Today, I worked with Keith to match drill the Y-Tail Doubler Strap supplied with WIX-SB-001 to the existing holes in the rear spar of the empennage. It was a good idea to remove the empennage from the fuselage. This job would have been impossible to do while the tail was on the aircraft.
After drilling the Doubler Strap, Keith and I proceeded to reinstall the tail on the aircraft. We noticed that the forward spars of the Y-tail did not want to sit flat on the fuselage. There is a little bit of twist to the empennage, but torquing the bolts on the Lower Fwd Angle that hold the empennage to the fuselage should remove it.
The aft fuselage C-Channel had to be widened slightly with seamers to accommodate the doubler. It's a tight spot, and all the pop rivet tails don't help!
A John Schmidt helped me to some free "AN" nylocs to use when reassembling the tail. After getting most of the bolts in, we stripped out one of the free nylocs while torquing it to spec ... not good. We removed it and discovered that it, and all the other free nylocs, were non-magnetic (unlike all the other nylocs I had in my little hardware stash). This cast doubt on the whole lot of free nylocs. Fortunately, John Koser was around and let us into his hardware cabinet where we found good nuts. Thanks John! Keith and I took out all the bad hardware and started over.
John Koser also gave us some bolts. Keith and I discovered that some Sonex-specified bolts were too long and were shanking-out. Keith's bolts (one dash number shorter) allowed us to avoid needing to double-washer. This is a common problem on the aircraft.
Some bolts on the left side of the doubler could not be installed with washers under their heads due to interference with the rudder. The bolts are in shear, so this won't be an issue. The only alternative would have been to move the fuselage side of the rudder hinge aft by approximately 1/8", requiring half the hinge to be remade.
It was a really hot, sweaty day with lots of fiddly work. Keith and I did not want to cut an inspection panel in the aircraft if we didn't absolutely have to. We fed all the hardware down into the tight space of the aft fuselage with magnets and torqued things with wrenches taped to extensions as sweat dripped from our foreheads. With the job about halfway done, we decided to quit for the day.
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