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New Sam James ?

JeremyL

Well Known Member
I’m about to do some ordering. One of those things is a SJ cowl and hopefully plenum. I have read that the cowl fits nicely and isn’t terrible to fit and finish. The plenum on the other hand, I have read is apparently an absolute abysmal nightmare as far as fit and installation is concerned. I know the company was sold I think early last year and that the new owners were going to refine and upgrade some things including new molds for items. Does anyone have any updated experiences with the SJ plenum? Has the plenum fitment issues I’ve read about been corrected in production? Are the new owners reading this and able to apply some insight on how things are going? I intend to give them a call tomorrow and talk to them about it and maybe check the factory out if possible as I am close. I know they are busy and figured I’d get as much insight on here as possible before I ring them.

Thank you everyone.
 
The short answer is yes, Jimmy is hard at work to both meet existing orders, and to bring new/updated products out. These will include a much easier plenum package as well as a new RV-14 and RV-10 cowl (including one for the IO-540 Cold Air Sump).

Carl
 
I don’t know anything about the sale but I had a great experience picking my cowl up from the James shop in Oregon. It fit well and was finished better than what I expected. I didn’t get their plenum so not sure about it.

My plenum is fiberglass. It gets pretty hot though not hot enough for damage. I wondered it a plenum of aluminum would help transfer heat out of the enclosed engine. I saw an aluminum plenum on a Glastar and it looked pretty nice. Just an idea.
 
We at James Aircraft are working to improve the finish and fit of our parts. The instructions and pictures for the plenums will be on our website soon. The new plenum for the RV-14 IO 390 is an easier fit when using Van's baffles.
We will have pics on our website soon of the RV-14 cowl and the RV-10 updraft and forward facing cowls.
 
We at James Aircraft are working to improve the finish and fit of our parts. The instructions and pictures for the plenums will be on our website soon. The new plenum for the RV-14 IO 390 is an easier fit when using Van's baffles.
We will have pics on our website soon of the RV-14 cowl and the RV-10 updraft and forward facing cowls.

I’m specifically speaking to the rv7 cowl and plenum.
 
IO390 plenum

The plenum is designed to fit the engine. This plenuim fits the 390 with Van's baffles with very minimum trimming. The inlets are 24.75 inches apart center to center. It should fit in an RV-8 cowling too.
 
The plenum is designed to fit the engine. This plenuim fits the 390 with Van's baffles with very minimum trimming. The inlets are 24.75 inches apart center to center. It should fit in an RV-8 cowling too.

I see, I’m going with the io360 m1b. I’m not 100% sure if the 390 and 360 are near the same size, I think they might be, just with different compression and such. If not it sounds like there would be a considerable amount of trimming and fabrication. Thank you for your replies jimmy.
 
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Cowl plugs?

Hello all,
I bought a beautiful RV7A with a sam james cowl. She is gorgeous but I can't seems to find a set of cowl plugs. I occasionally overnight upstate or elsewhere, tied down outside, so cowl plugs would make me more comfortable. I've googled and googled.
Does anyone know where I can find these?
Thanks, and sorry to hijack the thread.
 
James Aircraft is looking for someone with a flying RV6, 7 or 9 for us to learn, check, and work on our baffle fit.
O 360 and have Van's baffles so we can match up to them.
Fly in to KRCK for a day or two and get a new plenum.
 
New James Cowl

For those interested in the James Cowl for the RV-10, mine was just delivered this week. Looks great and can’t wait to get it installed. 189D88CC-6247-4E45-804D-376AD4288452.jpg
 
Hello all,
I bought a beautiful RV7A with a sam james cowl. She is gorgeous but I can't seems to find a set of cowl plugs. I occasionally overnight upstate or elsewhere, tied down outside, so cowl plugs would make me more comfortable. I've googled and googled.
Does anyone know where I can find these?
Thanks, and sorry to hijack the thread.

A toy football cut in half!
 

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Jimmy you probably know this but there are many variables. Here are three I can think of:

1) The engine mounts (the brand and type of isolation mounts) and shims if installed, affects how engine is hanging and alignment in vertical and horizontal planes.

2) The fit and alignment of the cowl relative to airframe and engine is a big factor, totally on builders control, so expect variation.

3) How the builder fits the baffles affect the plenum to cowl alignment, but should be least of the variables but still a factor.

If you use a given RV for test fit, it may be at one edge of the tolerance envelope of variables listed above and some I can't think of. The customers plane may be quite different from your test fit plane you based your product on, and the plenum will not align well with cowl. In other words you try your plenum on a plane and it does not fit well it could be their plane is off not your product.

Engine is a living beast shaking like a wet dog, moving up & down, side & side. Flex coupling between cowl and plenum distance is short. You need good alignment to give room for the engine to move with minimum strain on the flex couple, cowl and plenum.

Many DIY plenums use the van baffle kit, separate roof to the dog house (aluminum or fiberglass) and individual inlets usually molded out of fiberglass, mechanically fastened in. The inlets are formed plugs made in-place for custom fit on that setup. Consider separate parts to allow more flexibility. Mechanical fasteners allow easier adjustment to move or shim the inlets, verses one piece fixed and locked in.

If I were doing it from scratch today I would have the ENGINE, baffle fitted temporarily then fit Cowl, allowing adjustments of cowl, plenum and engine to get best fit before nailing it all down.

I know in the past as the OP of this thread suggests many people had to cut and re-glass the planum to get it to fit. If I am out lunch and wrong just ignore my comment. I went with the DIY plenum because it seemed easier and would take care of any variations I had, i.e., a custom fit.
 
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DIY?

Attached are photos of a stock Van's cowl (Yes, that a Van's cowl) that got a little modification and a plenum formed by using the underside of upper cowl as a female mold then providing clearance for engine wobble. 1/2" clearance between plenum and cowl on centerline, 3/4" on sides of engine (it was just a guess at how much room was required). Only contact seen is near middle of plenum and very very minor. Probably plenum inflation when warm and fast.
 

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I don’t know anything about the sale but I had a great experience picking my cowl up from the James shop in Oregon. It fit well and was finished better than what I expected. I didn’t get their plenum so not sure about it.

My plenum is fiberglass. It gets pretty hot though not hot enough for damage. I wondered it a plenum of aluminum would help transfer heat out of the enclosed engine. I saw an aluminum plenum on a Glastar and it looked pretty nice. Just an idea.

That plenum was post cured at 325-350F. If under the cowl got that hot, other things would go first. Actually, when flying the plenum is well cooled by incoming air. A hydro formed 6061 plenum cover would be interesting!!
 
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