Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 70.

November 24, 2007:  The fitting of the wing fairings began in earnest with the Saturday morning session.  And as usual, the gang was here to watch as we moved the crew from the warehouse (near the coffee machine) over to the hangar where the action would be for the day.  I put Wendell right to work and his friends all gathered their chairs in strategic places to watch the work going on.

I remember doing this same stuff on my airplane way back in 2005.  Now it is Wendell's turn at bat.

Fellow RV-8 builder Larry Champion came by for the official "look see" as we head for final assembly.  I had spent about half my time earlier in the morning showing the project to other friends and pilots who stopped by for an update.   Wendell just kept squeezing rivets and securing plate nuts.

November 25, 2007:  We put in a rare Sunday afternoon session to get the wings ready for insertion into the fuselage spar assembly.   One of the remaining tasks was to pressure check the fuel tanks.  I got my plastic tubing out and poured some water into one tube and blew into the other to get the desired pressure differential.  The nice thing about this test is that if the water moves higher in the clear plastic tube, the pressure is rising in the fuel tank as the temperature in the work area increases.  If the water level falls, there is a leak to be found.  Both tanks were sealed and no downward movement occurred unless I pushed on the fuel drain.  Success!

While the fuel tank pressure was monitored for an hour, the fuel sender wire was cut to length and terminated with a crimp ring connector.

Wendell had a short piece of scrap tubing that was long enough for a first attempt at the fuel vent line connection from the fuselage side to the fuel tank vent port.  The excess will be cut off when the wing is finally fitted.

And finally, the right wing spar is plugged into the fuselage and held temporarily by my old "Spud Wrench" until the real bolts can be put in place.   The pointed end of the wrench works to align the wing spar bolt holes with the doubler holes inside the fuselage.  Two traditional hardware store bolts will be used for the next stage of the alignment.  Those bolts have a diameter of 0.005" less than the close tolerance bolts that will ultimately secure the wings to the fuselage.

The view from the outside of the right wing confirms a milestone as the wing is fitted to the fuselage.  The fuel line connection was just the right length.

This second photo has less reflected glare from the cowling and reveals more details of the wiring and tubing connections to be made from the fuselage to the wing.   And with this photo comes the end of the work session and thoughts of the coming sessions as Wendell and I review the next steps in securing the wings.