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RV-8 Inspection Access Mods

Webb

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Here are the ones I found. Are there any more to consider?

Gear box towers for landing gear bolts
Forward baggage hold (2) - floor for brake cylinder and aft wall for avionics
Left forward skin for fuel pump
Rear baggage shelf for battery and ELT

And, what is best way to cut the large holes to prevent distortion in edges?
 
Here are the ones I found. Are there any more to consider?

Gear box towers for landing gear bolts
Forward baggage hold (2) - floor for brake cylinder and aft wall for avionics
Left forward skin for fuel pump
Rear baggage shelf for battery and ELT
And, what is best way to cut the large holes to prevent distortion in edges?

Yes - Gear tower mod
No - Forward Baggage floor (too easy to just remove the floor altogether)
No - Forward Baggage bulkhead for avionics. This was just marginally useful back before modern EFIS installs (I did it for my first build), now it is useless. Build your panel to be easily removed and end the pain.
No - hole in the side skin for the fuel pump. Once you have the baggage floor out this is easy - and the AirFlow Performace pump I installed in my first build 20+ years ago has never needed to be touched.
Yes - rear baggage shelf. Attached photo is what I did (shameless stolen from another VAF post) for access to the rear battery (forward battery mounted in the forward baggage well) and access to the elevator bell crank, autopilot pitch servo and SkyView ADS-B receiver. I mount the ELT on top of the shelf. Pull the pins and it hinges down - easy peasy.

Carl
5-FECD1-A1-C8-DB-4-F3-B-8687-39-E8976906-B6.jpg
 
I did the gear tower mod, but made a large thick cover plate held on with structural screws. There's a thread on here somewhere detailing how to retain the original strength after cutting out the webbing.

Also did the avionics door mod in the baggage compartment. It's a pretty thin, non structural panel. Wasn't worried about this one.

Don't see a point in an inspection panel in the forward baggage compartment floor. The whole floor can be removed, so I'll just do that if needed.

I'd be pretty nervous cutting a big hole in the left forward skin. There's reasonable accessibility from the inside, didn't see the need.

Rear baggage shelf, I'm undecided on this one. Haven't done any research yet on this mod as I haven't reached that point in the build yet.
 
See through inspection window in the aft fuselage so you can inspect the Jesus bolt on the elevator every time before you fly.
 
  1. Gear tower panels.
  2. Rear baggage bellcrank/battery access door.
  3. Front left lower fuselage access panel.
  4. If using a big EFIS, the "back of panel" access door is not really needed. I won't do that one again.
  5. Made the rear footwells separate from the floor panel so those can be removed easily to access antennas and wing wiring.
  6. Belly mounted Aerolab fuel filter
 

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I have a 10" EFIS and would still put the avionics inspection panel in the front baggage area if I was doing it again. It has come in handy for troubleshooting avionics issues. I find it far easier to just open that panel and work from the outside of the airplane, through the baggage door then it would be to pull the instrument panel out and have it resting on my lap while I work on the avionics. What do I do with the panel when I need to climb out of the airplane to get a tool?

I would also do the gear tower mod again but in addition I highly recommend using the retainer clips that go on the heads of the main LG bolts allowing them to be installed from the top so that the nuts are on the bottom of the aircraft. Makes checking the torque on those nuts a breeze compared to working inside the towers.
 
I enjoyed the rear baggage shelf access to the battery.

With the tail on the ground and me wedged in the back seat, I found it quite difficult to remove the entire baggage shelf every year during condition inspection.

For the remainder of the year having the easy access to the battery via a plate secured via two hinge pins was sooo... nice.
 
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