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O-320 type & weight in first RV-4s

C

Camillo

Well Known Member
I was wondering which model and what the weight was for the first RV-4s.
I believe they were 150 HP engines. Maybe conical mounts.
Did original RV4 mount the Concorde battery or some equivalent to the nowadays Odyssey?
Just curious how Van's calculated empty weight of the prototipe.
Thanks.
Camillo
 
My RV4 was early (1984 kit, flew 1986). It had the option of conical or Dynafocal mounts. Mine had an O-360 and weighed 925 lbs incl. full internal priming.
 
RV-4 completed 1994

RV-4 that was completed in 1994. 950 lbs.
Weighed with oil, no fuel in the tanks and all equipment/paint/fairings/pants, installed.

White paint with popular two stripe scheme.
Wood prop with harmonic balancer, simple steam guage panel, minimalist interior, 160hp O-320.

The fixed pitch cruise prop still has outstanding climb performance due to the overall light weight of the aircraft. I hesitate to post exact numbers, I'd have to take notes to make sure I didn't mis-represent the actual performance on a given day.

Pics from my pre-buy inspection two months ago.









 
Mine weighs 975 lb, odyssey battery, one side lightspeed ignition, SL-30, SL-40, AFS flat panel, 2 axis autopilot, IFR.
 
Camillo said:
Thank-you.
So it seems 950 lbs. is an achievable goal!
Click to expand...

It sure is. I have over the years seen some really light ones. 911 lbs with an e2a and fixed pitch aluminum sensenich. 918 with an e2d and a wood prop, no landol. Recently on barnstormers a 905 lb beauty sold with io-360 and catto. These were steam gauge birds. Often people say the oil was included, but I find when digging deeper that it wasn't. Most that I come across are over 950 for what looks like similar build specs. Often I see them near 1000 lb with similar build specs. It seems the weight is in the details...paint, primer, starters, batteries, extra wiring, lightning holes or not, gear leg stiffeners, interior refinement, etc. Then there is always the possibility of improper weighing technique and/or inaccurate scales.
 
O-320-B2C

I forgot to add that my RV-4 was built using a helicopter engine, the O-320-B2C, 160hp.
Unique since it has slightly different specs and only holds a maximum of six quarts of oil in the sump.
 
mine came in at 995 with O-360, constant speed hartzell, vfr steam gauges and no paint.

it now has a skyview and is getting ready for paint, I am interested in seeing where it will be after paint.

bob burns
RV-4
N82RB
 
Weight a minute...

Camillo said:
I was wondering which model and what the weight was for the first RV-4s.
I believe they were 150 HP engines. Maybe conical mounts.
Did original RV4 mount the Concorde battery or some equivalent to the nowadays Odyssey?
Just curious how Van's calculated empty weight of the prototipe.
Thanks.
Camillo
Click to expand...

Camillo,
I used the Van's prototype as the guide for my RV4 build (89-96) The RV4 prototype has thinner metal in some places than the standard kits, a Narrow Deck 0-320 150HP (Later a WD 160HP Constant Speed was added) no heavy forward longeron weld-ments, .016 tail skins and very few interior appointments or avionics. The prototype also has only one paint coat of each color. It's worth going in the EAA museum at Oshkosh to look it over. http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/5VanGrunsven RV-4.asp

I finished my RV4 The Bandit 1996. My friend Arvil and I rolled it out of his shop and I test flew it. The first sixteen takeoffs and landings were from his 900" (320m) runway, a testament to the design.
The Bandit weighed 921 lbs empty with no paint, no interior, Sterba wood prop, 150hp Narrow deck (conical) 0-320 which weigh 11 lbs less than a wide deck. I used a motorcycle battery, no interior, Lexus starter/alternator, NASA foam for seats, Hand held radio, no transponder. Total cost in 96" dollars? $21,000.

I would later paint and re-engine/re-wire it with avionics and goodies adding 30lbs and nearly 30HP with a wide deck 178HP 0-320. Performance was better in all categories. The new airplane belongs to its new owner, an F-18 Pilot in VA.
The original flew the best...

hv1bfo.jpg

The Bandit, Idaho backcountry (U72) circa 2005, in its element!
Ciao!
Smokey
 
Last edited:
N95JF

All: Interesting thread. N95JF first flew in June 1986. Weighed 914 with Ditzler paint/0-320 pre-A narrow deck rebuilt with 8.5 pistons, etc/VFR steam gauges/Pacesetter 200 toothpick on CAFE Foundation scales. Since then:

1. Removed Delco geared starter and replaced with Toyota truck lite starter;
2. Removed 30+ pound gel cell and replaced with Odyssey
3. Removed Narco Escort II and Apollo Loran and replaced with GX65 (net reduction of about 2.2 pounds)

Plus miscellaneous weight reductions. Thinking plane is under 890 and need to weigh again! Planning to replace Odyssey with an under 3 pound LiFeIon battery that would take another 8-11 pounds off....Best, J
 
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