In all this installation works very well. I was able to quickly do the set-up adjustments, which require access to the inside of the box, while sitting in the pilot's seat. If I ever need to go back in it's only six screws away. BTW, if you're considering NOT installing the Navaid I highly suggest you reconsider. For $1,450 you get a single axis autopilot  that will track whatever signal you feed it (VOR, GPS, Loran), a wing leveler, and a turn coordinator. The first time you set a course in your GPS, push the Smart Coupler to "course" and get the green LED, and feel the Navaid lock in on the course you will think it's magic. It will even make the turns for you at your waypoints!

Improved cabin heat distribution has been considered by many builders improved by few. The primary reason for this is that to duct warm air to the rear one needs to penetrate both the gear towers and the main wing spar carrythrough with at least a 2" hole. Since both of these assemblies are structural, Van's has specifically advised against this type of penetration. Still, there had to be something better than simply dumping the heat out of the firewall.

I began my improvement by having an aluminum elbow made that could be mounted to a 2" ducted flange that I had riveted to my heat box. My heat box was first modified by moving the actuator arm from the inside to the outside, easily done by drilling out a few rivets. I then routed the cable through a firewall eyeball and fabricated a standoff to give the cable proper geometry. The 2" ducted flange was riveted to the box and the box was re-installed. The elbow (seen in the pic) was then secured with a simple screw to the duct.

 I then used 2" scat tubing to bring the air back near the gear tower area. I flew several times experimenting with the exit point by simply using zip ties to secure the scat. In the end I found that terminating the scat with a standard Van's plastic eyeball vent on the front corner of the gear tower gave me the most flexibility in directing the air: it was far enough back to direct a blast of warm air down the left side of the pilot into the passenger's torso area. It was also far enough forward to redirect toward the pilot when there was no rear seat occupant.

This improvement works well: it blows air down the left side into passenger torso area, or can be directed via the ball vent toward pilot's torso. When solo I've found it is still better to leave it blowing down the side though to warm the cabin more evenly. I'm using one standard Robbins heat muff which seems to be adequate for this part of the country. It will provide heat down to about 25 degrees, below that it's more like lukewarm air.

Even with this improvement there is one remaining problem: the passenger's feet. Consistently my passengers report that even with the nice warm air blast their feel get quite cold from being down in the footwells beside the pilot. At this point I am still advising an extra pair of socks for winter use, any better ideas would be welcomed.

The RV-8 uses a different rudder pedal system than any other RV model and it has an inherent problem with the geometry. Due to the relationship of the pedal pivots to where the pilot applies any pressure to the pedal, it is impossible to apply any rudder without also applying at least a small amount of brake. Even if you just push your toes on the small flat section at the bottom of the pedal you will notice brakes being applied, whether taxiing or during your landing rollout. I noticed this phenomena and while scratching my head trying to come up with a solution fellow RV-8 builder Jeff Jasinsky designed these rudder pedal extensions for his not yet flying plane. I shamelessly copied his design and put them to the test... they work perfectly! They are made from .125" aluminum, bent in a vice to around 40° and attached to the rudder pedals with #8 countersunk screws. (All parts were re-painted black before installation) You use them in two different ways: when taxiing where no brakes will be needed you put the ball of your foot in the pocket created by the extension and the bottom of the pedal. Because the center of pressure is now below the pivot the pedal is tilted back thus pulling the master cylinder instead of pushing on it and applying brakes. When landing you can put the balls of your feet in the normal place and your heels naturally rest on the extensions. By pushing with your heels this lets you make rudder inputs with no brakes yet have your feet on the pedals where you can make a quick stab at the brake should things get squirrelly in that crosswind landing rollout. Feel free to copy, thanks to Jeff!

