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Found a few things during condition inspection

humptybump

Well Known Member
I just had the second condition inspection on my RV-8. Not being the builder, I have an exceptional A&P who lets me help. It's very much a teach/learning opportunity.

We found a few things that I didn't expect (but probably should have) ...

Engine continues to run well, with the timing lock solid since last year. However the fine wire plugs were starting to look thin as the tips. The plugs were used when they went in so I have no idea how many total hours. I installed a new set of REM40E plugs (not fine wire) so they went in.

The oil change with Shell 100W Plus, Tempest filter, and replaced the crush washer on the sump screen. Cutting open the oil filter revieled a continued improvement - less material and very few and very small non-ferrous particles.

The tires were more worn than expected. I need to add "get down on hands and knees to look at tire tread" as part of my pre-flight. The tread was still safe but it warranted flipping the tires on the rims as well as planning to ordering new tires and tubes.

One set of brake liners were worn enough that they probably would not make it another year. Replaced all four liners. Learned how to use the Blake rivet press tool. Also learned how easy it is to get distracted and insert one set of rivets reversed and have to drill them out :eek:

The new Shoria (reduculously light weight) battery is working fine. Seems to perform as a direct swap for the old battery at a 13lb savings.

The K&N air filter needed a thorough cleaning and re-charge. It took two cleanings. This is probably attributed to all the dry dusty grass runways this year.

Disassembled the fuel caps. There was more corrosion than expected. This may have occurred during the paint prep work but not sure. Cleaned all the parts, replaced both the small and larg o-rings on both caps. The o-rings are available from ACS (part numbers 05-02147 and 05-02146)

Bulkhead F-805 was not properly attached on the inbound ends. I looked at the plans and am not sure what should have been done but the A&P and I agreed we'd like something at the F-814C end so we gently lifted the floor skin enough to drill, counter sink, and install #6 screws with friction nuts.

Found one broken nut plate on the underside wing root faring. It was my first experience with a real rivet.

The ELT battery was due. I should have known is but was pleasantly surprised to find the "battery" was just 8 D-size Durracells. The old ones went onto my maglites :)

That's about it for this year's inspection.

Replacing the tires will be a weekend project when the weather turns cold. I'd like to upsize to 380x150x5 tires (or tyres) but I don't think they will be a direct swap. I'm not thrilled with the idea of glass work and related metal work to my nice new-ly painted wheel pants.
 
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49clipper

Glenn,
I changed out two years ago to the larger tires you mentioned and it was an easy swap, except I had the old style (small) wheel pants which had to go. The new style should be no problem as long as they are not fitted too low to the ground. It changed my site picture on the ground dramatically. Now I still need to change the tail wheel arm to gain some height back. I fly off grass 80% of the time, so I like the larger tires.
Jim
RV-6
 
I havea pretty good feeling my current pressure-recovery wheel pants were fitted too low to the tire / tyre to be an easy swap from the 5.00x5 to the 380x150x5

I have a few ideas to see if I can gain the needed clearance. I expect it to be trial and error. I've got a couple months to think through the change.

I'm not worried about the "sight picture". There are a number of classic airplanes that are totally blind in their 3-point attitude :)
 
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latest condition inspection

We just finished the latest condition inspection for my RV-8. All in all, the plane is actually getting better with age. A few notes this time around.

First, we had three sets of eyes go over the plane and as expected, we each found a few different things. In my book, this is a good thing. I'd suggest that anyone doing a condition inspection consider having another person take a look before it is all done.

I deliberately left all the dirt on the plane. I wanted the A&P to be able to use whatever information that dirt might tell us. I also placed bright pink surveyors tape on a few things I already had seen and wanted to ask about.

