What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

show planes cowl

stamper

Well Known Member
Does the show planes cowl actually improve any performance or cooling on the rv10; or would it just be for looks that someone would go that route over vans cowl. Ordered the finish kit the other day but have a week or two to delete a few items if I want. Any thoughts would be great even if u think I should stick with the stock vans cowl. Thanks
 
I think I heard somewhere (Oshkosh?) that the cowl is easier to fit than stock Van's. I'd appreciate if anyone could verify this claim as well :)
 
Doubt it

I have flown with all kinds of different 10's and no matter what engine, prop,or cowl set up they all fly at the same speed. I would make them prove their claim of higher speed and quicker fitting. I have been around long enough to see this claim not be true more than it has been true.

Gary Specketer
Tech counselor
 
Give Brian over at show planes a call. I spoke with him just after Oshkosh this year. I went looking for the -10 that had the cowl at Oshkosh, and found it.

Absolutely beautiful!

Talked to the owner and he has not had any cooling problems and the airplane is at least as fast as the stock cowl.

More importantly, he didn't have any cooling problems...

I will be using this cowl on my -10...
 
Show Planes Cowl.

Well i am still debating this upgrade. Cooling issues here in Northern Ca are a Hugh concern. But I do not want to give up the speed to do it.

But with engine Cost 1/3 or more of the build cost i don't want to burn up the cylinders.

I have driven thru Medford Oregon 5 times this year on trips for family assistance and have never had time to stop and Visit the manufacture and try and see if it truly is what they claim it to be.

I really would like to go fly the plane and see what his true airspeed is at cruise to see if it makes book numbers like most -10 do.

I have a ways to go still finishing up the wings to I am sure i will stop in and see what i can find out. I will post what i find out.
 
cowl

I talked to Vans today and got the price for their cowl and it was about $1200 and that is about the same cost if I remember right as the show planes cowl. If the cost is the same I am surprised we don't see more of them on the 10's.
 
Looks like the price is $1900 + crating + shipping. Wonder how much it would cost to ship that guy.

Also got to spring for a larger (15"?) spinner, too.
 
I'm installing my Show Planes cowl and will be flying in one week. Previously had the stock Van's cowl. The reason I changed is that the Barrett Precision engine with cold air induction has to have the SP cowl.
The install time for both cowls has been the same. The SP cowl is a bit thinner and therefore lighter. The 15" MT spinner added $1400.
Have to add about $500 for the induction system also. It's pretty trick!
I'll know the speed difference in about a week.
I would NEVER make a change from the Van's if I already had it on hand as it is at least $4000 to make the change.
 
I know of another builder who had the SJ cowl and switched it out for the showplanes cowl. He is really happy about the switch.
 
Cant comment if it is easier to fit but I can comment on the quality. Top notch quality. Just received to cowl and associated parts last Friday 20130909.
 
Any updates ?

For those RV-10 drivers that have the Show Plane Cowl fitted and flying, could you share your experience and report if there has been any benefit to the stock set up?

Will it accomodate an A/C compressor with the L/H Air intake ?
Does your aircraft demonstrate a higher TAS than other stock RV-10's you fly with?

The Show Plane Cowl has a similar look to the new Cessna TTX, so the designers must perceive there is some benefit to the design.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers,
 
Pretty sure the main advantage is just that it looks better. That's only reason I went with it. No idea if there are any speed advantages.

 
I agree

I was asked recently the same question on performance. I never had a different cowl to compare with. As Bluelabel stated it looks nicer.
The AC Compressor will make the snorkel and inlet ramp a little more interesting to mount because the compressor will take up a small portion of the air inlet. There is plenty of air inlet space so don't be worried about using it up. Your engine won't starve! Depending upon what fuel servo you use will also affect this cowling. In my case I had the FM300 (horizontal intake, Barrett cold air induction) and added a bump out for more clearance, it might not had been needed but I did it anyways. This also affected the "y" in the snorkel. Since the FM300 pushed out forward I had to trim the "y" pipe more shallow.
If your mounting an FM250 or FM200 or even the EFII or SDS fuel injection then you won't have any issues at all.
Overall great package, looks good as well.
 
Any photos ?

Thanks John and Gaylon for your response.

I am in the initial stages of my second RV-10 build so looking for input.

Do either of you have any clear pictures of the lower cowl where the front gear leg intersects. I am keen to see how SP have cleaned up this area.

Has anyone run a plenum with a SP cowl ?

Any and all photos/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Gaylon,looking forward to hear all about the Full SDS EFII system when you have time.

Cheers,
 
I built my RV-10 with the James Cowl and plenum. If I had to do it over again I'd do the same.

Some thoughts:
- As with the Show Planes Cowl, the James Cowl uses larger spinner (14" on the James Cowl, 15" on the Show Planes Cowl). The stock 13" spinner on the Van's cowl is just simply out of scale with the airplane. While I understand the merit of standardizing parts across the RV line, the RV-10 needs a bigger spinner (and cowl to match).
- The options for spinners are limited. The 14" Hartzell polished aluminum spinner I got was listed at $1200 five years ago (more than the cowl itself). Doing some shopping around I got one for $650 shipped direct from Hartzell. The dealer was Mustang Aeronautics.
- Any cowl other than stock will increase the work.
- There is no free lunch. If your cowl selection reduces drag it will also be reducing cooling air to the engine. I would not consider such a change unless using a plenum to compensate.

My design objective on this plane was highly efficient cross country cruise over fire breathing engine climb to 15,000' (my typical climb is ~1000fpm at 2500 RPM). I'll not bore everyone on claimed speeds but my experience convinced me the James cowl and plenum met my design targets.

It is a shame you can no longer get a James Cowl for the RV-10. He got a lot of bad press from a couple of early adopters so he dropped the line.

Carl
 
Spinner

If you haven't purchased your prop, the MT prop includes the spinner. The hartzell does not include the spinner and it costs about $1200.

I talked with Bryan at ShowPlanes quite a bit. I am using a Barrett 540 with Cold Air Induction, Full Dual EFII, and the MT Prop (probably NOT an MT governor!). I purchased the induction system as well. The induction system is available for the FM-200 or FM-300 servos. The EFII uses the FM-200 system but needs to extended as the EFII throttle body is shorter.

Bryan asked which alternator I was using. Alternators with the B lead on the side will probably need a bit of massaging on the induction system. I will be using the B&C unit, so no issues there.

I spoke at length with Bryan about using a plenum. He said it would probably work but that he hasn't found the need to use one as all temps were well within limits.

The cowl looks great and the f/g work is excellent. It cost $1950. The induction was $600. $75 to crate it. It cost $276 to ship from OR to IN.

I like the fact that it does not have "the snorkel" and does not use the Van's FAB unit.

Can't tell you about the install because my engine isn't here yet. A little elf said it will hopefully arrive the first part of December, although I am pretty sure it won't fit under the tree...:D
 
I talked to Vans today and got the price for their cowl and it was about $1200 and that is about the same cost if I remember right as the show planes cowl. If the cost is the same I am surprised we don't see more of them on the 10's.

Keep in mind that the Van's quoted price may be what they would charge you to buy one off the shelf. That is not necessarily the same thing as what they will credit you back if you were to delete it from the standard kit price.

Bevan
 
Thank you all for the feedback.

Gaylon, thanks for taking the time to document your install.
The front landing gear intersection always needed a clean up and it looks like SP has a nice way of doing it.

So if you are going with the Hartzell Three Blade and 15" spinner, there is really only one option available, The Show Planes Cowl ?

Cheers,
 
That is my understanding

Only the Show Planes Cowl will use the 15" spinner is my understanding also.
 
Back
Top