Jur's RV7 Aircraft Factory
2917 hours and counting
Some decisions in life are bare of any obvious logic

It's the last day of the year and what else would a man do on such a day as spending some quality time in the workshop.

Here's a picture of how I'm straigthning the 3/8" fuel line. Just clamp one end in a vise and using gloves, pull real hard on the other side. It will straighten out easily.
I saw people also cutting it then, clamping it with some pliers from the other end and then tapping on the pliers with a hammer.

Anyway... back to where we left of. Making the inner fuel line for the right side tank. This lines has to be a mirror image from the left side so I'm using the other piece and tried to copy the same bends.Bending the opposite way off course for the line going up. This was a very good approach as I could also fabricate that one from the first attempt.

Here's a shot of a finished flare. As I said in earlier posts. Sand and deburr these very carefully before attempting the flare. You don't want to spoil a piece where you spend blood sweat and tears on bending and finally get a crack on the flare.

What I usually measure is if the flare and sleeve have the same width.

The flare cannot be wider than the sleeve, otherwise you won't be able to get the nut over.When my flare is finished, I also use some 1000 grit sandpaper to give it a final little rub in the top of the flare as this tends to feel rather sharp. Also, inspect the finished part well with a magnifying glass looking for small cracks in and out.

In the next shot, the passenger side line is also installed on the Andair fuel selector.

As you can see, the lines end in the last outboard bay, that's where I will connect the outboard and inboard line using some AN815-6D for the 3/8" lines.

A side shot of the fuel selector connections. All nice and straight, no tention getting it on.

Started solving my fuelpump issues on the center cabin cover. Now that the feet on the fuel pump are #19 again, I need to cover the #12 holes in the center cabin cover with some doubler plates.
It's actually worse than that because the support angles underneath are also drilled #12. Another sample of how a minor screw up can cost you easily 10 extra hours of work.

I made two doubler plates which I drilled on the cabin cover with for multiple AD3 rivets

Here's how it will look like. All holes drilled, deburred and dimpled.

Same for the cover itself.

I also had to drill out the holding arms on the support brackets and invert the direction so that the othe side could be re-used for drilling. These two bracket sizes are overkill for the fuel pump support so couple of extra holes in it won't hurt anybody. Had to deburr, countersink and reprime those again as well as the reinforcement plates. Used a brush to put the primer on. Not as nice as spray painting, but all this will be under the fuel pump dog house cover.

Then back rivetted the reinforcement plates on the cover.

 Nice job, holes are back to #19... phewww

Ten found out I actually drilled too close to the center for my reinforcement plates. I had to grind off little of the angles in order to give room for the rivets. Again no big deal but always a dissapointment I didn't think of this earlier.

Rivetted the angles on

Now the fuel pump fits very nicely with the right size screws. They are still on backorder at spruce so I'm demonstration it here with 8R8 screws.

Next wanted to continue on the fuel lines and found out my outer support bracket for the fuel line cover didn't have the notch made yet for the grommet that goes in there and holds the fuel line.
Quickly took care of that, sanded and fortunatly has some wet primer paint left to touch it up with a brush.

Time to finally get started on the fuel lines. This one of those things that is more of an art form than actual working a part.
Estimation of lengths, bending in the right spots and radiuses, making flared connection that are in the right length... Can not really say I enjoyed this part of the build. It's quit' frustrating if you restart some pieces 4 to 5 times and see your stock coil getting thinner and thinner.

Here is the first easy part. I got this one right at the first try. Measured a length of tube and made a 90° bend on it. You want to warm up the material a bit when you work in cold conditions (it's winter time in belgium as I write this).
Then gently pull on the tube bender going very slowly and with even strength. That makes the nicest bend without deforming the inner diameter of the tube.

Before making the flare... make sure you sand the end really well. This is a place where you want to be anal about it. Sand it all the way down to 1200 grit smoothness and take care of the inner and outer burr.
The slightest burr or uneven surface can crack the tube while making the flare. Take care of it now and don't be sorry with a cracked flare after you finally got all those bends right. Also, don't forget to put the nut and sleeve on.

Here's one flare made and measuring for the correct length to go up to the fuel tank selectors. Always keep those protection caps on to avoid shafings or any debris entering your fuel lines or pump. Yes... this is a matter of life and dead.

Here's a shot of the finished part. I don't have the fuel filter on the pump as I am using outboard gascolators that already have a fuel filter in there.

In this image, it looks like the nipple is not straight on but this because of the sag on the fuel tank selector plate. Once attached, it fits straight and very nicely

I temporarily installed the fuel tank selector cover and as you see there is plenty of room for the fuel line to pass without risk of chafing.

Next part is the inner part of the fuel line from the fuel tank selector to the outboard side of the cabin. I decided not to make 1 piece all the way to the gascolator.
It's very difficult to do if you also have to make an outboard bend to the gascolator so I had to decided to either use a 90° connection outboard, or have an AN515 straight joint fitting inside.
I choose the latter as it makes the bending a bit easier.

I started inboard with the 90° bend towards the fuel tank selector. Then estimated the bend needed to make the angle to follow the 704 bulkhead.

In this picture, I already installed it.

I only figured out later that the small 704 support outboard can be unscrewed from the nutplates and had a hard time getiing it through both supports.

Side view with inner line installed. Looks quite good.

oh crap... got cold and hot sweat at the same time. I just figured out why so much material came of from the holes in the feet of my fuel pump.

I reamed it #12 for an3 bolts as I saw the nutplate numbers.

That was all wrong ! it's supposed to be #19 for 8R8 like screws. They even use special head hex screws to clear the hex screws holding the head plate on the tube and any other screw will fit, even the larger an3 size hex screws won't.

grrrrrrrrr... I hate those mistakes.

After a bit of research and finally contacting Andair, I figured out that you can unscrew the feet and Andair was so kind to send me new ones at cheap price compared to replacing the pump.

Now I have to figure out how to fix my center cabin cover, that also has holes in it for AN3.