So I decided that my next challenge is going to be the fuel tanks. A few months ago I began to do some searches on different fuel caps as I was thinking I wanted to upgrade to locking fuel caps. I got a set of the standard caps in my wing kit, but began to think that I wanted to purchase locking caps as an upgrade. After giving a call to Vans to verify what I needed to purchase I learned that all kits in the future will be upgraded to the locking caps by default. (Don’t quote me on this but this is the impression I got as they needed to look up my kit number to see what size fuel caps they sent me.)
Basically the warning I got was that I would need to expand the gas cap hole to accommodate the new locking cap. After I got all the tank parts on my bench, I was able to test fit the new fuel cap flange against the skin. I found that it was already shaped to fit the contour of the skin and it was match drilled already. I took some measurements and it seems that the existing hole in the skin is 2 – 11/32 and the new fuel flange is 2-9/16. I’m trying to see how others have made their hole larger (sorry, not stepper bits in that size), and think I have a plan.
I am planning on using a flush cut router bit and a template that I can clamp into place to expand the fuel cap hole. To do this I purchased a 2-9/16 hole saw and plan to make a template out of MDF that I can clamp to the skin. Then using my dremel, I can use a flush cut pattern bit to trim the hole to size. At least that is the plan. I’ll try it on a scap piece first just to make sure.
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If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to see what other options there are as I really don’t want to “freehand” the gas cap hole.
Follow-up:
Success! I was a little concerned that the router may bite, or pull the work, but honestly it worked wonderfully and I’m happy with the result.
A trip to Home Depot for a Top bearing flush cut router bit, some MDF, and a quick search on Amazon for the 2-9/16 hole saw was all I needed. I used the hole saw to cut the appropriate sized hole in the MDF. Then I carefully lined up the fuel flange with the hole in the MDF and drilled some #40 holes using the pattern on the fuel flange.
I then mounted the MDF on the Top of my tank skin, and clecoed from the inside of the tank into the MDF so the clecos did not poke through. Then it was easy to quickly use the router to cut the hole to size. I really couldn’t even feel it cutting the skin, but it left a nice clean edge that just needed a little bit of deburring.
Photos of the results below. All in all it worked quite well.
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