Looking for insight into FWF installation

[Darren S]

Hi all,

I'm inching ever closer to mounting a Lyc IO-360. Dynafocal mount. I still need a cowl, exhaust, alternator, air box and baffles.

I guess Van's is the best place to order this stuff, unless someone has a better idea ? Advice anyone ?

I see the FWF packages that Van's offers. I am a little nervous about the magnitude of the whole job ie. mounting all the stuff on the firewall. I don't want to screw up and have extra holes in the firewall, or forget a part and find out later that I have no room for it.

Does the Van's FWF kits come with instructions and if so are they as good as a "cookbook" or am I going to doing alot of head scratching and forum digging?

Thanks to all for the help in the past.

Darren

 

[frankh]

No not really.. The baffles are a bit of a head scratcher but the instructions are all there and everything ends up in the right place.

Frank

 

[Ironflight]

The FWF kit for the -8 came with a pretty good drawing of were everything goes on the firewall - I used it almost exactly. You can buy just the drawing if you want - I liked the FWF kit because I knew that I had everything on hand before I started, and wouldn't came to a stop every time I needed one little adapter, screw, or widget....

Paul

 

[flion]

I'm going to disagree mildly with Frank. He's right ... if you follow exactly Van's plan. And you can. If you do, you will end up with an installation that will fly perfectly fine. But you will probably end up scratching your head over things that you do differently. Any variation is going to cost you some skull sweat to a greater or lesser degree.

The good news? This can actually be fun (must be, because I'm headed down that road again, right?) and is not nearly as difficult as it may at first appear. Reading the Tony Bingelis books on engines is a good idea and, whatever you end up installing, the instructions that come in the Van's FWF are a great help. I also recommend ordering the wiring diagrams even if you don't go with Van's electrical kit; you can order the diagrams seperately.

Take my installation as an example. I had a custom built panel that needed a battery, backup battery, and alternator. The engine was fuel injected, had dual Lightspeed E.I., and sensors would be wired to a sensor pod on the firewall. There would be a constant speed prop, as well.

I used the Van's electrical diagrams and hung the main battery and the battery and starter contactors. The backup battery was hung on the other side of the firewall. Then I hung the engine and followed the advice I heard most everywhere - install what has to be in place first, then install secondary stuff around it. I followed Van's instructions for the baffles and installed the starter, alternator, FI servo, prop governor, and exhaust. With those in place, I routed the controls (had to deviate from Van's locations but no big deal), the oil cooling lines, and the fuel lines (had to do some creative routing to get the fuel flow located. Next came the starter, alternator, and ignition wiring (the latter was completely custom). Then I located the sensor pod and ran all the sensor wires. Once I was sure of all the firewall penetrations, I pulled the engine mount (with the engine still on) off and finalized all the penetrations with gaskets, shields, etc. (eyeball mounts for the control cables) and then replaced the engine and reconnected everything. Somewhere in there I had done the FAB and cowling to make sure that other stuff stayed in the lines. Last came the prop and spinner.

My point is that by going methodically through the systems, everything will go in and you won't have a huge problem figuring out where and how, though you will have to do some of your own thinking. The Van's drawings and instructions were a great help but not the last word for a lot of things. Vans, in fact, allows you to customize the FWF depending on your needs. And actually, I found the variety of tasks involved in installing the systems made a nice change from the repetition of tasks in the airframe construction.

 

[Bavafa]

I have an IO-360 with CS prop and used Vans suggested places and they were all right on the money. If I had used my own plan, I would have end up at the same suggested locations only after so much head scratching and re-inventing. The only hole that I drilled and then end up covering is the hole for the front nose gear. You really don't need that hole as you can put the bolt from top to bottom, but its really your choice.

Regards
Mehrdad
RV7A-IO360M1B

 

[Rick_A]

A lot of people use Van's FWF package (overall it's a good value) but I bought some items from other vendors and then got the remainder from Vans.

Not a complete list, but some of the things I got from other vendors:
Alternator & Voltage Regulator - B&C
Master & Starter Contactor - B&C
ANL Current Limiter - B&C
Starter - B&C
Prop Governor - VAF Group buy
SS Heater box - Avery
Lord Engine Mounts - Aircraft Spruce (??)
Exhaust - Vetterman
Electrical Wires & Connectors - Stein / B&C
Steel AN fitting for Oil & Fuel lines - Aircraft Spruce
Gascolator - Andair
Oil Cooler (real SW) - Pacific Oil Coolers

Part of the reason I got some of the components from other sources is because I wanted to mount the electricial items & Heater box while I had good access to both side of the firewall - so I order parts prior to ordering the majority of the FWF parts. Except for the gascolator, I mounted everything as shown in Vans FWF plans.

 

[N941WR]

Look ahead at the drawings. There are some holes and plate nuts you don't find out about until later. Here's what comes to mind:

1) K1000-3 plate nut for the oil breather tube.
2) Two K1000-3 plate nuts for the oil pressure lines.
3) Hole below the battery box and above and lower contactor for a wire passage.

There may be some other issues that the others can add.

One other thing I just discovered. For some reason Van's puts plate nuts on the battery box and not on the aft side of the fuselage. This makes removing the battery box after construction a real pain. The only draw back I can see is that some wires might get close to those plate nuts but that is no different than them hitting the bolt head. Scott McD, any thoughts on this one?

 

[Darren S]

Thanks for the reassuring replies. That's why I joined the Van's family. The support is second to none. Now I feel better One step at a time and don't get lost in the forest because of the trees !!

Thanks group.

Darren