RV-9/9A PLANS Gottcha's

I don't see a sticky for this one or am I missing it somewhere?

Keith

Hi Keith,

I asked this awhile back on the VAF forums and the answer that I received was that most components/kits of the 9 are so similar to the 7 that I could pretty much just use the 7 gotchas info for the 9.

Hope this helps!

Jimbot said:

Hi Keith,

I asked this awhile back on the VAF forums and the answer that I received was that most components/kits of the 9 are so similar to the 7 that I could pretty much just use the 7 gotchas info for the 9.

Hope this helps!

Click to expand...

Jim,

Thank you. I knew the fuse is the same, but didn't know if there where items specific to the empennage and wings to look out for. Hoping to get the preview plans and USB flash drive set for my birthday and start taking notes.

Keith

Just me

I found very little gotcha's, if any, on the tail and wings.
So I have been using the RV7 list on the fuse. it has saved my bacon a few times.

After saying this, there is a gotcha on the RV9 fuse that is not on the RV7:

The brake line hole in the fuselage forward bottom skin for the RV9A is in the wrong spot. I have a feeling this is the same as the RV7 fuse bottom, but the RV9 landing gear mounts are different with a slightly different location for the brake line fitting.

So for the RV9A, don't enlarge the brake line hole in the fuse bottom skin until the gear attachments are bolted in.

Rudder counterweight nut plates

I did have a small gotcha in my rudder. I couldn't work out why I had a little leftover pre-punched plate about 20mm wide, 100mm long and two nutplates. Turns out when I checked with Van's that these were for use with the rudder counterweight as alternatives to securing the screws with nyloc nuts. They emailed me a drawing showing the new parts, but the plans and drawings that I had (purchased the kit about a year ago) didn't show it, and I'd built it as per the "old" plans. And it was too late...the rudder was built & I wasn't going to take it apart for that.

Old kit question?

I just bought an older empennage kit, I also ordered a set of preview plans and a usb drive with the plans. I assume I should probably use the old and new plans to catch things like the above?

Small gotcha

When mounting the Facet fuel pump to the fire wall. Mount it about 1/4? higher.
This will make bending the 90 deg fuel line feed coming from the tank switch easier. Otherwise, it?s to tight a radius between the floor and the pump. I ended up using a special 90 degree fuel fitting there.

This is all awesome info! Thank you to everyone providing inputs now and in the future. It is greatly appreciated!!

Keith

For peace of mind, glue the elevator counterweights in with ProSeal, and then through-bolt them. Or fit nut plates so you can re-tighten them if they come loose.

Mine are holding just fine without this step, but looking back on the build, I wish I'd done one or the other.