After spending a few days away from the plane building for Thanksgiving, I was ready to get back to work.
I started by mixing up a batch of tank sealant and spreading it onto the flange of the J-channel stiffener. Then my friend David helped me slide the J-channel into the right fuel tank. Then he loaded up the holes with rivets, while I followed behind him and bucked that whole row of rivets. The shopheads were then all encapsulated under nice dabs of more sealant.
I then installed the plastic snap bushings into the holes in each of tank ribs, and then slid the soft aluminum tubing for the vent line, making a few gentle bends to allow it to fit into the bushing at the filler cap.
Next was to apply more tank sealant to the attach bracket and rivet that into place, and then do the same with the aft half of the inboard rib. The heavier rivets that attach the two halves of the inboard rib to the attach bracket needed to be bucked using a double-offset rivet set and a bucking bar with an angled tip. Again, the shop heads needed to be covered with additional tank sealant, and then all of the seams and joints were fileted with sealant too.
The inboard lip of the fuel tank then needed the several nutplates attached, which I simply used my hand squeezer to set those rivets. The fuel sender was also clecoed into place and the arm adjusted slightly to allow the float arm swing without hitting anything.
What's next? With that done, now both fuel tanks are up to the same completion stage. I'll try to do a water leak test to see if there are any places that need more sealant before closing up the tanks.