Tips for Newer RV-6 Fuselage Kits

I am starting this thread for those that are currently (or soon to be) working on a more recent fuselage kit. I don't know exactly when the change occured, but the RV-6 fuselage kit comes with the RV-7 firewall and drawings.

The RV-7 firewall drawings include the mounting location for the fuel pump and various pass-through holes (throttle, mixture, ect). While most of these locations work well, some do not. Here is my list, please add any others you may think of.

1) Facet fuel pump mount. The location on the RV-7 firewall plans put one of the nutplates directly behind one of the engine mount crossmembers. Depending on your mount (mine is for an O-360) the nutplate will force the mount away from the firewall. The solution is to remove the nutplate and put the bolt in from the outside with a nut on the inside. Another solution would be to move the fuel pump up ~3/8". I would wait until you have your mount to drill the holes for the pump.

2) nose-gear mount bolt. There is a hole in the firewall to allow you to install the mounting bolt for the nose gear. Once again, depening on your mount the Vans callout for the RV-7 is about 1/8 - 3/16" too high. It makes it very difficult to remove the bolt. During fitting, put the bolt in from the top and then reverse it for final assembly.

3) Slider canopy forward deck ribs. The holes to attach these ribs are pre-punched in the RV-7 firewall. The flange on the rib is not long enough to have minimum edge distance for the bottom rivet. According to vans, just shoot the rivet and forget about it. Not my favorite solution.

4) The newer fuselage kit come with the "RV-6 additions" that are an option on the firewall-forward kit, so you don't have to order that.

and the tail

You didn't mention the tail of the newer RV6. I believe they are a variant of the RV7 tail with the counterbalances. Is that what you have?
I also converted the center section from firewall to spar into the -7 configuration. With a little nudging, everything fits. Battery goes in front of firewall.

Check throttle and mixture cable location

I have an RV6 with a RV7 firewall forward kit. I already had the RV6 firewall in place and may have had a little different experience than you if they gave you an RV7 firewall.

1. The RV6 has an X-bracing on the back side while te RV7 only has an diagonal bracing. This requires modifying the bracket behind the gasolator to fit (cut off shorter).

2. I have a deeper oil filter recess than the RV7. I installed the RV7 center aft cover with heater vents, which ended up under the recess rather than the top edge overlapping the bottom aft edge. This required adding an angle under the recess for attaching the top edge.

3. I did not have a problem installing the fuel pump were called for on the RV7 but if I were to do it over I would move it up slightly to get more room for attaching the fuel lines.

4. The throttle and mixture cable holes through the firewall could have been a little higher. The throttle cable in particular was real close to the fuel line coming out of the fuel pump. Check location before drilling.

5. Mounting the battery forward of the firewall makes it a lot easier to service than if it were mounted on the floor. I wished it was moved towards the center a little more to make it easier to remove the battery without interference from the engine mount.

Overall, using the RV7 firewall kit on the RV6 worked great. It reduced the time to completion considerable and made a cleaner installation.

jay.pearlman said:

You didn't mention the tail of the newer RV6. I believe they are a variant of the RV7 tail with the counterbalances. Is that what you have?
I also converted the center section from firewall to spar into the -7 configuration. With a little nudging, everything fits. Battery goes in front of firewall.

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I put the RV-7 tail on my 6. The RV-6 emp kit is no longer available (parts still are), so the tail is whatever the builder ended up with.

Frank Smidler said:

....
3. I did not have a problem installing the fuel pump were called for on the RV7 but if I were to do it over I would move it up slightly to get more room for attaching the fuel lines.
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Or mount the fuel pump a bit lower and use one of these fittings at the IN of the fuel pump...

6 series wiring

The 6 and 6A fuselages are notorious for not having enough passages to route wiring to areas aft of the spar.

Do yourself a big favor and make a wiring channel on each side of the upper fuselage before riveting on the F621 A & B pieces.

Nobody told me about it. It would have save me hours of work and considerable frustration.

Dave A.
6A build

-6 updated

I ran wires through the middle of the fuselage. The spar web can tolerate (without my engineering it, check for yourself first), a couple of 1" holes in the center and that will pass most wires you will need. I have autopilot, electric flaps, and a bunch of other wires that need to go rearward. I also have two passthroughs, one on either side of the fuselage for wires in the back such as the solid state gyros (mounted near the tail). The key is to separate wires so that signals do not interfere, so planning really helps.

jay.pearlman said:

I ran wires through the middle of the fuselage. The spar web can tolerate (without my engineering it, check for yourself first), a couple of 1" holes in the center and that will pass most wires you will need. I have autopilot, electric flaps, and a bunch of other wires that need to go rearward. I also have two passthroughs, one on either side of the fuselage for wires in the back such as the solid state gyros (mounted near the tail). The key is to separate wires so that signals do not interfere, so planning really helps.

Click to expand...

The plans call for a pass-trough hole in the spar. I called Vans and they said it was fine to add a second hole in the opposite spar to mirror the one in the plans. It is still tight, but much better. I ran my static line forward under the armrest.

The Electrical Wiring Kit drawings call out a 5/8" hole drilled on the centerline of F-604a 3/4" below the top edge. This is above the spar 'V' right behind the fuel valve.

I ran wires down the vertical throttle/trim channel then through the hole, it also keeps these wires well clear of the control pushrods.