![]() |
Speed Mods?
There seems to be a paucity of aftermarket products to make an RV-10 go faster. Is it because it is already so perfectly designed?
Does anybody know of any mods worth looking at? |
The Showplanes cowl should be something of an improvement.. Also, Jesse Saint sells a set of wing/fuse intersection fairings for which he claims a speed improvement. I think Sam James sells a narrower set of wheel fairings which should help.
After that, you're down to rigging and HP as fas as I know. |
Totally OT, but paucity, had to look that up, good job.
|
I built using the James Cowl, Plenum and Wheel Pants. This added time to the build but I'm happy with the performance (a couple of screen shots attached). The plane has a stock engine and prop from Van's.
James Cowl no longer offers the cowl for the RV-10, but you can still get the wheel pants. They have a smaller frontal area than the stock Van's pants but again add a little time to the build. Don't underestimate the value of rigging. Rigging is more than just wings level and the ball in the middle. Carl ![]() ![]() |
I have this thread bookmarked in my RV-10 folder:
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=95952 |
Quote:
I don't think it is just my little transponder post, but I am considering installing the Vans PR wheel pants. |
Quote:
No expert here, but.... I have seen/worked on two -6's that did not have the wings straight/perpendicular to the fuselage. When they are not the same, one needs more rudder trim and that is drag. |
Quote:
The rigging topic itself is way too wide a subject to adequately respond. The first thing I recommend you do is get other experienced builder eyes on your plane and start looking for the obvious, then get the straight edges out and measure everything. As example, I was with a buddy visiting open hangar doors. An RV-4 owner mentioned that he was not sure his plane (flying for 15 years) was ever rigged right. The right flap hanging down a half inch from up jumped out at me, and from there all the other classic ailerons high/low mount problems. He gained 5 knots after a few simple corrections. Wheel pant rigging is another ?hard to get just right? issue. One item that is less obvious is the HS angle of attack. In normal cruise, is the elevator trailing edge hanging down? If so, this tells you the HS is providing too much downward force. In the 8A a 0.040? shim under the HS forward spar made a hugh difference - so be careful. In the RV-10 I needed to add a 0.063? shim to get the elevators in perfect trail for normal loads. If you are thinking of adding a shim bigger than that, time to stop and look at what else is going on. So - call your buddies to come on by. After you fix stuff your wingtip trailing edge may by out of wack. Don?t be afraid to glass over the wingtip holes and re-drill it. One other point. This is not a ?one and done? deal. It is an iterative process. Make it part of your 40 hour test program. Carl |
Carl, that is way faster than Vans numbers, have you checked your TAS vs flying a GPS box to verify static error?
If the static is pretty close you have one slick machine! :eek: |
Quote:
Carl |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:41 AM. |