JD Air fuel vents

I ordered up a set of the fuel vents from JD Air Parts and was looking at them today to figure out how and where to install them. At first I thought it would be a cinch to mount them to the F-861 gear cover plate but the vent would cover one of the screw holes in the cover plate. I noodled around some ideas but I was wondering what others have done. No sense in re-inventing the wheel if somebody already has an elegant solution. I can't be the first person to encounter this but I didn't find anything from searching the archives.

Full disclosure, I don't have the main gear mounted in the fuselage yet. When I started my QB fuselage, Grove didn't have any airfoil gear so I skipped that and moved on. I have the gear now but I have not mounted them yet.

xblueh2o said:

I noodled around some ideas but I was wondering what others have done. No sense in re-inventing the wheel if somebody already has an elegant solution. I can't be the first person to encounter this but I didn't find anything from searching the archives.

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So, I noodled over the same challenge and never could figure out a way to use them on the 8. Standing by for other ideas...

I thought maybe moving it inboard but that requires figuring out how to get the vent line up through the original hole in the floor or putting a new hole in the floor, among other issues to overcome.

i have them on my RV8 equipped with Grove gear. I split the vent line in each gear tower. Then I mounted them on the access cover plate with a piece of tubing about 4 inch long permantly attached to the vent. I have a quick disconnect in each gear tower to remove/install the cover plates. they work great and look nice too. I did fab new cover plates because I swapped the holes in the fuse floor for brakes/vent. this gave me more room to plum the brake lines into the grove gear.

I'll find some pics

Dave

xblueh2o said:

I thought maybe moving it inboard but that requires figuring out how to get the vent line up through the original hole in the floor or putting a new hole in the floor, among other issues to overcome.

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I was able to use the original holes on the floor. i used the brake hole for the vent and vise versa.

Dave

Ignorance is bliss!

Happily ignorant here - doesn't the -8 wing root mimic the -4? if so, wouldn't it work to use the F1 version of the vent (loops of line inside the root area)? The vent would attach to the lower tank flange area...no lines inside the plane (not needed anyway).

Happy New year to you all!

Carry on!
Mark

schmitty340 said:

i have them on my RV8 equipped with Grove gear. I split the vent line in each gear tower. Then I mounted them on the access cover plate with a piece of tubing about 4 inch long permantly attached to the vent. I have a quick disconnect in each gear tower to remove/install the cover plates. they work great and look nice too. I did fab new cover plates because I swapped the holes in the fuse floor for brakes/vent. this gave me more room to plum the brake lines into the grove gear.

I'll find some pics

Dave

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That sounds like an interesting solution. That set up was pretty much what I had in mind until I discovered the vent body covered up the access plate screw. I guess when I was looking at the Grove gear it didn't dawn on me that the brake inlet port on the gear leg was on the opposite side as the hole in the floor for the brake line. Guess I better get the gear out to the hangar and take a look.

here are some pics. I also included what i did for the parking brake.

Dave

I spent some time rolling around under my fuselage and staring at Grove gear legs today. Dave, this short stub tube that travels up from the vent into the gear tower, did you use some sort of flexible tube or hard line? Did you go up through the floor in the original hole or did you make a new hole? One thing I couldn't get a true sense for was how much room I will have between the bottom of the gear leg and the access plate? It looks like I will get roughly 3/4", is that true?

xblueh2o said:

I spent some time rolling around under my fuselage and staring at Grove gear legs today. Dave, this short stub tube that travels up from the vent into the gear tower, did you use some sort of flexible tube or hard line? Did you go up through the floor in the original hole or did you make a new hole? One thing I couldn't get a true sense for was how much room I will have between the bottom of the gear leg and the access plate? It looks like I will get roughly 3/4", is that true?

Click to expand...

I used a straight hard line through the floor. If you look at my second pic close. just to the right of were the brake fitting comes out of the floor, there is a plastic pass through bushing for the vent line. plenty of room. I'm pretty sure those are the orignal holes in the floor. however, I did put the vent line through the hole that vans says is for the brakes. and the brakes through the vent hole. I made a new cover plate because the hole was in the wrong location. My first picture shows the lines from when I located that hole in the cover plate.

hope that helps

Dave

The more I think about it. I may have drilled a new hole in the floor for the brake fitting. I know I used the orginal brake line hole for the vent, but im not sure if the orginal vent line hole worked for my brake line set up. sorry, It was 3 years ago. Next time im out at the hanger, i'll take a look.

Dave