Wheel Pant Trimming?

I am at the point the plans say to drill and cleco the wheel pant halves together. The drawing shows the measurements for the drilled holes but the measurements are taken from the bottom opening of the pants where the wheels go. I am pretty sure that these wheel openings will have to be trimmed for the wheels. My question is do you measure for the drilled holes before or after trimming the pants for the wheel openings? Also, I can not find in the plans where to trim for the wheels. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

I marked general hole locations before trimming. But you'll have to trim to allow fitting to find the final locations. So... Both? And trimming is trim to fit, ensuring the minimal tire clearance. Different for nearly everyone, especially my tubeless Condors that Beringer has. If it's bad, it's fiberglass... Glass or flox back in, cover up the crime with micro, sand, and look innocent is anyone tries to notice.

Yep iterative process. You might consider taking a loose gear leg and setting it up on the bench to do the work like Dan H did his 8. It will be much easier to get the opening nice and even. There are several good tips on how to do this. Mike Starkey posted an alignment jig. I did without, but misaligned and made one for final alignment.

So - Look up DanH posts and Mike Starkey for the jig. Working on the bench would be sooo much easier than 6" off the floor. The trick will be getting the gear leg aligned.

pilot28906 said:

I am at the point the plans say to drill and cleco the wheel pant halves together. The drawing shows the measurements for the drilled holes but the measurements are taken from the bottom opening of the pants where the wheels go. I am pretty sure that these wheel openings will have to be trimmed for the wheels. My question is do you measure for the drilled holes before or after trimming the pants for the wheel openings? Also, I can not find in the plans where to trim for the wheels. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks,

Click to expand...

So draw a centerline and space the screw holes down from the top. Do it after you've trimmed and straightened the edge of the forward half, as you'll want the screw holes all spaced an equal amount from the edge.

From the wayback machine:

The builder's manual has you fiddling with sandpaper on a stick and the like to straighten the flanged half of a wheelpant seam. Very tedious. Try this instead.

First the nose section half of the seam; no flange so it is easy. Set it on a flat surface, hold a pencil flat to the surface to draw a line around it, then trim back to the line with a big 60 grit rasp block. Tape a sheet of 120 to the table top to finish lap the edge dead straight.

Now remove the dust and get some vinyl tape about 3/4" wide. Run a strip around the seam edge with half the width of the tape on the outside surface, then fold the tape over so it wraps around the edge. You now have a no-stick edge.

Scuff the gloss off the flange face on the rear wheelpant half. Fasten the halves together with clecos in the future nutplate locations. Mix your favorite epoxy, then add one part flox, one part cabosil, and one part microballoons as necessary to form a thick paste. Paint a little pure epoxy into the open seam, then wipe in the paste to fill the seam entirely, plus a little.

When cured, use a vixen file to cut the filler flush to the surface, remove the clecos, and pop the halves apart. Just a few minutes with some 80 grit on a stick will tidy up the new seam edge. The result is a tight, straight seam.

So - Look up DanH posts and Mike Starkey for the jig. Working on the bench would be sooo much easier than 6" off the floor. The trick will be getting the gear leg aligned.

Click to expand...

Easy to jig the flat RV8 gear. I think you could jig RV-7 gear if you set it up to jig the motor mount over the bench.



I don't run any tire gap at all. I replaced the entire bottom of the wheelpants with a molded rubber/glass sheet, which fits tight to the tire.



Fairing fundamentals:

Thanks for the info guys.