Flying RV-8 without Grove gear intersection fairings

My -8 is just about ready to fly, although I have some fairing work left to do. I know that without intersection fairings installed on an airplane with the stock Van's gear the airplane behaves differently than when the fairings are installed. Question: has anyone flown an -8 with a Grove streamlined gear without the intersection fairings installed? If so, what was the difference in aircraft performance without the fairings and later with the fairings? Thanks

When I test flew my RV8 I had the grove gear no fairings and no wheel pants.
After I added those items I saw an increase in speed but no other difference.

If I remember correctly it added about 6 to 8 mph, it's been a couple years
and I can't tell you what I had for lunch two days ago

Sal
Lakeland FL

Thanks for the info Sal. I'd like to fly my airplane for the first time in the same configuration as yours was so this helps a lot.

Jim

Got any pictures of your panel. Sounds nice.

Jim, I wouldn't expect anything drastic. I don't have the Grove gear, but flew the first several hours without wheel pants or gear fairings to keep things slow and it behaved just fine.

As was said, the only noticeable change when things were all put together was higher cruise speed.

Good luck and enjoy!

Increased buffet

I recently did the initial test flights on an 8 with the Grove streamline gear, no fairings or pants. I experinced a more pronounced buffet in all stalls than on my stock RV-8. Though, like my aircraft, no more than 2 knots prior to stall in most configurations and accelerations.

After a few flights, we installed pants and fairings. The buffet decreased some though it is still not as light as on my plane. It is generally believed that the size and shape of the intersection fairing s have a major impact on the buffet.

Scott A. Jordan
N733JJ
9 years, 930 hours