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carl nank

Well Known Member
Hi All,

I am finishing my baffles and laid up the VA132 FAB snorkle between the Horzontal fuel injector and the left air inlet. I was suprised to see the filter end of the FAB go outside ( to the left of the left air inlet) by about 2 1/2" :(:(. I will need to take a 2 1/2" section out of the middle of the FAB to make it fit.

I called Van's and they said they only make one type of FAB and they never heard of anyone having to modify one like this.

This is on a Superior, horizontal draft I0-360 180 HP engine. I can't see why this dimension should be any different than a lycoming.

I have seen some posts about having to take some stuff off the front of the cowl but I have not seen anything like this in the posts.

Anyone else with this problem?
 
my fix

I had the same problem. I saw the solution of one of the European RV builders sites. I cut the box in 2 at the mid section. I placed the top half into the baffle where I wanted it, based on the position of the air filter. I attached the lower half to my fuel injection metering body. With the top and bottom in place I fiberglassed them back together while trying to smooth out the transition between the two. I am happy with the final result.
 
Reworking snorkel

Installing a IO-320 and had to section the thing 1.25 inches. Made the cut down
at the narrow part and the result was as even a joint as possible. It allowed
a more accurate filter placement on the shelf and should work just fine.
I would like to add after doing a baffle kit by Lancair on a 360 which is made
from .063 stock with a minimum of pieces, that is the better kit and much less labor to install. It cost more than Van's but it saves time. Walt RV-6A
 
FAB too Long

Thanks for your responses. Two guys at least had the same problem as me.

I appreciate your advice and I will section off some of the FAB in the middle. Nice to know I am not the only one with the problem.
:)
 
I have only looked at 30 or so RV's...but every single FAB install I've looked at had to be cut to fit. Van's may be on denial pills or something, but their FAB doesn't fit any type of stock RV-7 fuel injected horizontally inducted engine that I'm aware of without cutting a section out of the FAB to make it shorter as described above. I did it on mine too...
 
I had the same problem. I was told the snorkel is actually made for the 200 HP angle valve engine, which has longer cylinders than the 180 HP IO 360.
Additionally, the filter they sent me was too small for the opening so I cut down the opening to fit the filter and then joggled out the baffle wall to allow some extra room. This worked out well.
If you cut it in the middle of the assembly, make sure you have clearance from the starter when you glass it back together. It's really close there.
Also, on my assembly, where the factory assembled the two halves, it cracked on the first flight and I had to glass it back together. I guess they didn't use enough epoxy between the halves, so check that out, too.
 
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