8

842

Member
Question:
After making and installing the 864E cable anchor I noticed that the outboard hole in the anchor doesn't line up with the outboard hole in the L-rear geartower bulkhead. Measured, checked the drawings and it seems that the 1-9/16" distance indicated on DRW 68, might have to be 1-3/4". That would make the distance between the top control cables exactly 1".
Of course, this depends on the distance between the cable attachments on the throttle quadrant.
Since I don't have the quadrant yet, could anyone confirm the distance between the top cable attachments/holes in 864E ?

Thanks for your input,

Johan.
 
Wait to drill

Johan I do not have the drawing you refer to, perhaps my kit is an earlier version, however, as a general guideline you may want to wait until you have the actual throttle quadrant in hand before you build the left console and drill things.

I built my left console including the cable anchor as per plans only to find that the holes in the cable anchor did not match the alignment of the control levers on the ?deluxe throttle quadrant?. In addition the deluxe quadrant allowed a gap between the quadrant and the console cover plate.

I have ordered and rebuilt the left console and cable anchor to fit the throttle quadrant and eliminate the gap. In order to achieve proper alignment of cables and levers it was necessary to add 1/8? spacers between the throttle quadrant and the front console plate. This is not an entirely trivial modification as longer through bolts must be used. I then re-measured the position of the holes in the cable anchor and made a new one.

I then mounted the revised cable anchor using a simple jig to duplicate the position it would assume in the console and used that as a drill guide to drill holes in the rear and subsequently front bulkheads of the left gear tower.
 
quadrant mess....

I'm just wondering how old your kit is? Mine was delivered in August 2007 and I am using drawing 68 (drawn 2/6/06). The cable anchor came already made IIRC and in any event is exactly as per the drawing (if I did that work I'm proud!!!) Anyway - no, it doesn't match the predrilled holes in the gear tower which were too far apart, as you have found. I modified the gear tower by buzzing out the triangle of metal to make it an open space. It would seem, now that I have the quadrant and cables positioned, that the problem is that the outer top hole is too far lateral. Irritating but not terminal.

I also have had issues with the deluxe quadrant. Basically the back plate of the quadrant is not the correct shape, so that the bolts go through at an angle - this problem becomes evident when you bolt it to the F-864A-1. Gus Funnell at Vans assures me the problem is with the quadrant. I made a new backplate rather than do as he suggested which was to enlarge the holes in the existing backplate.

A new problem is that with everything assembled there is restriction of the forward movement of all 3 levers, even with the cable positions and clevis positions adjusted to give maximum forward throw. The throttle and mixture are the worst - about a half inch short of full throw. Pitch is about 1/4-3/8" short

In addition the holes for the clevis pins in the levers are off to one side (the front edge) which accentuates the previous problem, and I wonder if the clevis pin holes are just too high up the levers, which they certainly look to be.

I understand that the deluxe quadrants are made by a new supplier. Hmm! I'd be interested in whether other folk have been encountering similar problems?


EDITED TO ADD: I've had an e-mail form Gus Funnell at Vans to say that the holes in the gear tower were spaced to provide adequate edge distance between the top two holes. I don't quite see why edge distance is an issue in that particular spot unless it figures in the calculations on the strength of the gear tower structure?? Also, given the way the two cables bind on the edges of the holes I'd have thought that we have little option but to open the holes a bit to provide some clearance and hence reduce the edge distance somewhat. I'd not be very happy to have the cable sheaths scrunched up against the sides of the holes.



Thanks

Chris

Wings and empennage complete
Working on wiring.
 
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Earlier kit...

It would appear that throttle quadrant problems are clearly different depending on which version of the fuselage you have. My QB fuselage was delivered early in 2007 and was not built from a prepunched kit. The gear tower was not drilled at all and therefore I was able to align the holes in the tower with the quadrant levers and cable anchor bracket quite nicely after modifying the quadrant and fabricating a new cable anchor as I described earlier.
 
Throttle quadrant bracket picture

Thanks for your advice.
To clarify things, I'll add a photo on which you can see the misalignment of the outboard hole.
The fuselage kit is the slowbuild prepunched version. The drawing is dated 02/06/06.
For now, I'll just wait untill I have the quadrant at hand to measure the correct distance between the cables. It seems a good thing to have the cables run parallel.
The reason I'm working on the bracket at this point is that I haven't installed the side skins which gives me plenty of room to prepare cables, fuel-, vent- and brakelines.

Johan.


Here's where you'll find a photo:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johankars/RV8ProjectPics/photo?authkey=YOZeGcXmRXA#5221498529071711074
 
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Have the part in hand...

I see what you mean by misalignment. Do wait for the actual quadrant you will be using and go from there. You may have to ?oval? one or more of the holes in the gear tower but that should not be a problem. I just finished the plumbing through the gear tower on my QB and envy your access.
 
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