bag in the background of your wonderful pics??
Cheers,

Prior to this project, whenever the stress of situations calls for a little release. Now I can't reach it, too much in the way.
I had a boxing film way-way back that called for some special bag work so I got the speed bag to tune it up at home rather than driving to the gym.

Most of the rivets I drill out are no stress as both surfaces are replaced, but at least 2-300 were keepers on one surface or the other. I have some holes going to #4's ;)
 
Front lower skin excised

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Living legend

Hi Kent,

Keep up the good work! Your going to be a VAF walking legend after your done.
 
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Man, that's a scary bunch of work you're doing there! Looking good though, keep it up.

So, on the pics with the front floor skin removed; did anyone else picture a Fred Flintstone airplane with their feet sticking out to the ground? No, just me? I'm weird that way...
 
Man, that's a scary bunch of work you're doing there! Looking good though, keep it up.

So, on the pics with the front floor skin removed; did anyone else picture a Fred Flintstone airplane with their feet sticking out to the ground? No, just me? I'm weird that way...

I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it...;)

I have to admit, cleaning up all the holes after careful rivet removal is time-consuming. I have several 3's going up to 4's many times simply from the expansion from the #3 rivet. or egging out while I pull the rivet from the back.
Not many miss drills really. One bad one on the F-623, I think it is, to the side skin, but I can put a .032 Thk "washer" on that one.
Front end turned out to be pretty square, the angles didn't bend as I thought they might.

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Rivet pieces pulled

So I got the front spar cleaned up with regards to the rivet shop heads removed. Let me tell you, "overly" driven rivets, and there were many, are much more difficult to remove well than a well-driven rivet! My goodness, glad I am replacing these things! Swedish pancake looking they were!

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Open cockpit!

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In the above picture of the F-704, I just noticed that it is not CSK. I was going through the build procedures to double check that I was ready to install the center section and boom! No dimple or CSK. Not sure how that worked when it was first assembled. It worked, though. :)
 
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Nothing to see here...

I spent several hours last night trying in vain to get six rivets in.

Aft to the center section along the elevator control rod tunnel.

SO, got two fasteners in, not rivets but screws in place. I had forgotten that a couple of the holes got enlarged on the aft section and the new center section
had nice new holes covering the enlarged holes. Took 40 mins to get one of the attempted rivets out without damaging all the new work.

I don't have a picture, I wish I did, but it was I could do to not beat this whole thing with a sledgehammer...

Today is a new day so I will venture back out to the dark recesses of the garage to work some magic and shake off last evening.
 
It has been a while since I added photos, so I thought I would update a few. Work has been going on but not a lot to photo document. In this project many things have to be removed massaged and then new parts installed. Case in point are the gear leg weldments. They were 100%, but I had new ones so out they came and new ones installed. I bit of Nevada top soil came out of them even after diligent work to remove it all!
Not much but a few.


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Have the lower longerons done now. Not too bad. Few pictures of them and the bottom skin getting holes for the gear.

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Firewall

I managed a few photos of the firewall prep and installation. I had my firewall finished but needed to remove the main brackets from each corner as I am using the original firewalls brackets, they were in excellent shape.

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I had other photos, but they appear to have been lost in the interwebs...
 
Riveted corner bracket deals on top

So, final drilled a lot of holes...just scanning the fuse to figure out what I have skipped over as I have to jump around a bit.
I thought I posted this yesterday but don't see it so maybe I messed it up.

I choose to buck these by hand as I seem to have more control over it than the squeezer, at least in this case. Cut custom length rivets, the -6's were just a hair short. You can see some of them on the close-up of the right-hand side. All things considered, they came out acceptable.

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I went a little out of sequence again, but it worked.
I have the rudder pedals here and am going to use the new framework and the old pedals themselves. They look fine and I am going to cerakote them with some graphite black I have left over from my previous business. Stuff is super bomber and oven cured.

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I have one set of new brake cylinders and will use them on the pilot side and one set of the used cylinders on the passenger side.

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Finishing up the floor stiffeners for the forward bottom skin. The holes on one of the stiffeners were a little north of the line but all the others came out perfect. I think it was the bend at the end o one of the stiffeners that threw it off. I tried to get it "more" square and that is the result...

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So I was up at Twin Oaks(7S3) today for a flight maneuvers lesson and afterward talked to my buddy in maintenance and he said that there is an AD or SB for the rudder frame. Good thing I am changing mine for the new ones as the old ones did not have the small welded gussets on the down tubes that are in the AD! Sweet!
 
Maybe it was just an internal deal? Not sure other than the new ones have the gussets and the older ones do not. Thanks for posting and checking for us!
 
It's probably like the steps they made an improvement but it's not a mandatory change. Mine don't have that little reinforcement piece.
 
Forward bottom skin

Not much to show, been studying for my check ride...here are a couple shots for those following along.

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Firewall bracket bucked!

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This is me eating a fritter watching people run a marathon for the Rose Festival
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Side skin workj

Starting work on the left side skin. Time to do that curly bend on belly tab deal.

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side skin belly bend

For a split second, I thought I bent it the wrong way!

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I don't have time tonight to check fit, hope it fits!
 
close up bend point

Here is how the bend point came out. I need to add some more bend to the flange that goes under but other than that I think I am good. Not perfect, but acceptable.


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No cracking in the corner; good! Build on; the gap will be easily fillable with a bit of micro and some sanding. This is a challenging part of the build ... but yours is good to go!
 
No cracking in the corner; good! Build on; the gap will be easily fillable with a bit of micro and some sanding. This is a challenging part of the build ... but yours is good to go!

Thanks for the reply! If nothing else I can put some sealant on the inside and keep the water out. I have about fifty million dents in this thing from cartage, so I am not sure how many I will fill, might add fifty pounds to the empty weight! LOL HA HA
 
right skin mostly done

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Not sure how to fix this gaposis on the bottom skin to side skin intersection...maybe one of those seamer edge roller deals

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left side skin deburred and dimpled

Here is the skin minus some primer in the bulkhead contact areas in need to do. I didn't have my readers on so I guess they came out a bit fuzzy...darn.

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