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GO TO Protek Performance THE RV-7 AIRCRAFT BUILDING THE KIT e-mail: robert@protekperformance.com
OTHER USEFUL SITES Project started 8/15/01
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The Other 90% 2-11-03 OK, so I have finished the first 90% of this thing. Now it's time to get going on the next 90%, the couple of hundred small projects remaining to make this a flying plane :) During January I moved the RV-7 project to Cable airport in Upland, California. Now I am back onto the build schedule. My short term goal is a completed airframe. This includes finishing the installation of electrical cables in the fuse so that I can close up the two remaining fuse skins. In the past couple days, I have run cables to the rear of the fuse for the elevator trim, rear position light, rear strobe, transponder antenna (which will be in the bottom rudder fairing), static lines, and installation of the strobe power supply behind the baggage area. 2-25-03 The last rear fuse skin has been riveted. The prop has had it's first fitting to the engine today. It fell right on like it was made to go there. I have started the upper cowl to firewall attach task. 
3-2-03 The top cowl has been trimmed and mounted with 1/4 turn fasteners. The fasteners went together pretty quickly once I figured out how I was going to mount them. The end result is very nice looking. 
The lower cowl has been strapped on for it's first fitting. The lower cowl is going to need a lot more trimming than the upper cowl did. This thing is really starting to look like an airplane :) 
3-7-03 The cowl has been trimmed and mounted to the firewall. The hinge joint between the cowl halves needs to be added along with a vent under the spinner for air entry into the oil cooler area. After this the cowl will be done. 
3-17-03 The cowl has been finished. The wingtips are in progress. The trailing edge was easily lined up in trail with the aileron by drilling the top of the wingtip first then aligning the trailing edge of the wingtip with the aileron, then drilling the bottom of the wingtip. 
4-17-03 A lot of little things have been done in the last month. The lower engine cowl has been fitted with a fiberglass duct for the oil cooler. The wing wiring and wing tip attach have been completed. The nav/strobes have been installed in the wing tips. The fuel tank access covers and fuel senders have been installed. The engine has been bolted on permanently. Everything that attaches to the firewall is bolted on. The batteries and starter solenoids are mounted and wired up. The wheels and tires are mounted and on the plane. The brakes are mounted and plumbed. The fuel tank vent system has been installed. The gear leg fairings and stiffeners are in process. I plan to do the first engine start in a couple of days. I'm shooting for an airworthiness inspection around the first of June. The biggest tasks remaining before first flight are installing the instruments and wiring the panel. Then getting this thing painted will be the only other large task remaining. 4-27-03 Fiberglass work and paint prep are progressing at a very rapid rate. The canopy fiberglass work is done. The empennage blending work is nearly done. The gear leg fairings and wheel pant mounting are done. The gear leg intersection fairings are almost done. The instrument panel paint is nearly done. The panel will get loaded with instruments this week. 
5-31-03 A lot has happened since my last entry here. The panel has been installed and wired. All fiberglass work is done. Everything has been painted except the fuse and wings. The fuse was primed today and will get paint in two days. The tail will be mated to the painted fuse this coming week and the wings will be painted after the fuse comes out of the booth. It's looking like we will be ready for inspection around June 15th. Osh is coming up quickly, so it's a full press to the finish line :) 6-2-03 Painted parts seem to be spilling out of the booth every day. There are some new photos in the PAINT section :) 6-16-03 The paint job is pretty much complete. One wing is hung. The other wing will go on tomorrow. The FAA inspection is scheduled for this Saturday. There will be some long days this week. 
6-19-03 I'm not sure where this plane came from. Not long ago there was nothing more than a pile of aluminum pieces filling my garage. Two weeks ago there wasn't even paint on the fuse or wings. The last month has included the most dramatic visible progress toward the completion of this project. I have a short list of things to get ready for the inspection. It hasn't really sunk in yet that this project is almost finished. But I'm getting mentally prepared to be really happy to be done. 
6-22-03 I have an Airworthiness Certificate in hand:) The FAA inspection went smoothly. I have a couple of days of little things to finish before I'm ready for the first flight. It's almost time to have some fun with this thing:) 7-2-03 Today was the big day. This morning, test pilot Dennis Ashby took up N461RP for her maiden flight. The first flight lasted about 30 minutes. Everything went well. After removing the cowl and looking everything over thoroughly, I took it up with a CFI this afternoon. So far, so good. I have a little work to do to improve the air entry ducting to force more air through the radiators. The coolant temp came up a little faster than desired. I couldn't have asked for better results. More flight testing soon :) 
8-23-03 Well, here is the status report: The plane now has 95 hours on it. It cruises at 150kts (groundspeed) at 4400rpm, burns 8gph in cruise and runs like a top. The motor has never missed a beat and has always started instantly. I have flown the plane coast to coast (Los Angeles to North Carolina), to Oshkosh, and all around Southern California. I am currently installing the supercharger kit. I am really looking forward to flying with the supercharger. Some preliminary numbers show that the supercharged motor will exceed O-320 power above 1000', exceed O-360 power above 3500', and exceed IO-360 power above 5500'. I can't wait to record the test flight numbers:) Here is a pic over Canyonlands in Utah. 
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