Is there a video on the building of

[ron sterba]

Is there a video on the building and alignment of wheel pants and fairings for the RV9A? Just a little over a year of flying now at 7.8 gallons a hour at 150 mph Catto prop and 2350 rpms,it?s time to go faster!!!! I bought the fairing kit from RVBITS.
Ron in Oregon RV9A

[rv7charlie]

On my -7, I just used Van's instructions (string) for aligning the leg fairings. I used a cheap Harbor Freight laser level (oriented vertically) to align the pants. The laser paints a line on the tire tread centerline. Then the pant is added and you move it around until the laser paints the center line of the pant.

[ron sterba]

Thanks Charlie, I have one of those laser levels. What a neat idea. Have a question. I know the wheel camber changes after liftoff. Does this affect the aero alignment in the airstream? Or doesn’t matter because it’s so small movement?
Thanks
Ron in Oregon

[rv7charlie]

It's been a while, but I think the instructions say to align everything (IIRC that means the gear itself, too) with the weight off the gear; hanging as they would in flight. I did mine by mounting the motor mount on the fuselage with no wings, engine, etc. Very easy to just sit the fuselage on some tall boxes & level it up.

Remember, you want the fairings/pants aligned with the slipstream in flight; not while taxiing. :-)

[rightrudder]

You'll love the instant speed gain... I picked up about 15 knots with the wheel pants + gear leg/intersection fairings installed. Harder to bleed the speed off when approaching the airport too!

[ron sterba]

Thanks Charlie I’ll keep that in mind. Doug that’s great news, 15 knots, interesting though on slowing down!! Hadn’t thought of that,,,, ONLY going FASTER,,,,,,, thanks for the heads up. What did you do for the tire air stem? Little pop open door or just a 1 1/2” round hole with a metal furniture plug?
Much appreciated guys. I’ll let you know the out come latter, month or two. Any other thoughts always helpful.
Ron in Oregon RV9A

[ron sterba]

Doug what did you do for air stem opening. Door or just a hole?
Ron in Oregon

[sjhurlbut]

I've done the little access hole for tire stem and found its more work than worth it.

I just remove the front fairing if the tire needs air. You can accurately judge the pressure of the tire by feeling around the gap between wheel and fairing.

If it does need some pressure (my Goodyear Custom Flight III rarely needed any) you can pop the front wheel fairing off in 2 min. Also gives you a look at brake lines, pad and fittings once in a while.