Tuesday November 12, 2024
Rudder/VS Tips, Oil Cooler Duct Rework
(0.8 Hours Firewall Forward, 0.2 Hours Rudder, 0.5 Hours Vertical Stabilizer)
1.5 Hours Total

While I have the horizontal stab installed, I want to fit the tips to the new RV-8 rudder and re-do the tip on the vertical stab.

I started by drilling out the rivets holding the old tip to the vertical stab and then wiggled it a bit to break the epoxy free. It came out pretty cleanly.

I sanded the flanges a bit and then drilled the smaller tip that matches the smaller RV-8 rudder to the top of the vertical stab.

Then I started doing a little trimming to fit the top rudder tip in place.

I posted some pictures of my oil cooler duct to VAF and several people thought that the two parts of the duct and the hose that connected them would get damaged by the significant movement of the engine relative to the mount on startup and shutdown.

I reworked the interface by trimming the top duct by about 0.5" to increase the gap and using SCEET tubing instead of the stiff PVC hose. I'm hopeful that this will be adequate. I will keep a close eye on it when I do my first engine start. I'm hopeful that with the lightweight three blade composite propeller and the balanced Thunderbolt engine, the start/stop vibration will be a bit better.

If it's still a problem then I will extend the SCEET tubing up to the rear of the baffle. I don't want to extend it downward toward the oil cooler because (a) the butterfly valve is there and (b) the clearance to the engine mount is tight and I'm afraid of the flexible tubing rubbing if I use it that far down.

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