1979 7ECA Recover

[Vtailman]

Thought I might as well post my progress on this winter project. I had picked up a 7ECA a couple years back from across the country that had a solid engine but tired original covering. every time I flew her, I couldn’t stay mad at her, and wanted a winter project. Decided I’m recovering in oratex. One bonus is I can do most of that in the nice warm garage without stinking up the house. Wood spars. She’s the slightly less derelict one in the back next to her twin - coincidentally she visited her older twin there on last flight before she started coming apart.

First to come off were the ailerons. Pretty good shape except for double drilled holes due to the gap seals, which I developed a repair for.

Elevators, Rudders and Stabs next. All in good shape except for a little surface rust and a double drilled hole from the factory on the rudder steering yoke attach holes. Rainbow Ron is helping with a weld repair.

And I must say, I was very glad to get rid of the VOR antenna which sits right at eye level…

Next came the fuselage and wings fabric removal.

I’ll be putting in Ron’s screw stc and inspection plates.

Engine/prop was removed, and boot cowl comes off next.

The wings are in the process of getting all the old glue and scrim cloth removed. MEK substitute from the local hardware store works dang near the same as MEK. Once they are clean, primed and inspected, they’ll come down to the garage for covering!

 

[Bruce]

Looking good, I’ll suggest you take a lot of pictures especially of the airframe and interior. All the trim parts around door, and then keep the old fabric for a patter for where the trim cables and rudder go through to help locate the new holes.

 

[Vtailman]

Absolutely great advice that I read on this board before beginning- I’ve got tons of pictures, measurements and all the old fabric as a reference.

I don’t want to be left wishing I had a photo!! Especially with how easy it is to take them now… I’ve been making sure all parts go into labeled tobacco bags, or are put back on the item. Along with photos should make assembly and recovering simple (famous last words haha).

 

[Bartman]

We've got your back when the time comes.

Good luck with the project and thanks for posting a new build thread!

 

[Big Ed]

I bought a bunch of clear plastic nesting bins from Harbor Freight when I tore down my fuselage. Picture a flat plastic case about the side of a notebook with 20 or 30 little 2x2 square clear plastic bins inside. As you disassemble, put all hardware you take off into a bin and write where it came from on the bin with a sharpie. Organize the larger bins by area, eg "Interior", "Exterior", and "FWF". Medium parts go in ziplock baggies with sharpie description, placed in a larger bin. And buy a half dozen medium and large bins from walmart for larger parts such as scat hoses, interior trim, etc etc.

All that organization will really streamline things when you start to reassemble. I went thru the parts catalog and bought new AN hardware for everything, but having the old hardware is very handy to confirm you are using the right stuff in the right way.

And as others have said, take a thousand pictures, especially of the following areas: FWF, between firewall and panel, controls, and line/cable routing.

 

[Bruce]

Wait! I thought we were to get a bucket and put every part in it for the adventure this makes the adventure unforgettable the only way to make it better is put all the new stuff with the old, it adds to the adventure.
Truth is if you get stuck everyone here will be helpful.

 

[Bob Turner]

Yes! I just put wings on a 7AC. I found problems with published info on what bolt goes where. Unlike a Cub, i think the wing/strut assembly uses as many different bolt sizes as there are holes. Let me know if you want my loose notes on that.

 

[Vtailman]

Thanks All! I’ll reach out when the time comes! Much appreciated.

Busy week at work so no ability to get up to the hangar during the week, but the lady and I made a trip up today. The left hand wing is now officially fully cleaned! Bottom side rib holes inspected, only one appears to be just slightly over limits. Tomorrow hopefully will start the cleaning on the other side and inspect the rest of the rib holes on the upper side. The nails to screws and inspection plate STC come Monday - hopefully can get the wings down to the garage in the next few weeks!

Total project time thus far: 59 manhours.

 

[Vtailman]

63 manhours in. Got a little work in today inspecting the rest of the rib holes on the LH wing. In ‘79, they must have had the new person drilling the blind rivet holes in the ribs in the aileron cove aft of the spar. Every single one was sitting at a 5/32. Luckily since they are all the same, it shouldn’t be too unsightly to plug and relocate ‘em.

 

[Vtailman]

78 hours so far. Got the right hand wing cleaned up and the boot cowl is nearly ready to come off save for the gascolator, brake lines and brake reservoir. Old carpet pulled out. Not many great pictures, but continuing to eat this elephant with help from my partners! New interior is ordered from Airtex.

Contemplating deleting the speaker in this day and age of headsets and cell phones and also swapping to circuit breakers…

Has anyone made the fuse-to-breaker switch? Curious as to how long it took you.

