In a perfect world my 9 with its IO 320 B1A would have retained the rear inlet sump and would have had a slick NACA scoop on the right side of the lower cowl with an integral air filter and alternate air door. If you wanted to get really creative the fuel servo could be firewall mounted and a custom flex duct could go from there to the stock rear inlet sump. Now you have to think about reliability and what happens if the duct gets loose or tears. It could work, some twin Cessna's are built like this. Almost anything is technically possible but it usually comes down to time, trouble and cost and I wanted to fly this plane in this lifetime. Another reality is the engine mount cross tube between the top of the gear sockets is exactlly in the wrong place. This is the route I took: Divco easily converted the case to Dynafocal 1 configuration and I bought a O-320-D2J (160hp) vertical sump and pipes which are plentiful, cheaper and lighter compared to the front inlet. The Bendix RSA servo mounts vertically on the bottom and uses the stock Vans FAB then I needed to build a custom bracket for the throttle and mixture control cables. I wasn't fond of the lower cowl scoop but decided that $2-3000 and a month of fiberglass work was more than I wanted to part with to have a smooth cowl with front inlet. Send me a email address and I send you some photos.
Don Broussard
RV 9. Rebiuld in Progress
cajunwings@cox.net
Has anyone made this work?
Linear Mode
