Once  finished, I placed both front and rear spars in our new “airplane room”. One bennifit to living with a fellow RV builder, is that storing parts in the house is not a problem.

Rear spar finished.

Spar and doubler with the aileron push rod tube hole.

Photos of the new airplane room.. You can see some RV-3 parts mixed in with my RV-8 parts.

I also changed the primer I used. Instead of the wal-mart self etching primer I was using, I switched to a Zinc Chromate primer. Zinc Chromate is used in marine applications, and while more expensive, it gives far better protection.

New Primer

 Rear spar  and parts after being primed

I needed to dimple in a few places. In the outboard doubler, it calls to countersink, but most people dimple instead.. I just have to make sure I dimple the rib that attaches to the other side as well. I also dimpled the spar flanges at this point, since it would be difficult to do later with the doublers attached.

I started riveting the doublers. The tape is to prevent me from riveting holes that are supposed to be done at a later date.

So once the move was complete, I needed to get the garage organized, and cleaned. Over the last month, I worked on the rear spars for short periods of time. I deburred the edges of the rear spar components, match drilled the holes, and  cut out the aileron push tube pass through hole. Total work time was about 3 hours.

Some photos of the work I did.

Match drilling the end spar doubler.

Inboard spar doubler fork.

Aileron push tube pass through hole with the doubler on the other side. I needed to trace the hole and cut it out of the doubler to match.

Hole traced.

In order to cut the hole out of the doubler, I first drilled a couple of #30 holes, then used a step drill bit to enlarge the holes.

I used a file and a dremel to finish the hole to the correct size.

Using the tap to thread the bracket.

Countersinks on the spacers.

Riveting on the nutplates.

Tie down bracket installed.

Used tape and a square to line up and secure the spacers in place.

 Bracket with an AN-3 both through the holes I drilled last night to line up square with the spar.

Clamped down and ready to drill.

Eveything came out great.

I used an AN-3 bolt  and a clamp to hole the nutplate in place while I drilled out the rivet holes.

I needed to cut some stock aluminum bar in 2inch sections to fabercate spacers. I also needed to cut lightening holes in these spacers, I used my friends drill press, and a 7/8 circle saw.

Next I measured per the plans and drilled the inital hole in the tie down bracket. I will use this hole to help line up the bracket for the rest of the drilling.

Bar Stock. Used to fabercate spacers.

Spacers cut in to 2inch sections.

Circle saw used to cut lightening holes.

Finished product.

Hole drilled in tie down bracket.

The AEX tie down bracket on the spar.

For the RV-8 Vans recomends one of three engines (I)O320, (I)O 360-180 hp, or the (I)O360-200 hp. All three are Lycoming engines. Some people have started to put automobile engines in their RV’s! Everything from Subaru engines to Corvet LS engines. Personally I would perfer to go with the tried and true aircraft engine.

When I started the RV, I envisioned going with the IO360 180hp. Simply since it was much less expensive to purchase than the big 200hp. Little did I know I would later find a deal on a 200hp Lycoming I couldn’t pass up.

I was able to find an IO360 200hp from a Mooney aircraft that had it’s nose gear colapse on landing. The bad part is the prop hit the ground which in turn damaged the crankshaft beyond repair. This engine will need to be tore down and rebuilt, and in the end I will have a good as new powerplant for way less than I had planned!

Some shots of my new engine.

Vans says the tank countersinks should be about “0.370, when you countersink to this size it looks to be almsot too big on the spar. I took a #8 screw and cut off the threads to test the countersink. The countersink actually is a little large for the screw hole, but then I realized the tank skins are thicker than most other skins. Therefore you would need the countersink to be a little deeper than normal.

Next I countersunk the screw holes on the spar used to attach the wing inspection panels. They use a #6 screw, and should be countersunk to “0.31. These holes are close to the edge of the spar, and need caution in order to not countersink over the edge.

Finally I primed all of the countersunk holes.

Talking on the phone and putting primer in the countersinks.

Fuel tank countersink to 0.370

#8 Screw used to test the countersink depth.

Spar flange and countersinks primed.

I finished drilling and counter sinking the nutplate holes that are used to attach the fuel tanks. Next I started to rivet the nutplates. I finished one side before I decided to call it quits.

The plans being somewhat vauge at this point, I had some questions about some nutplate holes, I couldn’t find in the instructions. So I took a photo and posted it on vansairforce.net. With in 10mins I had an answer! I am not sure what I would do if I didn’t have that online resource.

Here is the photo I posted on line. The holes I have circled in red were confusing me. Turns out they are used for some brackets later on.

Nice flush rivets on the top part of the spar flange. The dark streaks are primer over spray from the counter sunk holes. I will clean it up with some MEK later.

Nut plates installed.