Cockpit Rails

Hi all-
I am having trouble with the fit of my cockpit rails. They fit fine at their rear ends but are being held away from the outside edge by the aft part of bulkhead 804C. The rivet holes at the front end of the rails are at the inner edge of the 887 longeron. See picture.



I could file or grind the 804C to get clearance but this will slightly move the inside rail edges out of parallel. How important is it that these remain perfectly parallel? Thanks for any help. Rich.

I'm not sure I understand your problem. You definitely want the rail to fit well. The outer edge should exactly fit on the corner of the longeron.

I just looked at my plane and there is about a 1/8" gap between the flange of the aft 804C and the inner flange of the cockpit rail. The 804C should be narrower than the cockpit rail.

Is the 804C riveted to the outer skin? If there is a gap between the skin and the 804C that could explain what you are seeing.

I am having a little trouble remembering the build sequence, but have you installed the front seatback support? I had to pull the fuselage together in order to get that to fit.

Can you post a picture from the bottom of the rail looking forward?

Ratchet straps and wood blocks are your friend.

ILikePike said:

Ratchet straps and wood blocks are your friend.

Click to expand...

...and or bar clamps,C Clamps, etc. It takes a significant amount of force to get these parts initially lined up for drilling, but thats what is requiered.

Skylor

All is well guys. The 804C that was holding the rail away from the edge was trimmed back. It was tight to the outer skin. Simple as that. Edges all lined up now. This was suggested by builder support at Vans and was what I was thinking of doing in the first place. Sometimes you just have to hear it from someone else to know it's OK. You get that feeling that you are going to mess up something that is coming in the future without knowing it. Thanks for the responses. Rich