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[rebel-builders]sticky doors was Fuel Leak

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:23 pm
by Drew Dalgleish
I just rehung my doors a couple weeks ago. They fit absolutly perfectly
before I hung my engine then not quite right afterwards. With 10years
500hrs and a few really ugly landings it was to the point that I couldn't
close the passenger window from the inside. The fix was pretty simple on
the passengeer side I just had to take out the spacers behind the window
latch doubler and on the pilots side I drilled off the hinge rivets on the
door shimmed it where I wanted it and redrilled for 5/32" rivets.

At 04:26 PM 27/05/2010 -0400, you wrote:
I did use a 50/50 mixture of toluene and MEK. I did slosh MEK inside
first and let it dry for several days. The Proseal/MEK/toluene mixture
was a bit thicker than engine oil but not by much. It flowed slowly. I
used a small cup on a rod to transport a bit of the mixture to each
section and had the wing tilted so that when I poured the mixture would
land just above the rear J panel. Once I sealed the opening in the rib
next to the fuselage, I applied 4 PSI to the inside of the tank (measured
with a water menometer for about 5 hours. I do not know how long it
will last as I did not scuff up the areas where the leak(s) were
occurring.

However, I would listen to Wayne as he has had much more experience than
my one patch. Mine did not leak much and I could see no light from the
outside when a small LED flashlight was inserted on a rod. My wing tanks
passed the pressure test (glove inflated for 24 hours) but have now
developed weeping leaks that take a day to notice. I have noticed that
the doors initially opened and closed easily and now stick or are hard
to close. Which leads me to wondering if the plane 'settles' or moves
slightly as it is broken in. The other thing is that I wonder if the
leaks in the tanks could have developed via thermal expansion and
contraction here in the hot Florida sun.

Drew



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