Pinned fuel caps rock!

[kestrel]

I've said it before. I fueled up my airplane yesterday and so I'm going to say it again. The pinned fuel caps with one size smaller O-rings are an amazing improvement!

Mark, this should be the stock configuration!

[Richard E]

Kestrel - I agree. Ours was filled yesterday with ease - unlike the previous battles that we used to have. Well done Neville and Grant coming up with the suggestions.

[Utah-Jay]

Did mine today
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[FFTravism]

Do you have a link to the process?
Thanks

[Utah-Jay]

Do you have a link to the process?
Thanks

I just looked at Nev builder log for the photos. This is what I did based on the length of my roll pin

1) Measure the thickness of your top piece where the pin is going to be seated
2) Measure the thickness of your bottom piece. Add the desired seating depth and the thickness of your bottom cap for your drill depth
3) I decided to seat the pin 1/4” deep as this left plenty of material above the seated pin
4) Get a bolt with the correct thread, take out the factory vent/connector and insert the both and tighten the top and bottom sans o-rings
5) Secure the bolt head in the drill press jaws and align the drill in the desired location
6) Due to the close proximity of the ledge to where I wanted to drill, I could not use a drill stop, so I marked a drill bit with a sharpie at 7/16” as my “stop”, I used a #42 drill for correct sizing for my roll pin (typical AR rifle roll pin)
7) After the initial hole was drilled to the correct depth, I unscrewed the bottom portion of the fuel cap so I could see a gap for the 2nd stage of drilling. It is important to know when to stop the lowering of the drill so as not to drill into the top portion of the cap where the pin is pressed
8) I used a #38 drill for the relief hole that the roll pin slides through
9) Knipex pliers are a must for seating roll pins straight into the hole, they are expensive, but I have used them 100’s of times during my build process.

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This is not a difficult process, but measure several times. My guess is that the fuel cap specs are VERY tight, but I would not use my above measurements, measure your caps. That being said, I now realize I did not take separate measurements for my 2nd cap.

Hope this helps, but the bottom line is the Kiwi’s figured this out, so all credit to them

[Nev]

Glad it's working well and a good step by step write up Utah Jay. Mine are also working very well now. I can easily fit and remove them with one hand, no tools required. They seem to be gripping well under their own friction.

Credit for the fuel cap fix goes to Kiwi Patrol builder Graham Johnson (whose aircraft is a work of art). I was lucky enough to have Graham help me to fix my caps.

Here's a link to the Bearhawk Blog page on the fuel caps.
There are a number of other items that I've listed under safety and maintenance.

On another note, I've just purchased a set of Knipex Pliers. Love them !