What I did last weekend!

[74bronc]

Check out the floor pan....almost done on passenger's side.

 

[2badrotties]

WOW, thats a lot of clecos. Nice job so far. Looks like a very nice floor pan and all one piece for passenger side - NICE

 

[Madgyver]

You gotto love those Clecko pins!! Nice work..

 

[68beast]

man i wish you did mine instead of the PO;D , nice job!

 

[66biker]

jeez, wish I had that many cleacos! good job, the only way to go.

 

[Blue71]

O.K. Enlighten me. What are Clecko or Cleaco pins? Never heard of 'em down this way. Maybe I'll use them on the next pans I do. Let me know.

Thanks ,

Blue71

 

[lars]

Clecos are those shiny cylindrical things you see in the photo. They are best known in aviation, where they are used in the construction of aluminum airplanes. They have expanding tips, sort of fingers that spread apart and pull sheet metal assemblies together. When you compress them (with Cleco pliers) they retract and you can pull them out of a hole. Imagine an airplane skin, with all the holes match-drilled to the structure underneath. Fill all (or most) of the holes with Clecos to hold everything in alignment. Then remove them as you rivet it together. I've used them for holding fender flares in place while I drive rivets or install screws. And for holding the skins of my RV7 together as I build it. But's that's a different money pit story...

 

[Blue71]

Lars,

Thanks for the explanation

Much Appreciated.

Blue71

 

[74bronc]

my pops has thousands of Cleckos from building his airplane, so I "borrowed" a few! Self tapping sheet metal screws do the same job but I thought I'd try the cleckos since I had them and had never seen anyone use them before.

 

[77TexasBronc]

That is SLICK! I have never seen any of those pins either. Nice JOB!

 

[J-DUB]

Aren't they just like rivets?

Looks good, may I ask why you chose to do that rather then weld it in?

 

[2badrotties]

They are kinda like rivets but you have to drill a rivet out. These you just put in and take back out with a pair of pliers. Reusable rivets so to speak.

 

[74bronc]

The cleckos are just to hold it in place to make sure everything lines up (I ran out of time on Saturday to finish it up!). To finish up, I will remove every other clecko and plug weld the holes. Then I will remove the rest of the cleckos and plug weld the rest of the holes. Then al that is left is prep, POR15, seam sealer and Gator Guard bedliner (after I finish the driver's pan). I am doing a step-by-step article for BD mag.

 

[J-DUB]

So essentially they are there to temporarly (sp?) hold the pan in place to prep it for welding. Thanks for the info.

Removable Rivets, thats nice.

 

[lars]

Here's some more info:
http://www.browntool.com/category.a...oryTitle=KWIKLOK+TEMPORARY+FASTENERS+(CLECOS)

on this site, look at the bottom of the page: http://www.supermarineaircraft.com/Tools.htm

 

[ballistic64]

Who did you get your floor pans from?

 

[74bronc]

Who did you get your floor pans from?

Dennis Carpenter Reproductions

They fit very well but they did need a little "massaging" to make them fit like I wanted, like most replacement sheet metal. Other EB specific vendors sell the same pans with the ribs and body mount hole recess. I would bet they buy them from Carpenter. Very happy with them.

 

[sicaz66]

looking good!

 

[thesnake]

Real nice job, it's impressive. And I learned something too!!! I'm looking forward to your article.

Thank You,

John