I finished the intersection of the front two spars tonight. However there is a mistake that cannot be rectified on the HS-405 rib. I will call Van’s technical support tomorrow to see if putting a rivet in the center of the front flange will be acceptable otherwise I will need to order a new one.

After I completed that I clecoed together the left spars and ribs. I then began to cleco on the skin.  All the match drilling for the ribs and spars is complete and it appears that all the drilling for the skin is also complete. I still need to verify that the previous builder did not miss any holes.

Here are some pictures of the HS-405 mistake that I’ve made.  I will post more tomorrow.  I measured the rib upside down, and because the HS-404 is not symmetric the holes are shifted (down in the picture below).  My potential thought is to either press, replace, or place a third rivet.

Wanted to put three or four hours in tonight, but I over-countersunk the splice AND reinforcement angles. Pretty sure I will need to replace both parts.

I also found a center rib that was drilled too close to the edge by the previous owner. I also think that parts he messed up were marked in blue. I wasn’t told this, and there are no replacements.

So, I stopped for the night. I’m very frustrated and angry with myself, so I’ll cool down and approach the problem fresh tomorrow. I will also try to get a second set of eyes on it.