Electric flap conversion

[jetaddic]

To the guys that have converted to electric flaps, are using the kit from vans or other kits.

Thanks
David

[fixnflyguy]

Not a direct answer to your question, however I do a few RV-4 "mentoring" projects and condition inspects. I built my -4 with the VAN's electric option kit. If you go that route, you need your center floor panels opened up and it will provide you with all the new weldments and a couple brackets that need installed. The actuator will lay flat under the floor, the existing flap handle will be removed and additional crosstube nylon blocks are installed. If you choose the other installations I have seen, the actuator is most often mounted vertically to the R/H fuselage stiffener below the roll bar, and connected directly to the existing flap actuator weldment, with the manual flap handle removed and sometimes, the mount tab for it cut off. I have seen more of the homebrew mounted actuators than the VAN's factory set-up, likely because it may be cheaper and no need to add the bracketry under the floor. Both work well, and you should be able to search threads and find some pictures. I put my flap switches on my MAC stick grip along with electric trim, so no need to take hands off throttle and stick for pattern/go-around work.

[DeeCee 57]

used the one from Van’s, installed during the build without any problem.

[D Weisgerber]

I built my RV6 with manual flaps and converted it to electric flaps. I used the kit from Vans and it worked very well.

[MS1095]

Just completed this on a friends 4. We used the Vans kit and it was a fairly straight forward install.

[Nick]

While I imagine it's more work than buying Vans parts... I just did a custom under floor electric flap conversion. I got rid of all the above floor parts, no more worries about a squished headset. The biggest downside so far is the flap pushrod opening needs to be closed up. I can share dimensions if someone wants to duplicate it.