Very interesting where those wood blocks were installed on top of your spars on your left wing. I have a left wing tank and mine are installed closer inboard. I would highly recommend using a new butt spar from Univair for your first wing rib. Univairs butt wing ribs will have more flange for when you are screwing in your wing fairings. You are correct that the doublers are about 1/32” mahogany. Make sure when you order/make your new wing spars that you milk the spars the correct thickness to account for fitting in the metal brackets WITH the doubler plates glued on. I had to remill my spars 1/32” over the area where the plates glued on because the spar was too thick. If you need some parts for wing ribs let me know. I have my old wing ribs from when I replaced all mine with Dakota Cub wing ribs. Instead of those pesky nails we were able to use screws to hold the wing ribs in place!
Thanks very much for your advice. I’m fairly close to ordering the blanks from Aircraft Spruce. My wife has a fairly complete wood shop, so we should be in good shape with the Spars. The blocking on the Spars are for 4 ribs or 3 bays. It came to me in the middle of the night what those plywood doublers are for on rib one and four…It’s for the fabric to attach if the LH tank was used. I will let you know on the ribs, thanks very much for you offer. Dave
For pulling the nails, what do you think of using an automotive body stud welder dent puller? I doubt the relatively small amount of heat those things use would damage the aluminum, but I dunno. I've never actually used them, so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Could you also drill off the heads without damaging the aluminum?
Charlie, thanks for watching. You can’t use a dent puller because you would need a complete electrical circuit…which you would not be able to accomplish with the wood spars.
I have a 41 J5 too and I’m redoing with my Uncle. It’s great to watch and learn as I go.
Thanks for watching. Nothing better than a J5A. I’m nearly done with reassembly of the LH wing. Getting ready to rear down the RH wing
Excellent work! Please continue to document and publish the videos.
That is the plan. Waiting on spar blanks while I restore the many other parts
Very interesting where those wood blocks were installed on top of your spars on your left wing. I have a left wing tank and mine are installed closer inboard. I would highly recommend using a new butt spar from Univair for your first wing rib. Univairs butt wing ribs will have more flange for when you are screwing in your wing fairings. You are correct that the doublers are about 1/32” mahogany. Make sure when you order/make your new wing spars that you milk the spars the correct thickness to account for fitting in the metal brackets WITH the doubler plates glued on. I had to remill my spars 1/32” over the area where the plates glued on because the spar was too thick. If you need some parts for wing ribs let me know. I have my old wing ribs from when I replaced all mine with Dakota Cub wing ribs. Instead of those pesky nails we were able to use screws to hold the wing ribs in place!
Thanks very much for your advice. I’m fairly close to ordering the blanks from Aircraft Spruce. My wife has a fairly complete wood shop, so we should be in good shape with the Spars. The blocking on the Spars are for 4 ribs or 3 bays. It came to me in the middle of the night what those plywood doublers are for on rib one and four…It’s for the fabric to attach if the LH tank was used. I will let you know on the ribs, thanks very much for you offer. Dave
For pulling the nails, what do you think of using an automotive body stud welder dent puller? I doubt the relatively small amount of heat those things use would damage the aluminum, but I dunno. I've never actually used them, so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Could you also drill off the heads without damaging the aluminum?
Charlie, thanks for watching. You can’t use a dent puller because you would need a complete electrical circuit…which you would not be able to accomplish with the wood spars.
Drilling off the heads or grinding the heads is also problematic because of high potential for damage to the ribs. I appreciate the ideas though.
Instead of vice grips to grab corroded fasteners.. Vampire Pliers.
Yup, got em. They work great, except there’s not enough head left on these screws to get onto with my Vampire pliers.
Wow...My frustration would be thru the roof. That's a lot of work. It's pretty much going to be a complete rebuild of both wings?
Pretty much a rebuild of both wings, correct. I’m not frustrated because this was expected. Thanks for watching