IDEA: Tailwheel dragger

Through a friend I found out about a guy in Michigan that takes David Clark headphone parts and assembles them into a unique headset solution. If you're looking for a true linear frequency response high-fidelity headset, and one that also provides the most passive noise reduction available, then look no further. John Meyer (Meyer Aviation) can offer you two paths. First, he can take your standard David Clark's and convert them to true hi-fi by replacing the drivers. For this he charges $50 for mono sets and $75 for stereo sets. But the real treat is the second option: get a set of his custom headsets. His specialty is to begin with David Clark's H10-56 helicopter cups and frame, and build up the best in every respect. What most folks don't realize is that the DC helicopter headsets begin with a larger (and heavier) headset cup with more sound absorbing insulation. Regular DC models, with the gel seals, provide 23 db of passive noise reduction whereas the helicopter models provide 27. Now that may not sound like much but remember that sound pressure levels require a doubling of energy for a 3 db increase. Or conversely, for a 3 db reduction you need to cut the acoustic energy in half. Anyway, the custom headsets feature the helicopter cups, his high-fidelity drivers, his own electret mic element (the standard H10-56s have a dynamic mic), and all the usual comfort goodies such as the gel seals. For this he charges around $300, a bargain in my opinion. These are the best headsets I've ever used. Not only do they come close to comparing to home hi-fi headphones fidelity-wise, but I don't even notice the extra weight. And the extra quiet provided by the superior passive noise reduction is immediately apparent — just put them on and you'll notice it right away. I recently installed a PS Engineering PCD7100 intercom with CD player and the fidelity is fabulous. There really is no comparable product available, all the current offerings from Lightspeed for example do not have true linear frequency response. Check the specs for the frequency response of their drivers and you'll see it's rolled off in the bottom and top ends to optimize voice reproduction - not what you want for high fidelity reproduction. David Clark's normal products do the same thing.

By the way, if you call David Clark and talk to any of the product managers they are fully aware of John and what he is doing. Actually they unofficially refer people to him and recommend his solution for those interested in what he has to offer. See his web site for further info...  www.dipple.com/jmeyer or call him at 616-896-9858. 

Many of us carry a handheld com radio as a backup in case our electrical system goes down or our com goes out. What most pilots don't have however is a way to quickly and easily get access to their external antenna. The rubber ducky antenna on most handheld coms just doesn't provide much range for either send or receive. Simply coupling it to an external antenna will let it perform nearly as well as your in-panel unit. In designing my electrical system, and searching for a way to quickly and easily access my belly mounted com antenna, I started asking questions. One obvious strategy is to install a simple antenna cable splitter. Then, in the event of a panel com failure, just connect a piece of coax cable with BNC connectors both the the splitter box and the antenna connector on the radio. The problem with this however is that whenever you split an electrical signal you lose 3 db which is 50% of the power/energy. This loss would be present all of the time whether the handheld was connected or not. Hmm, not good. In spite of poring over all the avionics supply catalogs I just could not come up with a better solution.

When the time came to buy my avionics I asked Dewey at Pacific Coast Avionics what the best solution was. He said "Oh, you need a King KX-99 antenna adapter". Okay. Turns out it's a little box that interrupts the antenna cable whenever a plug is inserted and connects your handheld. Perfect! This little device, while not cheap at around $75, is a little box and a special cable. The small lightweight cable has a 1/8" mini-plug on one end, which goes into the box, and a BNC on the other that connects to your handheld unit. When the mini-plug is inserted it disconnects the main com radio and connects the handheld... voila, no signal loss. All you need to do is mount this in a reachable location while in flight and keep your handheld radio and the special cord within reach. Note the part number on the picture and just order it from your local avionics supplier. Thanks Dewey!

Here's something I saw an ad for while thumbing through an aviation magazine that I use all the time... the Tail-Mate. It slides right under the tailwheel and let's you jack the plane all the way up to flight attitude in seconds. You don't even need to pick up the tailwheel, just give it a sharp shove as long as your mainwheels are chocked and it slides right in, then jack it up to clean your belly or bring the nose down to more easily work on your engine. Sometimes you need the plane in flight attitude to make some adjustment, no problem. I really wish I had had this thing while I was building, but I still use it continually as it is... a must have! Check it out at... www.tail-mate.com

Installation of the stick requires a small adjustment of the rod end bearing in order for it to not contact the front edge of the seat pan when pulled full aft. The bends in the stick provide for 1.5" of setback of which probably .5" is given back in adjustments. Still, it puts the handle about 1.0" aft of it's original position. In my case I also left the stick as long as possible so that as it goes under the panel the PTT button barely clears. (unless you have inverted fuel and oil systems you will never use that much forward stick deflection) In all, while a small improvement, it has improved the pilot's ergonomics. 

Todd has come up with several good idea products for the RV-8 so you might want to check his web site... www.rvwoody.com. If I were building my plane again I would definitely use his modular panel!