Bubblehead
Well Known Member
One of the draw backs of not building your own plane is you don't know what may have been done poorly or incorrectly. I bought a RV-8 in August and have been overjoyed with the RV-8 model and mostly satisfied with the particular -8 I bought. It flies really nice, is plenty fast although slightly slower than other 180 hp -8s, has acceptable radios and a nice panel layout. It's not too fancy but a good, solid, fun airplane.
However, there are a host of small things that need to be corrected. Some I've taken care of myself, some I've taken care of with the help of an A&P/IA, and some are on the schedule for this winter, which is arriving tonight! Oh, and some I'll just have to live with, like the lack of a Garmin 530W and glass panel!
Today's learning exercise has to do with the fuel system. I've looked at a lot of -8 websites and read a lot of posts here and the pictures always show a fuel filter. On the -8 it's mounted vertically on front of the left gear tower. A few days ago I took the front seat back out and crawled into the foot well to clean and inspect and low and behold, could not find a fuel filter!
The engine is an 180 hp IO-360. Are there other places that the filter could have been mounted? I took apart the fuel valve area and it is not there. I did not see it in the engine compartment when we did the condition inspection in October.
Here are two pictures, although they don't show the gear tower well. I looked long and hard at, in and around the gear tower and could not see a filter anywhere. Yes, you're going to see some dirt and debris in the pictures, but I've cleaned it up a lot already and have more to do.
[/url][/IMG]
[/url][/IMG]
BTW, earlier I said it was "plenty fast." I lied. Nothing is ever plenty fast! I want it to go faster!
However, there are a host of small things that need to be corrected. Some I've taken care of myself, some I've taken care of with the help of an A&P/IA, and some are on the schedule for this winter, which is arriving tonight! Oh, and some I'll just have to live with, like the lack of a Garmin 530W and glass panel!
Today's learning exercise has to do with the fuel system. I've looked at a lot of -8 websites and read a lot of posts here and the pictures always show a fuel filter. On the -8 it's mounted vertically on front of the left gear tower. A few days ago I took the front seat back out and crawled into the foot well to clean and inspect and low and behold, could not find a fuel filter!
The engine is an 180 hp IO-360. Are there other places that the filter could have been mounted? I took apart the fuel valve area and it is not there. I did not see it in the engine compartment when we did the condition inspection in October.
Here are two pictures, although they don't show the gear tower well. I looked long and hard at, in and around the gear tower and could not see a filter anywhere. Yes, you're going to see some dirt and debris in the pictures, but I've cleaned it up a lot already and have more to do.
![02395557d0.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F%5Burl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.freeimagehosting.net%2F%5D%5Bimg%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fimg3.freeimagehosting.net%2Fuploads%2F02395557d0.jpg&hash=bf5dbaa4c2cd5ac430b831d850c38788)
![a51f1a4636.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F%5Burl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.freeimagehosting.net%2F%5D%5Bimg%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fimg3.freeimagehosting.net%2Fuploads%2Fa51f1a4636.jpg&hash=9780131b452c73ff52fa0e6223ad6ce1)
BTW, earlier I said it was "plenty fast." I lied. Nothing is ever plenty fast! I want it to go faster!