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Dave Anders RV-4

SportAvServ

Well Known Member
Someone was asking about the 244mph RV-4, here is a picture of it at Van's homcoming 3 years ago. Dave lives in Paridise Ca, he has always been very approachable, maybe someone should get him to post here.

Randy
 
Paradise??

Hi Randy,
My folks live in Paradise but I though that Dave lived in Southern California. Has he moved? I'll be out there early next month and would love to visit.

Regards
 
Living the dream...

I visited Dave in the summer of 06' at his airpark home near Redding,CA. He showed me every mod on his 4, and is a die hard speed nut, (me too)very enjoyable afternoon. He has read extensively on drag reduction, horsepower and clean up mods to make good airplanes better. A true experimenter...:)

RR
 
Perhaps someone can persuade Mr. Anders to give us a little synopsis of mods he's done and provide some more pics??? Is that a -7 tail I see?! Where is the canopy from?!

I'd love to go see it myself, but Redding is a long way from Toronto.

My "Stuart-Super-4" is in the empenage building / wing & fuselage planning stage. Clipped wings (a la HRII) and a fastback are almost certain to be part of the plan.


Mark
 
I got some

I have taken a bunch of photos of his airplane. I put a few on flickr but then blocked them when I realized that I should probably get his permission. He didn't have a problem with sharing information. I get up there about once a year to Lake California. Every time I see his plane there is something else he is working on.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/arffguy/

His notes, some of which are over my head

http://sacrvators.com/Aircraft Efficiency N230A.pdf
 
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I talked to Dave quite a while at the Golden West fly in last year. He had a forum on speed mods I attended also.

Nice guy, free with the info, I suspect he will be fine with sharing here.

His basic message is that small changes add up. No one big secret, just a lot of small things. He has fairings on everything that sticks out of the airframe. Fuel drains, flap/aileron hinges------ETC.

Lots of cooling drag reduction stuff under the cowl.

And, oh yes, apx 250 Hp angle valve IO-360 helps a bit.:D
 
rv4

hi all,
i'd be happy to pass along what has worked for me. a significant improvement other than speed/perfomance is the increased fuel economy.
the fastest race speed i've ever done was a 100 mile standing start race at lakeland fl. (before they canceled that race) was an average speed of 262 mph. the best ever speed was just over 264 mph but that was not a race speed with someone else holding the stop watch.
best, dave
 
Dave, welcome back.

Do you want folks to ask questions, or are you going to give out a "shopping list" of mods??
 
hi mike,
i could just try to answer questions, because i believe some builders won't be interested in evrything i've tried. i could also talk with interested parties by phone or guys could fly in to my house if they wanted.
dave
 
Hi Dave..

....thanks for coming here. I added gap seals to a Cassutt racer and picked up quite a bit and I've read that you added them to the -4. If so, what effect did it have on the controls and did you see a significant gain?

Thanks,
 
high speeds on airframe

Hello Dave,
Your RV-4 is a beauty. I know everyone wants to make their plane faster. What have you done to the airframe that allows you to go that fast( past redline) without concerns of flutter or structure failure? I noticed you use the flat wing root fairings with the rubber grommet. Have you tested the contoured root fairings and if so what difference did you find?

Thanks
Chris Murphy RV-4
 
Hi Dave,
Wondered if you could comment on your muffler system and what components you used and what effect the muffler system has on your speed?
 
Sorry if this question is naive...

But I was wondering how this increased speed/speed mods related to the stock aircraft's Vne... I read an article where an RV-4 pilot inadvertently induced some control flutter, and that was at a considerably lower speed than 260mph.

BTW, can someone point me to a source that states what the Vne actually is? I've read a few POH's that put it at ~210mph TAS, but I can't say that I've read where D.V. said what it is...

On a different note, any ideas of the drag reduction due to the raised turtle deck?

Very interesting stuff, I read the time line/modification article and am simply amazed...

Thanks,
Dave
 
I wish I was as studious as Dave

Yes, the manual for the RV-4 says that VNE is 210. I think that Dave is extremely careful when going faster than that. One thing is that I think Van's is slightly conservative (probably with good reason) and that it is generally considered by some people that the RV is overbuilt. The only two people I have seen fly it are Dave and his wife while he was in the backseat. I don't know what speed he normally cruises at when alone but when flying with a group of "normal" RV's I am sure matches their speed. Keep in mind that this extra speed is most likely why he added a counterbalance weight to the rudder.

As far as the speed increse with the turtleback mod, he did that along with some other mods so was unable to determine an exact number, if I recall this correctly.

One other thing, a friend of mine who has ridden in the plane says that it gets quite warm in there, even with the tinted canopy, since the cabin air apparently comes through the engine compartment first.


P.S. Thanks Dave for offering to clear up some of the info sheet stuff. The stuff over my head more relates to the use of the mathmatical formulas and such. I didn't go to engineering school or anything like that:)
 
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