RV wing Change

Im looking for info about installing a new set of wings on an RV4, I don't like the wings on My Rebuild project. They are not bad really but i bought a really nice wing and Emp. set and would like to use them instead.
i read somewhere you can get a Reaming kit from the Spar MFG. to align the new plates with the fues spar??
not sure if this is correct or not,
Any guidance and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

hope to see a bunch of you RV'rs at the Flyin
next Sat.

Call Wayne at Phlogiston. He is your man.

Avengerboss said:

Im looking for info about installing a new set of wings on an RV4, I don't like the wings on My Rebuild project. They are not bad really but i bought a really nice wing and Emp. set and would like to use them instead.
i read somewhere you can get a Reaming kit from the Spar MFG. to align the new plates with the fues spar??
not sure if this is correct or not,
Any guidance and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

hope to see a bunch of you RV'rs at the Flyin
next Sat.

Click to expand...

Please post a follow up with any information you may find out. I am in the same boat as you.

The builders had to drill the early RV4s spars. Your chances of the holes lining up well enough to just ream the bolt holes would be slim if your new wings or the old fuselage were drilled by the builder. Check with Vans as to when (serial #s) the factory started drilling the spar/F-404 bulkhead combination.
I built an early kit that had been started by a previous builder. I ended up having to replace the F-404 bulkhead assembly after it had been riveted into the fuselage. The new F-404 had to be match drilled to the spar first. This required setting up both wings to get the dihedral correct first. It was a big job. I seem to remember it took around 160 hours to repair the previous builders mistake.

C. Smith
RV4 serial #68

A couple things..

Having built my -4 and working in the field of heavy aircraft structural repair I can offer some points. A new wing kit from vans will include the spars/splice plates, and center fuselage bulkhead, as they are all match drilled. There is a good chance the holes in your existing fuselage bulkhead would be close to your new spar/plates , and they could easily be reamed to match with a couple locally procured reamers or even a properly used drill bit. The important part is that the splice plates and matched spar caps are kept together. You would not be re-using your existing splice plates. If you were replacing only ONE wing, you would be committed to a more difficult task of matching the splice plates/spars. Depending on how "deep" your re-build is, you may even opt to replace the fuselage center former/bulkhead that comes with the wing kit,but that is a little more work.

Changing Wings

Thanks for all the advice, I'll call Wayne.
I did check holes and only one or two per plate Don't align with the origional spar plate holes. I may have lucked out. But before I do the deed I'll check with Phlogiston.