Riveting the rear baffle.^4h

Finally -- I riveted the rear baffle.

First, I started with riveting the nutplates to the z-brackes.

Then I moved on to the baffle itself. The installation is pretty straightforward -- put some sealant beads along the rivet lines, put some sealant on the ribs, in the corners, then "drop" the baffle to seal the tank.

The first step was to scuff the baffle where sealant will be used, then clean with the acetone until it is perfectly clean.

This time I used 3.5oz cartridge (6oz but filled to 3.5oz) of the sealant. I thought, I will have a plenty of time to do the installation, but squeezing rivets did take a lot of time. To avoid scratching the baffle, I used an old piece of aluminum. Crude but it worked.

When I was installing my right fuel tank baffle, my pull riveter fell apart. Or so I thought. So, I bought a new tool thinking that I will use it for the left tank. However, once I got to installing the brackets, it turned out that this tool doesn't "grab" rivet tails hard enough to pull them!

I had to scramble and see if I can use my old tool -- and it worked. I don't remember what happened to it when I was riveting the right tank, but I re-assembled the tool couple of times, and it seems like it somehow fixed the issue.

I ran out of sealant time, but this time I had a can sealant ready that I mixed manually. I should have bought that can for the right tank, but oh well.

The end result.