RV-7 N890GF

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  • Forward Fuselage Top Skin

    Over the weekend I riveted the final skin (and the final rivet) of the plane. Before I got to riveting, I knocked out some items from the backlog. I needed to remove the oil filler neck in order to get to one of the bolts for the baffle. This otherwise impossible to reach screw has…

  • Riveted Plenum Nutplates

    I finally had some time to get back to working on the plane. I wrapped up the plenum installation by drilling K1000-8 nutplates to the baffles and counter sinking for some countersunk washers. Now that the plenum is fully drilled, I can paint it and prep it for final installation. Here is the plenum with…

  • Finished Plenum Flanges

    The flange fabrication has been going really well. The front flange turned out great after trimming, and I decided to continue with the fiberglass flange method for the rear of the plenum. Here is the front flange after trimming and drilling. I’ll need to figure out the best method for screw installation once the prop…

  • Added Plenum Flanges

    I’ve been going back and forth on how to best attach the plenum to the engine baffles. I’ve seen it done several different ways. One involves riveting aluminum angle to the baffles and then adding nutplates to the angles and attaching the plenum from the top. Another way is to build up a fiberglass flange…

  • Installed Alternate Intake Air

    With the snorkel installed, I spent some time on the alternate intake air bypass. The bypass valve mounts to the side of the snorkel, with a pull cable installed on the panel. I picked the least-bad spot on the panel for the pull cable. Hopefully I’ll never need to use it, as that indicates the…

  • Finished Plenum Fabrication

    I went back to the airport to finish up the plenum. Its fully cured and super strong. The core adds a significant amount of stiffness while keeping the whole thing very light. I removed the top plastic and the whole plenum just popped right off. I then trimmed the excess material around the perimeter. it…

  • Continued Plenum

    Today I had my friend Norio help me out on the actual fiberglass layup of the Plenum. He’s a seasoned composites expert and has helped me on many other parts (canopy, wings) of the plane as well. I started the day by finishing off trimming the foam around the inlets, and covering the rest of…

  • Started Plenum

    Now that the baffles are all trimmed, riveted and in place on the engine, I started work on the plenum. The plenum is an alternative to the baffle seals that Vans provides. The original design uses the seals on the baffles to press up against the top cowl creating a seal to prevent air from…

  • Finished Snorkel

    The last few steps to finish up the snorkel include riveting the flanges to the fiberglass. I used pop rivets, with small washer on the shop head side in order to distribute the force onto the fiberglass to prevent cracking. I also primed the snorkel. With the flanges riveted, I then prepped and installed the…

  • Continued work on Snorkel and Baffles

    I continued working on fitting the snorkel to the lower baffle. I had to modify the angle of the top of the snorkel to better fit under the inlet. There was a gap between the flanges and the underside of the inlet ramp. I added fiberglass material to the top of the snorkel, let it…