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Quick RV-8 Question

lukejb

Member
Hello all. Looking at purchasing an older RV-8 and trying to determine a few things. I was told that some of the original early RV-8 builds had a lower gross weight. Then very shortly after Vans beefed up the spar and increased the gross weight and kit serial numbers for these were determined by it having a -1 at the end. I was trying to determine what the gross weight was for these earlier models was vs the -1's gross weight?

Thanks for any help on this.

-Luke
 
Hello all. Looking at purchasing an older RV-8 and trying to determine a few things. I was told that some of the original early RV-8 builds had a lower gross weight. Then very shortly after Vans beefed up the spar and increased the gross weight and kit serial numbers for these were determined by it having a -1 at the end. I was trying to determine what the gross weight was for these earlier models was vs the -1's gross weight?

Thanks for any help on this.

-Luke

Its a 50# difference in aerobatic gross weight, not total weight. 1550, vs 1600#'s.
Its called the -1 wing, but I don't think the kits numbers have an actual -1 after the number.
 
I'm building an RV8 now, most of the part numbers end with -1. My serial number is 83830, I started it early January 2020.
 
Thanks for all of the quick replies on this. Not sure what category the plane I am looking at will fall into yet, but now I know what to look for to find out. 50lbs on the aerobatic category does not seem like a real deal breaker to me but now wondering if it will affect resale value in the future... I thought I knew everything there was to know about the RV-8's but I was unaware they even changed things with wings and aerobatic gross weight on these until today....
 
landing/taxi light

I was told the easiest way to tell was if he landing/taxi light cutout was in the wing it's a 5.5g bird. If it's in the wingtip, it's a 6g bird.
 
The landing light location is not a valid indicator. I own a RV-8 with landing lights in the wings and the parts inventory clearly shows the wing is a dash 1 wing. I backed this up with a call to Vans and they confirmed it. Also it only effects the aerobatic gross weight not the G limit.
 
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I was told the easiest way to tell was if he landing/taxi light cutout was in the wing it's a 5.5g bird. If it's in the wingtip, it's a 6g bird.

Nope. I have the -1 wing and I have one opening in each wing, and it also has nothing to do with the max G limit, it's only the 50lb extra aerobatic max weight.
 
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Fewer parts

Maybe Scott McDaniels will chime in to confirm.
A number of years ago the RV-8 kit was simplified, parts count reduced. I don’t remember exactly what was changed but I remember seeing some “simplification” around the firewall. I believe this is when the kit was upgraded from pre-punched skins to the “matched hole” technology.

Anyway, this new and improved kit reduced build time slightly and was designated the -1. Not to be confused with the -1 wing spar.

Scott A Jordan
80331
 
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The landing light location is not a valid indicator. I own a RV-8 with landing lights in the wings and the parts inventory clearly shows the wing is a dash 1 wing. I backed this up with a call to Vans and they confirmed it. Also it only effects the aerobatic gross weight not the G limit.

Good to know, i was informed.
 
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