Chattin35
Well Known Member
So, I just finished installing my wheel pants and fairings. Thought I would share the results (spoiler: she fast).
Before...
Install...
I jacked the plane up by wrapping a tow strap around the base of the engine mount. Once the plane was off the ground I leveled the longerons and lowered the a/c until the wheels were just off the ground (1/8'' or so). This gave me the "in flight" orientation of the wheels. Then I lined up the pants using a couple of points on the aircraft center-line (as close as I could get) and the tread on the tires and the rear of the wheel pant. Alignment was to the plans except for adding a 1/4'' spacing b/w the top of the tire and the wheel. The idea behind adding some clearance is because I fly off grass fairly often and plan to add bigger tires at some point. The pants are still very close to the ground, however. If I was doing it again, I'd add even more clearance.
I heard a couple of local builders talk about going crazy trying to gnat's a$$ the fairings and ending up with a yaw anyway. So, I didn't spend much time lining everything up. Just measured a center-line point at the tail and firewall and dropped some plum bobs and marked equal distance points on the fairings at an inner and outer location. Then, I used Van's string method to get them close. You can see I didn't jack the plane up for this as another builder told me not to bother with that either.
Results...
Just the pants on this morning. Flew the speed runs in a square box, at 8000' DA, wide open at 2700 RPM. Overall, the pants added 4 knots to the speeds I was previously seeing at this altitude/power setting. No noted yaw so I'm happy there. Surprisingly, I noticed a 3-4 knot decrease in stall speed. Although, that might just be because I was light on fuel. It stalled around 46 knots with full flaps - which was the slowest I've seen so far.
Later this afternoon I flew another speed box with the fairings installed. It gave me another +8 knots! I was truing out at 175 plus or minus a couple knots at 8000' DA. Awesome! It was a little bit bumpy. So, not the best conditions to get a precise reading. But, I'm stoked. The pants and fairings work as advertised.
And best of all, no yaw! I guess I got lucky there. I was expecting to have to experiment with the alignment to get it flying straight. But, I think we're gtg.
After...
TL/DR: Wheel pants and fairings gave me +12 knots at 8000' DA, wide open 2700 RPM. Trued out at 175 kts. They work as advertised.
To be continued after intersection fairing install...
Before...
Install...
I jacked the plane up by wrapping a tow strap around the base of the engine mount. Once the plane was off the ground I leveled the longerons and lowered the a/c until the wheels were just off the ground (1/8'' or so). This gave me the "in flight" orientation of the wheels. Then I lined up the pants using a couple of points on the aircraft center-line (as close as I could get) and the tread on the tires and the rear of the wheel pant. Alignment was to the plans except for adding a 1/4'' spacing b/w the top of the tire and the wheel. The idea behind adding some clearance is because I fly off grass fairly often and plan to add bigger tires at some point. The pants are still very close to the ground, however. If I was doing it again, I'd add even more clearance.
I heard a couple of local builders talk about going crazy trying to gnat's a$$ the fairings and ending up with a yaw anyway. So, I didn't spend much time lining everything up. Just measured a center-line point at the tail and firewall and dropped some plum bobs and marked equal distance points on the fairings at an inner and outer location. Then, I used Van's string method to get them close. You can see I didn't jack the plane up for this as another builder told me not to bother with that either.
Results...
Just the pants on this morning. Flew the speed runs in a square box, at 8000' DA, wide open at 2700 RPM. Overall, the pants added 4 knots to the speeds I was previously seeing at this altitude/power setting. No noted yaw so I'm happy there. Surprisingly, I noticed a 3-4 knot decrease in stall speed. Although, that might just be because I was light on fuel. It stalled around 46 knots with full flaps - which was the slowest I've seen so far.
Later this afternoon I flew another speed box with the fairings installed. It gave me another +8 knots! I was truing out at 175 plus or minus a couple knots at 8000' DA. Awesome! It was a little bit bumpy. So, not the best conditions to get a precise reading. But, I'm stoked. The pants and fairings work as advertised.
And best of all, no yaw! I guess I got lucky there. I was expecting to have to experiment with the alignment to get it flying straight. But, I think we're gtg.
After...
TL/DR: Wheel pants and fairings gave me +12 knots at 8000' DA, wide open 2700 RPM. Trued out at 175 kts. They work as advertised.
To be continued after intersection fairing install...