 

[Vtailman]

Work continues to progress! My mechanic friend found some hidden damage in the way of a leading edge skin dent that had been reformed, but damaged the underlying rib which was not repaired. As well, cracks present on the leading edge skin on the other wing at rib locations. Both skins are ordered from Univair. Other than that, the wings look to be in pretty good shape according to his expert eye!

About one more hour left before the boot cowl comes off and the tic tac toe jig goes on. Then we’ll be able to start inspecting & cleaning the lower fuse areas.

Engine mount and stabs/elevators just finished media blasting. Will be ready to cover post-inspection.

83 hours total to date.

 

[Vtailman]

Sorry, not much action on here but progress continues to be made.

Tic tac toe jig for rotating the fuse is installed. Rudder is back from repair and is ready for cover. Interior floorboards and sidewall panels are removed. Landing gear are pulled!

I began pulling rib nails to replace per rainbow STC. A pair of flush cutters does the job nicely. As a note that wasn’t clear to me when I bought the STC kit - if you have ring nails, which are monel, don’t remove them. Regular nails will have traces of rust most likely, and can be ID’ed that way. So far so good.
Initial inspections are showing no significant corrosion damage anywhere on the fuse.
Beginning to clean the fuse - also replacing a couple leading edge skins.

105 hours to date.

 

[Hiperbiper]

Looks like a great start!

Chris

 

[Vtailman]

A couple of weeks of minimal work due to day job and a friend’s wedding. Now back at it!

All of the rib nails are now replaced with screws. An angle drill attachment comes in real handy for this (one needs to oversize the rib holes). I used a flexible one, or the pork chop type would have worked well too. As does a long screwdriver to drive the screws in. I must say, my wrists are tired after all that. I needed a very thin sheet of steel to slip in between the spar and ribs. Like 0.016. A tiny pry bar with the end carefully and smoothly filed down also helped elastically deform the rib flange to start the very deeply set nails that the flush cutters could not grab.

All in all, the nails to screws stc seemed worth the time. There were more than a few nails that had really started to work themselves out over the years.

In addition, all longerons are now sanded for a coat of epoxy spar varnish pre-covering (the oratex glue soaks into bare wood). All rubber grommets in the wings are replaced. A good thing, some were worn through but looked fine externally! Got the two skins going on as we speak.

The strut fittings have come back from the sandblasting shop and have a nice coat of primer on them. Will be reinstalled here soon. In addition, we are working on a new window install for the left hand. Cee Baileys gives you an oversized window. A bit frustrating since it needs to be trimmed but hey, I’ll take it.

Sorry for no good pics. I’ll try and take more next time

124 hours to date.

 

[Hiperbiper]

It sounds as though you're making good progress.
It looks good.

Chris

 

[Bartman]

Thanks for the update, glad to see you're making progress!

 

[Vtailman]

Figured it’s been a while since I’ve put an update on here.

ended up needing to pull both fuel tanks for repair - the sump bosses we cracked when I went to install Curtis valves. Crating them up now.

Seat frames and rudder linkages are getting repainted. The spar inspection plates and new leading edge skins are bought off.
In the process of swapping out CB’s for all the fuses.

in addition, new rear baffles and new baffle seal went in.

Slower than I want, but still making progress.

 

[Bartman]

looks like it's in great shape. doing anything with the engine before it goes back into service? how long has it been sitting?

 

[Vtailman]

I preserved the engine with VCI and dessicant packs/plugs. I will probably touch up the rocker covers there with a bit of gray before the engine goes back on…

it was a running flying airplane before I decided to start this project, so it’s been preserved since the beginning of this thread.

 

[Vtailman]

Haven’t posted in a while! Figured I need to put an update here.

Wings are trammeled and have completed their ready-to-cover inspection, but I have two items to take care of before buy off:
1. Crack repair on the tip rib - have some Al on order and should be able to knock this out next weekend
2. Check washout

Does anyone know what the factory sets the washout at? The plane flew straight and true before.

Work completed since my last post;
Ailerons are both covered in Oratex and are ready to roll!!
Replaced two cracked formers in the aft fuaeage
Reinstalled fuel tanks after the sump bosses were repaired
Repainted and reinstalled the engine mount
Replaced a couple of wing ribs that were cracked
Primed the wing/fabric faying surfaces
Working on interior trim pieces with new kit from Airtex.
Found my step was completely perforated from rust - ACA sent a new one on very short order. They are outstanding. now I just need to find someone to weld it on!
Finally received my new upper cowl from the supplier after nearly a year - very excited to have one with less crazing
Currently covering Stabs and Rudder