[TX7A]

Here's a pic of my FAB top plate. The oval cut out is off-center. It is about 3/8" more or less to the right side of part (towards bottom in photo). Is this correct?
My carb is offset to the left on the sump which is typical for my setup. Seems that this would exacerbate the problem of FAB/cowl interference that I hear about. (edit: as a matter of fact it helps it; see post below)
Any help much appreciated.

 

[apkp777]

Did you ever get a answer to this. I am working on my FAB now and am having a couple issues.

 

[DickDe]

Yep! It's right

The plate does have an offset built in it, at least the two I built had it so you do not have defective parts. One I built was on an 0-360 powered RV4 and the other was on a 0-320 powered RV6. The 4 had the older polyester cowl which meant the chin piece was added by the builder but the RV6 has the newer epoxy cowl that comes with the chin piece and lower cowl molded as one. I can't remember much about the reason for the offset but I know the clearance between the FAB and the cowl is tight. Since the older RV4 chin piece had to be added to the cowl the builder had the ability to slightly offset the chin piece for clearance. The RV6 ended up with enough clearance without modification although I have known of some rework of cowls and/or FAB fiberglass on other projects. I don't know if any of this is applies with the new prepunched kits as they are more standardized than either RV4 or the RV6.

Dick DeCramer
Northfield, MN
RV6 N500DD 350hrs
RV8 slow build fuselage

 

[TX7A]

Did you ever get a answer to this. I am working on my FAB now and am having a couple issues.

Tony,
As Dick mentioned, it's correct....at least it worked out okay for me. I did call Van's about it and the tech I talked to wasn't quiet sure if it was to be offset or not. He suggested that I go ahead & fit it up to the carb & see how it matched the cowl snout.
The offset does help make things work better considering the left-offset carb on the sump. I fabbed everything up and it's all working out fine. I did have to use a couple of one-legged nutplates because of edge distance concerns. As a matter of fact I'm heading over to my hangar/shop to do the final FAB/cowl fitup and attach the rubber seal.
I will say that there is a good amount of work associated with the FAB. Between the no-so-great instructions and a lot of on and off of the lower cowl, I think I've conquered one more piece of this thing.