RV-7 N117TR

[crabandy]

Exit Fairing Update after 30ish hours:
As far as I can tell my CHT's and oil temps have remained the same in climb/cruise as before, but 2ish knots faster. I still haven't cleaned up the outside portion of the exit, someday....

I installed new Desser Monster Re-Treads and since the wheelpants were off I attempted to reduce the gap/seal the wheel pant 2 tire gap. I mounted my wheelpants slightly higher with a fairly large gap (.5-.75 inch) to minimize damage on grass strips. This is a pretty cheap and easy experiment since I'm using my old tubes for the seal and leftover weatherstripping adhesive. I started with a cardboard template, which probably would've worked well with a flat rubber sheet.



I split the old tubes open and proceeded to cut and fit the rubber to the wheelpants.







Because of the shape of the rubber tubes I had to use multiple pieces to fill the gap.



Oversized rubber strips all glued and ready for fitting and trimming.

[crabandy]

On a positive note the seals conforms better than I expected, on the downside I need to remove several of the strips that were too narrow and make wider strips for the inside. They don't seem to cause a lot of friction between the tire and seal when rocking the airplane back and forth, I'm sure it'll get pretty warm at 60 knots....

[crabandy]

I found it easiest to cut the center thicker part of the tube out first.



Then position the tube in the wheel pant and mark the edges with a sharpie.



Larger side flaps added....

[Bob Martin]

Andy,
This is wonderful experimenting!
I have seen others try or attempt to close this gap with baffle material or I think Lopresti even made operable doors. But nothing has proven practical for the masses. I even noticed Axle put front skirts on his RV4 pants for the racing circuit.
You rubber idea sounds promising.
Looking forward to your test flying results.
Are you concerned about venting/cooling the brakes?
Seems to me the EZ guys or maybe Klaus put naca inlets on the inside side of the pant to blow air on the brakes....assuming it would exit around the bottom.
Great pictures too....

[MikeyDale]

Can't wait to see the flying results! What glue did you use?

[krw5927]

That's gotta be good for at least 10 knots, Andy!

Practice on yours and then you can do mine

[crabandy]

Originally Posted by Bob Martin

Andy,
This is wonderful experimenting!
I have seen others try or attempt to close this gap with baffle material or I think Lopresti even made operable doors. But nothing has proven practical for the masses. I even noticed Axle put front skirts on his RV4 pants for the racing circuit.
You rubber idea sounds promising.
Looking forward to your test flying results.
Are you concerned about venting/cooling the brakes?
Seems to me the EZ guys or maybe Klaus put naca inlets on the inside side of the pant to blow air on the brakes....assuming it would exit around the bottom.
Great pictures too....

Thanks Bob!
Bob Axom/DanH/Axel and others' mods on the wheelpants got me wondering, I'll have to look up Klaus's EZ wheelpants.

We'll see about brake heat issues but a Steerable tailwheel instead of differential braking for steering will help. I'm also a "brake minimalist" when flying, a little preplanning is smoother and easier than replacing brake pads.
Pretty sure even without wheelpants our brakes only have 1 heavy application before getting hot and fading, the wheelpants seals will probably extend the cooling off time. After some normal flying I should test a "heavy brake application."
After writing the above a quick search yielded this thread:
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...=121025&page=2

[crabandy]

Originally Posted by MikeyDale

Can't wait to see the flying results! What glue did you use?

Mike, 3M weatherstrip adhesive from the auto parts store I had laying around.

[crabandy]

Originally Posted by krw5927

That's gotta be good for at least 10 knots, Andy!

Practice on yours and then you can do mine

You can't hardly see them so probably only 1 knot, the tailwheel fairing ideas are probably gonna be worth 10 knots!

[AX-O]

Originally Posted by crabandy

Thanks Bob!
Bob Axom/DanH/Axel and others' mods on the wheelpants got me wondering

Now you got me wondering. I have another wheel pant mod in the planning stages. I may have to incorporate this (if you don't mind). I was going to use felt.