RivetBangers.com

Doing my SJ pants this week...thought I post some pics of what I'm doing...I tossed the instructions.

Made these using the drawings provided-



Checked positioning of the front halves (lots of trim iterations)-



Drilled the two halves together-



Since the pants are clear, it's easy to see the bracket to drill the pilot holes-



'Glassed the AL washer in place-



That's as far as I got over the last couple of days...more to come!

Mike, if you have some pics of yours, throw 'em in here too!

fun isn't it

How much space do you have around the tire? I was going to go with the thinner James pants, but knew I was always going with a larger tire. I was afraid of having insufficient clearance. Kind of a "Tommy boy" big guy little coat situation.

You're going to love the speed boost from the fairings and pants.

hydroguy2 wrote:How much space do you have around the tire?

Not much...no where near the 1" you get with Van's pants. I'd say probably a 1/2" or so over the top.

Lookin good Chad, but why did you have to go and put your URL in the corner? That ruins all my cross-posting options!

CJ

cjensen wrote: Mike, if you have some pics of yours, throw 'em in here too!

My pic's wouldn't be that impressive - they would show them untrimmed and unsanded! It's been too cold to think about putting them on.

captain_john wrote:Lookin good Chad, but why did you have to go and put your URL in the corner? That ruins all my cross-posting options!

CJ

Sorry to ruin your day Capt'n!

bullojm1 wrote:My pic's wouldn't be that impressive - they would show them untrimmed and unsanded! It's been too cold to think about putting them on.

I hear ya...only reason I'm doing it now is because I'm in the big heated hangar at work for the annual. Too damn cold otherwise!

I've been fitting mine in the hangar, then bringing them home to finish with the sanding and painting where it's warmer.

Put just the wheel pants on today and saw about an 8 kt increase.
I still have to add the intersection fairings to them and clean up a few other areas.

Today's flight back from getting my Pitot Static/Alt/Transponder check done I was at 5,500 at 25 squared doing 175 kts IAS and 223 kts over the ground.

Nice Dave!! I've been flying on and off with my leg fairings, but I'm pretty excited to see what I get with the pants on too! I don't have my intersection fairings yet either...

Niiice guys. Though I can't say that I am looking forward to the glass work. Its amazing how much speed the fairings add.

--Spike

Wicked Stick wrote:.....I was at 5,500 at 25 squared doing 175 kts IAS and 223 kts over the ground.

yeah Buddy! that's what I'm talking about. IT is SWEET

Few more pics from the last couple of days leading to installation...

'Glassed in a mud wall-




Inside shot of the brackets and front half-




Installed!






Still need the intersection fairings, but they were ordered today!

Lets see what the speed difference is now!!

Speed run!!! good enough reason to burn some gas

Chad,

My first tech counselor, Randy Lervold, found out that the intersection fairings on his RV-8 made a big difference, too. As I recall, it significantly changed his stall speed as well. Amazing. So if you do a speed run, note how much difference the intersection fairings make as well, once you get them on.

Let us know, okay?

Exactly what I plan to do Bruce! I am curious to see what the difference is myself because I have the numbers from no fairings, just gear leg fairings, now I'll get gear leg fairings and wheel pants, and finally everything closed up.

Chad-

Looks great! It doesn't sound like they were too much work, either. Can you let me know the following:

1) What's the distance between the top of the wheel and the wheelpants?

2) Whats the distance from the back of the wheelpants to the ground?

Thanks!

Top of the tire to the inside top of the pant is 0" with a standard #8 screw. I cut it down to the end of the plate nut and now have 1/4" of clearance.

Back of the pant to the ground is 1" in the tail down attitude.

I should clarify...the back of the pant measurement is just behind the tire. The aft end of the pant is an inch and a half (used a 2x4 for that setting).

Moved the airplane back to my hangar today before a snow storm comes in tonight...no rub on the tire on the taxi over to the hangar, so far so good...



I ordered a set of intersection fairings today, so I'll try to fly and get some numbers without them this week/weekend, and then do the intersection fairings in the next few weeks.

that was quick......then i realized you still need to do the intersections, that'll double the time.

good luck and have fun with the speed boost