  1. There was slop in the roll servo linkage so we tightened it a bit. That resulted in stiff ailerons. It turned out the geometry between the servo arm and the clamp around the control tube were not perfectly aligned so we corrected that and now the linkage is snug and the ailerons are still free moving.
  2. The timing of the two mags was a pain the first year and a non-issue the second year. This time around it was somewhere in between but closer to the PITA side of the equation.
  3. Give I fly off of grass most of the time, the tires will last about one more year. I'll be moving up one size so this winter I'll make new brackets for the wheel pants. (new brackets is less work than modifying the wheel pants to gain the necessary clearance.
  4. Oil filter had one tiny speck and the sump screen was void of particles.
  5. The K&N air filter looked like I had just cleaned and re-oiled it. Nothing needed there.
  6. the castle nut for both the carb heat and the throttle were a little loose so they got adjusted and new cotter pins.
  7. Plugs looked almost new. Not too surprising since they were replaced last year and saw only 30 gallons of 100LL all year.
  8. I had two temporary patches covering holes left in the firewall from the new panel work. These were covered with more confident solutions.
  9. The A&P approved of my improved wiring solution for the pitch servo and the new magnetometer (both in the tail). The new chase tube eliminated the old wire routing down the center line.
  10. The engine compression is actually improving - 76 75 76 74
  11. The engine used 1QT of oil in the past 50 hours. This was up from 1/2QT per 50 hours. Given the dirt on the belly and the flow pattern, we concluded that second 1/2 QT came out of the breather tube. It looks like this engine does not like much over 6 QT of oil on board.
  12. one of the air tubes in the engine compartment was now rubbing against the engine mount so we added a rubber pad. Not sure why one air tube had been done and the other not, but now they are both protected. These air tubes can do real damage quickly.

Overall it was a good inspection. We found a few things (I would worry if we didn't). The RV-8 continues to be a pleasure to fly and economical to operate and maintain.
 
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Another condition inspection has been logged. This one was delayed by some family commitments and "a few changes" I wanted to make including changing the AP (this changing servos and wiring) and a new heated pitot tube.

Last year's assistant became this year's A&P. The "kid" did a great job and we found a few things.

Most of the above posts give the general experience.

  1. I have not been happy with the location of my aux battery so I moved it to the space forward of the left gear tower. It's a LiFePO4 and only weighs 2.2 lbs so I'm not concerned with any significant CG effect.
  2. Compression was up a bit and considering the test was done cold I'm happy with the 75 78 76 74. Timing was still right on the money.
  3. This was the year for the new 380x150 tires / tyres. I spent about two hours adjusting the wheel pants. Thankfully the work was limited to increasing the bottom opening "incrementally" ;)
  4. With so little 100LL consumed and mostly ZeroE burned, the plugs looked great. There are times when I'm happy to fly behind a low-compression O320 :D
  5. The A&P did an accelerated swing test on the ELT. I'd never "tested" the ELT. we discovered it had been install backwards all this time. It took a bit of work to get the antenna coax and control cable long enough to reach the ELT with it facing the correct way. (There's nothing quite like yoga in the tail come of an RV-8 to test your flexibility.)
  6. The rest of the condition inspection turned up a few worn and brittle cable ties; a rubber pad that had shifted and was about to stop providing its protection to the hot air belt tube, and a nut plate that needed to be re-riveted.

Addendum: For next time, I want to change the standard screws holding the forward baggage floor out and replace them with small phillips hex head screws. It's really hard to get a screw driver up against the edges. I'll order enough to also replace the screws that hold down the RV-8 rear-passenger foot well cover panel (is spans the fuselage right under the pilot seat). the screws next to the spar box and out edges are also really hard to access with a screwdriver.
 
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Battery pics?

Can we get a picture of that?

CC


I have not been happy with the location of my aux battery so I moved it to the space forward of the left gear tower. It's a LiFePO4 and only weighs 2.2 lbs so I'm not concerned with any significant CG effect.
 
Can we get a picture of [the aux battery location]?

I can't believe I didn't take a good picture when I had the forward baggage floor off. (Speaking of which, I just added an addendum above for a few things I will be changing next time.)

For the AUX battery, I built a simple battery box that spans and fastens to the F-844-L (left auxiliary longeron) and the rudder pedal attachment rail (ground adjustable pedals). It's a little tricky as a retro-fit since the space is cramped and that longeron is sloped and you need to "step" or float it to clear the F-843-L lower left longeron. (I have a box brake for bending metal and this was a bit of an origami exercise. It would be much easier for most people to build the battery box out of flat stock and angle.

In looking at the plans, my solution does not work for most people. It won't work if you have in-flight adjustable rudder pedals. It also will not work if you mount the carburetor fuel pump as indicated in the drawings.

It work'ed in my case because the original builder mounted the fuel pump very close to the forward side of the gear tower and high (the fuel line does not drop down after the gear tower.
 
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