Leading Edge Tanks

[Dayton Murdock]

Hi All
During the Reno air races there was a RV4 tied down in front el aero in Carson City. The builder had installed 27 gallon tanks. Wow in my RV4 @ 150 kts/6 gph fuel burn = 8 hrs endurance
Has any one retro fitted larger leading edge tanks onto there RV4s
Please respond

 

[pierre smith]

Yes

Hi Dayton,
The Harmon Rocket guys essentially use a shortened -4 wing but add fuel capacity to around 54 gallons to feed the IO-540's. The easy way a lot of the guys do it is to buy an extra wing tank skin, cut it in half from front to back and splice each half to the original tank skin. 36 original gallons, plus 18 more = 54.

Also, back up and read todays post entitled "REALLY, REALLY long flights".

Regards,

 

[RVjim]

John Harmon has a fuel tank option for the HR2.
He has available the longer leading edge tank skins and rear tank close out spar webs. He also has the main spar tank attach webs that are added onto main spar at the end of the RV-4 main spar tank attach web.

Regards,
Jim Ayers

 

[smokyray]

Safe Air One ER tanks...

I installed a set of Safe Air One ER tanks in my RV4 last year. My friends "Hollywood"Hansen and "Cheese" Wilson did the work for me and designed the system and flight tested it in both their RV4's. They now have over 200 sets flying throughout the RV world. I really like the system as it adds 8.5 gallons of fuel forward of the CG filling at the tips and the tanks only add 9 lbs to the empty weight. I flew the Bandit (my RV4) non-stop from Carthage TX to my home near Lakeland (640nm) and landed with 6 gallons. Don't have a 3 hour bladder? Hey, next time you pass cheap gas, tank up! You have the option. The best part for me was having a decent reserve after 400 miles, my normal XC length. Now 600nm miles is easy. The new owner loves them as well. I put a set in my Rocket which gives it 54 gallons total...Dallas to Panama City, non-stop at 190 knots...

Rob Ray