Van's Air Force
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RV-12 builder who has built a RV-8
- Thread starter rlricks
- Start date
N941WR
Legacy Member
The -8 or any of the other planes take about 2200 hours to build where as the -12 can be built in 700 hours +/-.
While the match holes in the -12 are all punched to size and don't need to be deburred, the other kits all require you to match drill the existing holes to size, deburr both sides of each hole, dimple the holes, and then drive the rivers (which can take two people). That can take a good bit of time.
Also, the -8 has a good bit more fiberglass work than the -12. (Wheel pants, wing tips, HS, VS, and rudder tips, and intersection fairings)
Then there is the wiring harness. There really isn't a pre-packaged wiring harness, unless you want a simple VFR steam gauge panel.
The engine install is not a simple package like on the -12, there is a lot of custom work that needs to be done on the Lycoming install.
While the match holes in the -12 are all punched to size and don't need to be deburred, the other kits all require you to match drill the existing holes to size, deburr both sides of each hole, dimple the holes, and then drive the rivers (which can take two people). That can take a good bit of time.
Also, the -8 has a good bit more fiberglass work than the -12. (Wheel pants, wing tips, HS, VS, and rudder tips, and intersection fairings)
Then there is the wiring harness. There really isn't a pre-packaged wiring harness, unless you want a simple VFR steam gauge panel.
The engine install is not a simple package like on the -12, there is a lot of custom work that needs to be done on the Lycoming install.
Bill is correct. The two biggest time savings are in the blind rivets...one person, pnuematic, very fast! and the dimpling. Make no mistake, you still have squeezed rivets where ever they can fit a squeezer. But the majority of your rivets are on the wings, fuse and tail feathers which are all blind. The harness' come pre-built by Stein and most are correctly done. The engine is another story. Not only is it a different animal than you are used to (radiator, two carbs, no mixture, you actually have to disassemble the entire engine down to the block (you don't crack the block) to complete and place a fiberglass shroud over the cylinders to direct airflow. It is complex but the instructions are the best in the kit. It is a 51% kit as proved by the AB that are now flying. It probably has the lightest controls of all the RV's (it is the lightest aircraft). You may outgrow the need for speed but you will never give up the control harmony that comes only with a Vans.
Just to clarify (I'm sure Peter wont mind) you don't actually disassemble the engine down to the block. You do remove a few things from the top of the engine.
The two intake manifolds with their attached carbs. The top cyl. head coolant hoses and coolant expansion tank. The two ignition modules and their attached ignition wires.
That's about it, and as Peter said, the instructions lead you through the disassembly and reassembly step by step.
I never mind when Scott "helps" me explain. Okay, it "seems" like you're taking the engine apart. In fact, my "big engine" RV friends came over and freaked out...."you don't take em apart!", they said, "you just bolt em on!"
