SECTION 14: WING RIBS
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Before You Start
Special/New Tools/Supplies
- You need a 3/8" reamer for this section.
Hints
- See this FB Post on ribs being shipped where embossing was done very shallow or not done at all. Also, newer ribs have an additional relief cut that causes edge distance issues with a nutplate.
- There is a nutplate you will need to install in Section 20, specifically see 20-5 steps 6 and 9. It is one specific K1100-08 that will be on the bottom aft of the W-1010-R (and W-1010-L). In section 20, you use the bottom skin to match-drill the #8 hole and the #40 nutplate attach holes. But then you have to dimple that #8 hole and the flap hinge bracket's rivets are going to be in your way. Consider using the bottom skin to match-drill this one nutplate now, deburr, and dimple, before you assemble the W-1010-R. See this VAF thread for more info.
See this photo to understand where this nutplate will live. Also, you may want to drill and dimple the one #40 nutplate attach hole as seen in this photo. Note that this nutplate is weird because the other attach rivet fits in the space aft of this rib and forward of the rear spar, so that's why you only see one drilled and riveted #40 hole for this nutplate. Well, it almost fits, you may want to grind just a little off of the aft end of the tab since it's easier to do before installing. See photo below.
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- Step 6:
- Note that you do use the "R" W-1010 for the left wing, but all of the parts you attach to it are "-R" parts. Throughout this whole section, L and R don't refer to the left or right wing, just the handedness of the part.
- Van's may have started shipping a modified W-1010-R in 2025 and labeled W-1010-R-1 (and also W-1010-L-1). On this part the flanges have more segments than shown.
- Possibly due to the revised part, the W-1029A-L may not Cleko in place without grinding it down a little bit.
- Step 10: The W-1025B-L and W-1025B-R brackets come attached and need to be cut apart. There are three sets in total.
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- Step 1: it's easy to make these cuts using a bandsaw
- Step 2: perhaps the easiest way to make these cuts is with an oscillating tool
- Step 5: the three aftmost bottom flange holes of each W-1011-L and W-1025B-R (the little tab and two holes forward) will need to be dimpled in the future. This may be difficult to access once this is riveted together. Consider dimpling these six holes now on each assembly.
- Step 8: Same as the note for Step 5, but the two aft-most bottom holes of W-1010-R and W-1025B-L in this case.
The reason that Van's doesn't have you dimple the rivet holes mentioned in the notes for Step 5 and Step 8 is because the plans were written assuming that you'll need to cleco and final-drill the bottom skins later. But if you have a kit with final-sized holes, you will not need to final-drill any of the #40 holes on the bottom skin or the rib flanges. You'll still need to cleco the bottom skins in place later to do some prep, but it's OK if some holes in the ribs are already dimpled because you'll have plenty of other holes in other ribs that are not.
Here is a picture of one of the three flap brackets later in the build. You'll see that the flap bracket will make it very difficult to dimple the aftmost three holes on each side.
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- Step 2: The second instruction says to insert the snap bushing from the inside but Figure 2 shows it inserted from the outside and that seems to be more correct as the W-1029C angle that got notched would be in the way of the snap bushing when inserted from the inside.