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No oil door....

judoka5051

Well Known Member
I was hesitant to post this. What seems like a great idea to one guy... Anyway my recently finished RV8 doesn't have an oil door. It does however have an oil access hole; with a gas cap in it. Not only will I never have an oil door pop open, if I ever break or lose a gas cap it's no big deal, got a spare right there! I figured I'd post this since two other Rv'ers wandered into the hangar and thought it was a good idea.

Truth be told, I went a little crazy on a number of things. Moved the baggage door to the left side, made my own fastback turtledeck, hinge pins go in from the back, fiberglass wing fairings etc.

Just got it flying, and yes, I'm wearing the grin!

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Oh that's sleek -:)
I like the oil access hatch, it gives the diver a chance to see inside the engine bay at least the rear end and access to the battery terminals and piano hinges. Anyway that's the beauty of these machines you can make them stock or wildly individual -:)
 
Thanks for the comments!

Hey Capt,

I can see the battery terminals (the top battery anyway), and I used the extruded hinges that are sized for the hinge pin, so no broken hinges to worry about. You'd think the pins would be hard to put in, but it's pretty easy.
 
How dare you be innovative and modify your amateur built kit aircraft.... oh and that beautiful picture is forcing me to scroll the screen.... :D

Congrats.

Oil door replaced by fuel cap deal... I assume cap/door removed you have sufficient access to the stock Lyc oil dipstick/filler hole. With the right funnel no issue. I flew piston twins with very small oil dip stick access doors.

One reason I wouldn't do this modification I like having a good look at the accessory case and have Aux access to battery terminals to connect battery to charger (not jumper). Also it might be heavier. However great mods, all of them.
 
Hope that gas cap never comes off in flight. Gas cap versus canopy.... might get interesting. I know you must have considered this possibility? With that said...
Absolutely spectacular looking aircraft.
 
Ever try to get one out when it's locked?

That gas cap needs a pretty good tug to get it out when it's unlocked. When it's locked, it's stuck in there firmly enough that I suspect you'd start cracking the cowl long before it comes out!

That being said, IF id did come out, it wouldn't decelerate to 0 mph for a few feet anyway. It might cause a scratch on the windshield, but I'd be more concerned about denting the H stab.
 
That being said, IF id did come out, it wouldn't decelerate to 0 mph for a few feet anyway.
That is the problem the cap is doing ZERO and you are doing 190 mph.... I would be more worried (very little since cap is likely not going to come off) hitting the horizontal stab. Consider a lanyard on the cap. Most airplanes on service caps have this.

Anyway BEAUTIFUL RV. Congratulations, and may you have many hours of safe fun flying.
 
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