Wing root fairings

[Greg_Marlow]

Hey guys, quick question. When attaching the wing root fairings, did you elect to use the existing rivet holes in the first row inboard? Or did you drill new ones?

Thanks
Greg

[Collin Campbell]

I drilled out the existing rivets...every third one which makes the screws 4 1/2" apart. Used nut plates on the screws so each rivet is actually replaced by the two rivets on the nutplate.

[jaredyates]

Same here.

[Battson]

I just drilled wherever I needed to, depending on whether there was enough room for a nut-plate. You need watch out for the rib flutes too, nut plate wont sit flat... Same at the wing tip. It caused no problems even if I did end up with a more expensive one-armed nut plate here and there.

[James]

Hi Greg / everyone,

I did the same here - because of the rib flutes, and because of where the trailing edge section attaches, my spacing didn't end up exactly the same every nutplate. But then, I'm not that worried. You can use MS21069 "miniature" nutplates as well, or MS21053 "one legged" ones. The other thing I did was look at the existing rivet hole, and decide whether that would be the "centre" hole for the screw, or one of the side holes. I used the same approach with my wingtips, where the previous builder had drilled off lots of holes, but at 6" spacings, which is too wide.

A bigger problem all round is, none of my nutplates is countersunk to accept flush head screws. I'm wondering if people just drilled into the skin metal then dimpled the fairing, or did you go with pan-head screws??

Ok, hope that helps,

James

[Battson]

James - you can gently countersink the nutplates, but panhead washers are a very common solution. I used dome head screws.

[Bcone1381]

FYI, Dennis and Donna have their wing root fairings attached with no external screws along the the top of the wing. I asked Dennis how he did it, and never fully visualized how he did it. I think Dennis said Piper attached theirs the same way maybe on the clipper or pacer. This the best photo I got at Oshkosh last year.

IMG_3661.jpg
Below is a construction photo that was sent to me....the view is looking from under the right wing, facing aft, it shows the flap trailing edge at the inboard side, and the top wing fairing hooking around a rod that is welded to the fuselage. The front edge of the fairing is pulled tight some how.
Donna and Dennis pics 312.jpg