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RV-10 Outboard Leading Edge fuel Tanks

LuisR

Well Known Member
This portion of the wing plan deserves it's own thread. I plan to convert the RV-10 out board leading edges into fuel tanks. I have read Tuckey's plans MANY MANY MANY times since he was building them. Now it's time to build these tanks myself.

I don't have the wing kit yet, so I don't have the plans to study in more depth. Thanks to Tim Olsen's site, I was able to see some of the wing plans (although a bit blury) to get an idea of the RV-10 wing structure.

I would like to order the parts needed for this conversion at the same time as the full wing kit to save on shipping costs. Any RV-10 owners want to shed some light on this conversion?

Questions I have:

1 - What parts did you order and how many?

2 - Is the leading edge wing spar section pre-punched?

3 - Can I replace the entire Leading edge section parts with fuel tank parts (skin, ribs, rear baffle, z brackets) assuming the wing spar is not pre-punched?

4 - Is the wing symetrical in the sense that I can replace the Leading edge assembly with a fuel tank assembly?

Tips suggestions are welcomed.
 
Plans CD

I would advise ordering the plans CD from Vans. Then you can study it in detail.

Have you evaluated the effect on rotation in a spin with that much weight that far out on the wing? I know it has been done but that doesn't mean it is a good idea. My .02

Gary Specketer
 
Questions I have??

What is your reason for adding more fuel capacity?

1 - What parts did you order and how many?
Does somebody sell parts for this conversion?

2 - Is the leading edge wing spar section pre-punched?
yes
3 - Can I replace the entire Leading edge section parts with fuel tank parts (skin, ribs, rear baffle, z brackets) assuming the wing spar is not pre-punched?
No, the spar is pre punched.
 
No LE tank "kit" that I'm aware of. I know there are some -10 owners that have done this and hope they will chime in.

When I wan't to go somewhere a long ways, I don't stop. I just drive till i'm there. I have family 14 hours away by road and I don't stop...I just go. till the the car is running on fumes. I drive thru the night while everyone sleeps. By morning we are at our destination and no one lost a day for travels. My diesel jetta gets 8-900 miles per tank. Did a 24hr trip from So. FL to NY once non stop except for fuel of coarse. Did another trip between So. FL and AZ 18hrs non stop plus fuel stops. So I have the tendency to just go till we are there. So the more fuel capacity the better.

Still on the fence though on changing the plans. Any change to the plans = more everything (risk, time, complexity, and money).
 
Kahuna, Thanks for the link. I saw that one too.

Only issue I have with it is, the Main spar is pre drilled on the -10. So the (planned) tank side has nut plates and the outboard side is predrilled for skin riveting. So so far, on the -10, the outboard tanks would need to be with the provided skin with tank ribs, tank baffle, and tank z-brackets. This outboard tank would need to be permanently riveted to the spar.

I don't see a way to make the outboard tank removable with a pre drilled spar. Or am I missing something. (I don't have the wing kit yet)
 
I have added additional half-tanks outboard if the mains on several -10's for a total of 90 gallons. They are removable. It's not an easy task, but it is doable. We bought the tank skin and cut it down and added the nutplates on the spar and the Z-bracket holes in the spar web.
 
Jesse,

Do you have any pictures of the install process?

Does the tank skin holes line up with the leading edge spar holes? With regarded to adding nut plates to the leading edge (outboard side), was it just a matter of drilling for the nut plate rivets?
 
Luis,

The spar is pre-punched, and while there have been people who've installed nut plates in amongst the pre-punched holes, I don't think it's a good idea to put anymore holes in the spar flanges.

Some people have used the pre-punched skins provided, while others have ordered thicker skin material, cut them to size, match-drilled them to the provided skins and then bent them to the proper shape.

A modification such as this will add time, money and risk (in the eyes of most) to your build.
 
This portion of the wing plan deserves it's own thread. I plan to convert the RV-10 out board leading edges into fuel tanks. I have read Tuckey's plans MANY MANY MANY times since he was building them. Now it's time to build these tanks myself.

I don't have the wing kit yet, so I don't have the plans to study in more depth. Thanks to Tim Olsen's site, I was able to see some of the wing plans (although a bit blury) to get an idea of the RV-10 wing structure.

I would like to order the parts needed for this conversion at the same time as the full wing kit to save on shipping costs. Any RV-10 owners want to shed some light on this conversion?

Questions I have:

1 - What parts did you order and how many?

2 - Is the leading edge wing spar section pre-punched?

3 - Can I replace the entire Leading edge section parts with fuel tank parts (skin, ribs, rear baffle, z brackets) assuming the wing spar is not pre-punched?

4 - Is the wing symetrical in the sense that I can replace the Leading edge assembly with a fuel tank assembly?

Tips suggestions are welcomed.

Hi Luis,

Wondering if you ever got around to building outboard leading edge tanks?

Cheers!

S
 
I've done the double tank mod on my 9A - it was not easy or fast.

Given that Ken Krueger, one the main design/engineer brainchildren over at Vans, has come out with a +2 hour extended range tank for the -10 (and the -14) that is so easy to build, I don't think I would recommend anyone try the double-tank route again. I'm building a -10 now, and I will use Ken's ER tanks on that one.

However, if you really desire it, you'll have to pave your own road a bit and then go travel it. See attached for Pat Tuckey's design on his 8, I modified this a bit and installed it on my 9A.
 

Attachments

  • ER fuel tank drawing.jpg
    ER fuel tank drawing.jpg
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