Bill's RV-7 Project

I cut out the door and hinges. I riveted one hinge half to the door, but realized after playing around with it, that I had not riveted the hinge half close enough to the door edge, so the door would not swing freely. I had to drill out the rivets, trim the door, then re-rivet the hinge. The second time around, however, the riveting came out horrible. I'm going to have to junk the door and make a new one. Two hours of work, wasted. I may give up on the hinge and just screw the door to the floor with flush screws and nutplates.

March 22, 2006 - Baggage Floor Door
You may recall, I decided to put the strobe power supply and ELT behind the right seat. But I still liked the idea of having a little storage area under the right baggage floor, so I can keep a quarter of oil and some tools there, yet still do a loop or roll anytime I want to. The first step was to draw a rectangular hole in the floor so I could know where to cut.

Then I started drilling 3/4" holes with the Unibit, followed by getting the shears and cutting aluminum. I had to use the dremel tool to trim the edges a little, then file, and sand.

Voila! A nice rectangular hole.


I cut out the door and hinges. I riveted one hinge half to the door, but realized after playing around with it, that I had not riveted the hinge half close enough to the door edge, so the door would not swing freely. I had to drill out the rivets, trim the door, then re-rivet the hinge. The second time around, however, the riveting came out horrible. I'm going to have to junk the door and make a new one. Two hours of work, wasted. I may give up on the hinge and just screw the door to the floor with flush screws and nutplates.


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March 22, 2006 - Baggage Floor Door