(Page 28-03) Fabricating fuel lines..........                  

...is the easy part.  Installing them is a whole 'nother smoke.  Right off the bat I learned two important things:  The nut for the fitting will go around a 90-degree bend, the sleeve will not.  This, of course, means that the sleeve must be on the flare side of the bend as the bend is being made (false start number one). 

The picture shows the first completed part and three short pieces of tubing (now scrap) which resulted from my first three attempts to fabricate the part.  Actually making the bends is childishly easy using the tool (purchased from Spruce) shown at the top of the picture.  It was impossible, however, to make that first 90-degree bend (shown on the lower right of the pic) as close to the end as shown in the full-size picture in the plans.  That extra inch or so didn't matter when installing the part in the fuselage.  All of the parts such as this one which can be fabricated independent of the fuselage structure should be easy.  No so for the parts which require one end to be flared after passing through the grommets in the bulkheads.

The tube going from the fuel pump to the fuel valve requires that the aft end be flared and fitted with the sleeve and nut before being installed in the fuselage.  The un-flared forward end is then passed through three bulkheads with grommets (it's a tight fit) and ends up near the fuel valve to which it must attach.  The only way to accomplish 

this is to alternate between bending and straightening short sections of tubing while feeding it through the holes.  The short piece of tubing at the forward end had to then be cut to length (be sure to have a close-quarters tubing cutter -- the one shown in the first picture won't come close to fitting) and flared (see picture at right) in a very small space.  I could only do this by hand bending the tubing out about 45 degrees, installing the fitting, then hand bending it back into alignment with the fuel valve fitting.  I'll be holding my breath when I pressure test this.

Two small deviations from the plans could have made this process much easier.  The s-bend between the fuel pump and the aft-most bulkhead could be moved aft approximately six inches without affecting anything.  This would allow the whole tube to be slid forward that amount, giving much more room to install the forward fitting.  Also, riveting the fuel valve assembly could have been delayed, allowing the valve to be removed (it was clecoed in place).  It's a real learning process.

One last piece of advice:  When the plans call for cutting the tubing to a particular length, add at least an inch to the callout.  Trial fit the piece, mark the correct length, then cut.  For the tube which connects to the gascolator, I cut to Van's specification, did the bends, flared the ends and installed the fittings.  Ended up 1/2 inch short.  One more piece of scrap.