Matt’s RV7 Build Log

Tonight Annabelle helped me finish the dimpling on the stainless steel firewall.

Tasks Completed:

• Finished firewall dimpling
• Final test fit of firewall parts before priming

I finished all the countersinking tonight on all the stiffeners and gussets. The hard wood jig I use to hold the part while using the microstop in the cordless drill is working great. I started to dimple the firewall, but after a few holes trying to holding the part and dimple by myself I thought better of it. I’ll get Annabelle to help out later this week.

Tasks Completed:

• Finished countersinking stiffeners and gussets
• Started to dimple firewall 

Tasks Completed:

• Finished drilling stiffeners and gussets to firewall
• Drilled spacers, doubler and L/R F601J
• Disassembled firewall structure for deburring and countersinking

Tasks Completed:

• Fabricated F601E stiffener
  
• Started match drilling stiffeners and gussets to firewall

Tonight I snuck in an hour fabing the rest of the firewall parts. I fit and clecoed everything together in preperation for match drilling tomorrow.

Tasks Completed:

• Fabricated the brake line doubler and spacers.
• Deburred the remaining parts for the firewall skeleton.

I made the rest of the firewall parts including the right F601J. The sequnece of parts is pretty straight forward but it looks to be challenging to get everything lined up to drill–especially the two gussets behind 601J. Another hour of parts prep and then I can drill everything.

Tasks Completed:

• Made F601J-R
• Made the right spacer and brake line doubler 

My how time flies. Work has been killing me. We are hitting the spring cleaning hard in the basement. On top of it all, I got sick last week. So this is my first post in a while but I am happy to report that I have started the firewall this weekend. As the picture shows, I am in the middle of prepping all the support structure.

I built a rack to hang the tail pieces from. Plus I have made major strides in clearing out an area to hold the wing racks when they get here in April. My goal is to have the bulkheads done by then, but its not looking likely.

Tasks Completed:

• Deburred  firewall pieces
• Made F-601 J-L

It only took an evening to get through all the parts for the fuse. Then it took another 3 days to inventory and sort all the hardware. There is a TON of hardware compared to the tailkit. I bought two more storage cabinets to hold all the bolts, screws, washers, etc.

Everything has a home now although I need to clear out some more basement junk to make room for storing the tail parts. Then it will be time to start the firewall!

I decided to order a QB wing to save a little time on the project. It won’t be ready until April. In the meantime though I figured I could get started with some of the fuselage build. The weather was terrific in the Northwest for MLK day. With the day off from work, there was not a better day to visit Van’s and pick up my fuse kit. Van’s had my big box of parts and a 14′ tube with the longerons waiting for me. In about 30 seconds a forklift and 4 guys came out of nowhere and put said big box and long tube in my truck.

With all the extra time I had, I waited in front of the hanger to get my free ride. It turned out that the factory 7 was in the shop getting a new engine so I opted for a ride in the 8. Joe Blank was a great host and pilot. He took me for the all too familiar $50,000 ride (more like $30,000 ride at this point). It was great to get my hands on the stick and feel how smooth and precise an RV is compared to the Cessnas and Piper I’ve always flown.

After a total of 7 hours in the truck, I arrived home safely. My builder friend Jason came by a few minutes later and helped me get all the stuff into the garage. Exhausted, I only managed to pull out the inventory list from the crate before dozing off.