Sam James wheel pants install pics

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:44 am

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!

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:31 am

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.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:05 am

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.

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:53 pm

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

Post by **bullojm1** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:59 pm

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.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:42 pm

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!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:42 pm

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!

Wicked Stick · Post by **Wicked Stick** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:50 pm

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.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:00 pm

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...

Post by **Spike** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:17 pm

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

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:58 pm

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

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:55 pm

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!!

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:05 pm

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

BSwayze · Post by **BSwayze** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:07 am

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?

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:33 am

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.

Post by **bullojm1** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:38 am

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!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:41 am

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.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:42 am

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).

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:57 pm

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.

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:27 pm

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

RivetBangers.com

Sam James wheel pants install pics

Sam James wheel pants install pics

Re: Sam James wheel pants install pics

Re: Sam James wheel pants install pics