Steve,
have a look at Dave's center section swap. He replaced the sheet metal too on his Center section. http://www.ercoupe.info/?n=Main.CenterSectionSwap I think the beads are what you are paying for when buying it from Univair. Hartmut To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 01:56:07 +0000 Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Belly skin rework Hi list members, I am starting work on pulling my belly skins to repair some damage and to do a full inspection of those hidden areas behind the rear spar wing walk box. And I have some questions that those of you who have done similar work might be able to answer. I am looking at removing the main large belly skin which runs from the front spar rearward. Most of it I have already derivetted. I plan to fabricate a new skin since Univair wants 250 dollars for a new one and it seems fairly straightforward. I also plan to remove the two triangular sections which run back to the main fuselage. They are in good shape so its just a matter of pulling them to get access to the rear spar area. However, I am at a bit of a loss what to do about the two wing box bottom skins. They also could use replacement, but I am not sure how to make the beads. I should say that I am nearing the end of a one year course in aircraft sheet metal and structure, and can ask the same question of my instructors, but the three beads on each skin do not look like anything I have yet seen. Univair wants some ungodly price for them....about 400 bucks each which seems like a fortune for such a small amount of sheet metal. So I would love to hear any advice or personal experience from the list. I am also wondering if the wing walk box skins are structural or simply aerodynamics. They seem structural unlike the belly skin. Any other hints or advice would be much appreciated. The bird is a 1960 Forney F1, and has three beads on each skin. Yes I know about the AD and was planning to install the inspection panels at the same time. But I wanted to get in to the area and clean and repair anything the last 50 years have wrought on the plane. As always, anything comments, advice or warnings would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Steve Finkelman Edmonton Alberta Canada p.s. I should point out that I am flying in the owner maintenance category which allows me to sign off my own work, although I always get someone else to inspect just to play it safe. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969
