Drilled the Screw Holes in the Joiner Plate to Final Size and checked the Clearance

After a lot more stressing over the fit of the edges of the fuel tank and LE skins and presence of any gaps, I finally got tired of trying to make this "perfect" and decided that it was time to do the best I could to ensure that the skin edges were as "perfect" as I could make them, and then drill the attach holes for the #8 screws to their final size with a #19 drill bit. Here was the outcome:

While it's a little hard to see in the above pic, the black colored clecoes in the middle are where the attach holes have been final drilled.

Just prior to doing that I was trying to get a pic of the gap between the LE and Fuel tank rib to verify that I had about a 1/16th inch gap between the end of the joiner plate and the fuel tank rib. even I am able to see the inside of the gap through the new access plate opening in the LE, it was difficult to get a good picture of this. I am still trying to figure out why i seems as though I have a correct gap on the top side of the LE and Fuel tank ribs, but the gap on the bottom side seemed to be quite a bit smaller. In fact, this gap is so small that the edge of the joiner plate appears as though it almost touches the flange of the fuel tank rib. None of that makes much sense to me.

The only way to view this gap is with a mirror. It is possible that I am dealing with an optical illusion, but I don't think so.

Trying to hold the mirror in one hand and the camera in the other, and insert it into the access panel hole is a bit of a challenge. Anyway, you get the idea. There is a diagram in the plans that shows this gap between the joiner plate flange and the fuel tank rib flanges, and it should be about the same on the top and bottom sides.

After the holes were drilled, I removed all the clecoes securing the fuel tank and removed it from the wing frame. I then deburred all the holes.

I was a little concerned about the edge distance of these holes once they were final drilled into the joiner plate, because I was not able to maintain the 11/16th of an inch measurement all the way around the LE. In some spots it does meet that measurement, but in others it is about 1/16th of an inch shorter, which leave less space for the nut plate and dimple for the #8 screw that will occupy these holes. After trial fitting a nut plate in several locations I don't think I have anything to worry about. the dimples and nut plates should have plenty of room.

I called Vans today to ask about the forward-most hole, after realizing that there is a bit of a curve in the flange of the joiner plate that causes the nut plate for this hole not to sit flush with it. Vans told me that you could either slightly bend the flanges of the nut plate, or clamp the joiner plate down as flat as possible and drill the rivet attach holes. they have seen builders do it both ways and I was told that it does not seem to make much difference whichever method is used.

Next steps are to get with my Tech counselor to review the plans for the cut in the LE skin. Then once that is finalized, it's time to drill the rivet holes and screw holes for the planned nut platesin the subskin, and then remove the LE and disassemble the subskin so I can make the cuts in the outer LE skin. Then I will need to smooth out the edges of the cutout in the outer skin, and fabricate a new .025 inch thick skin. This will become the "removable" LE that will fit exactly in the new cutout area.

Then I will need to and mark and drill the holes in the new removable skin by starting at the bottom and wrapping it around to the top, drilling and clecoing as I go, to make sure that it sits tightly around the subskin, and that all the edges line up perfectly with the edges of the outer skin. How to mark the holes in the fabricated replacement skin is something else that I also need to think through.

I still can't believe that the time for this near-final phase of the mod is actually almost here.