RV-8A to -8 Tailwheel conversion

A friend of mine has a flying -8A and he is thinking about converting it to a tailwheel.

Somewhere I remember reading about someone doing the conversion using a Rocket engine mount.

Do any of you have any details on this conversion?

(Of course, he will have to add the extra bulkhead and weldment in the tail.)

Bill,

I happen to have an F1 Rocket engine mount right here next to me. It measures approximately 31" across the top, 26" across the bottom, and is about 19" tall. It also has 2 lower bottom center attach points, like an RV-4.

I'll bet you know all of this already. If your friend doesn't, tell him that the concept is a great idea, but he's probably going to be building a mount from scratch. Possible, but a lot of work.

And the titanium gear isn't exactly cheap.

But I can certainly understand the appeal. Rockets rule.

The RV-8 v 8A differences are very different to an RV6/7/9(A) - primarily because the tailwheel version structure uses "gear towers" (just forward of the wing spar) rather than the engine mount.

My (non-expert) concern would not be the engine mount - you can always make that strong enough for the gear - but the forward fuselage structure. You are taking now not just engine loads, but also the gear loads.

The Wing Spar to firewall distance is greater on the RV8(A) than the 7, so the bending moment of these loads is greater. The gear legs will therefore also have to be swept back far more for the gear position to be correct (I am assuming you are looking at engine mount gear legs?).

An interesting challenge, but I suspect the easier financial and engineering solution would be to sell the A and buy an 8, or at least, buy an RV-8 QB fuselage and swap the rest over...

I think that the whole attraction would be to get rid if the gear towers. Adding a "tunnel" like the RV-4 and Rockets have would probably be a must.

If you do it, be prepared for an onslaught of others following behind you.

It's just my biased opinion, but you gotta wonder why Van's doesn't produce a Rocket kit? They aren't for everyone, but IMHO they are the best of the best... and that is compared to the already incredibly high bar Van has set with the other RVs.

Bump...

I know this has been done before but I can't find the guy who did it.

Have any of you seen an -8 taildragger with engine mounted main landing gear? If so, I would like to hear from you.

Thanks!