Two days ago I got a lot done and pretty much finished sealing up the Left tank. I ran out of time, energy and sweat and didn't seal the access plates on the Right tank, but that is now one of those "just get 'er done" things since I've gone through the process and know what / how to do.
To explain; we left off with both tanks inspected and rinsed w/ 100LL avgas. There was no debris and we found nothing in the rinse process. The tanks had a few days to dry before I got to work on Monday. The plans call for bending the float attach arms for the two fuel senders and give some engineering drawings to show how to do it. I did both of them backwards. Luckily, it turns out that that configuration is perfectly acceptable. The only variation is that the float arms are 'pointing' in the direction opposite of the drawing, but this is on an axis that is parallel to the actual pivoting, so it makes no difference. (sin 0° = sin 180°).
The R fuel float was very stiff and would actually stay in whatever position I put it. This is not going to give an accurate fuel level measurement since the goal is for the float to fall by gravity and float by buoyancy in the fuel. I actually didn't realize this until after I had applied the pro seal (or "B2", as Van's now calls it) and was in the middle of trying not to make a thorough mess. I was able to gently apply a little bend in the mechanism such that it no longer was binding and free falls properly.
I got both fuel senders sealed in place with the left over B2 sealant from the second flap. It definitely was harder to work with and was getting stringy towards the end, so I'm pretty sure that it only had a few minutes of shelf life with which to work, but it was still spreadable enough that I'm comfortable that I have good seals on the fuel senders. We'll find out soon.
The inspection ports on the Left tank weren't too bad, but I was surprised that I used up most of a jar of B2. I have one left in the freezer to do the Right tank later today.
As mentioned last time, I stripped the threads from the L fuel drain. I have the 1/8' NPT tap from Harbor Freight and will address that later today, too. With that done, the R tank will be curing for 24-48 hours and I'll start pressure testing the Left.
Stay tuned.
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