Had a pretty good day today, I got the replacement F-716 Floor Ribs in yesterday, so I got those swapped out, match drilled, etc. I also enlarged the holes in the floor ribs for the screws to #19. I made up the spacers needed to simulate the wing spar between the two bulkheads. These spacers HAVE to be EXACTLY 1.4380″ (1 7/16″). I cut them out of a spare 2×4 I had laying around. I got the FWD bulkhead clecoed in and match drilled as well. You have to countersink 4 holes on the bottom forward flange, so count carefully to make sure you get the right ones!

Here you can see the new floor ribs in place… That was a $70 mistake!

The plans don’t tell you to rivet these together, they expect you to figure it out on your own… On the left is the F-704D and on the right is the shear bar both riveted in place. This was very straight forward, however the -14 rivets on the shear bar have TINY shop heads… not that it matters since their function is only to hold it in place until its bolted, but just be aware…

I clecoed the F-704H’s in place to help hold the F-704A…

Here I have the two bulkhead halves clecoed together via the F-704H’s. I also have the 4 spacers I made in place, with 2 C-clamps holding the top have tight. This whole structure really tightens up when the F-704 is together… I went ahead and drilled the 1/4″ hole for the 2 bolts and spacers that pass through the 2 bulkheads. I also match drilled the bottom skin to the FWD F-704.

And finally, here it is coming apart again. I separated the two bulkheads, and then drilled the bolt holes for the floor ribs through the F-704. Now I have to deburr all this, dimple, prime, and then I can rivet! Overall I feel like I got a lot of things done today… This center fuse is coming together quicker than I expected.