This note is just a scratch pad of sorts doing research on various Vans RV-7 mods that people have done. Updated over time.

Slider vs Tip-Up Canopy?

The endless debate. I’ve flown in tip-ups and currently own a slider. From my own research, I’ll probably build the slider version of the plane.

Visibility

The Rans S-19 has fantastic visibility, but I believe the canopy is more of a bubble than the Vans RV-7. Visibility might be a little more restricted. I did fly a Diamond for a number of hours and enjoyed its visibility, but was also quite impressed with the S-19.

Comfort

The slider is so much better in the Arizona heat. Being able to pop that open in the 90+ (or much higher) heat after a long flight is a god send. There’s a person from Tuscon who says the tip-up is just fine on the VAF forums. However, at least I feel the significant difference between the two (Diamond vs Rans).

Maintenance

The tip-up apparently gives much better instrument panel clearance for getting into the rear panel. Coming from an electrical background, that’s certainly worth something. It makes me wonder if I can make the instrument panel more like a sliding rack or something.

Slider extender

That being said, the slider can be modified with the super track mod that gives much better baggage access! This looks amazing. One of the things that annoys me with these canopies is access the baggage bay easily.

Safety

This is another big area that the slider folks chime in with. The slider can be opened in an emergency. If set back and the plane ends up upside down, the occupants can still get out. The tip-up would block egress.

Conventional vs Tricycle Gear

As of July 2026, I’ve only ever flown tricycle gear aircraft. They’re forgiving and easy to work with.

However, I can’t help but want this plane to do something a little different. Equipping it as a taildragger would certainly shake things up. That does affect a few things though:

Pros

Faster achievable speeds in the same configurations
Smaller footprint (mostly a building thing)
Cheaper to build by a few thousand!

Cons

All movement operations are a bit harder being a plane that always wants to flip around on you
Ingress/Egress is a little harder
Insurance will be higher
Tougher to sell

I’m mostly leaning towards a tail dragger. It’ll make me a better pilot by forcing me to stay on the controls. Likewise, I’ve been leaning towards a mogas-capable engine configuration, but that limits me to the 180hp lycoming. The taildragger would get me better performance out of that!

Engine Choice

While I would love to put in a Rotax, there’s not really anything within the horsepower range. The turbo would be amazing for cross country travel, but I would have to potentially limit aerobatics in the plane. I believe negative g-forces are limited to 5 seconds (which to be fair, is a long time).

The RV-7 can take horsepower ranges from 150-215HP. For this project, only considering engines with 180HP and above.

At this time, really only considering the Lycoming IO-360 since it’s very much supported by Vans. Anything higher horsepower in terms of Lycoming would add weight to the front and costs tons more. If I do consider a 200HP+ Lycoming, I might as well seriously consider the EP918Ti and fabricated the firewall forward myself.

Lycoming IO-360

This is the most likely candidate. It’s one of the engines that Vans designed the aircraft for and is well supported. Vans has a firewall forward kit available and all the fixin’s. Specifically, this is the 180HP parallel valve engine.

Since it’s an older aviation design, it’s pretty simple in operation and maintenance. Parts are everywhere for it too. It also can be configured for aerobatics with an inverted oil cooler modification.

The IO-360 is fuel injected as well, which should help with fuel costs and such. No need to balance carbs :’)

Downside: it’s still expensive. Granted, you can find overhauls and reman engines for much cheaper.

Rotax 916

Yes, it only makes 160HP. But Lockwood aviation actually makes an RV-9 kit! The performance numbers at altitude are quite stunning. Unfortunately, the cost is also stunning. For the Lycoming, I’m looking at around 80k for the engine, prop, and firewall forward kit. The Rotax package would be 120,000USD.

While I would love a Rotax, this is pretty cost-prohibitive. At least unless I win the lottery (or my Rans sells for A LOT more).

On the plus side, I should be able to run 91E10 mogas for those local flights!

EdgePerformance EP918Ti

The 185HP modification of a Rotax 916. Getting to the same horsepower as a Lycoming IO-360 would result in some amazing performance numbers. Being able to maintain that horsepower up to 15k feet? That would be fantastic for cross country touring.

However, it suffers from the same problem the Lockwood kit has: price. The other EdgePerformance engines are modifications of lower horsepower engines, so costs are pretty relative. This engine is 10k more expensive than the Rotax 916 (50k for the 916). On top of that, it still needs the entire firewall forward package.

Finally, EdgePerformance flags their engines as not suitable for aerobatics. From the manual:

This engine is not suitable for aerobatics, inverted flight, sustained zero G or attitudes exceeding 35° pitch and 60° bank.

Priming

While we live in Arizona and don’t deal with a lot of corrosion, we do have family along the east coast. My intention with the RV-7 is to routinely travel to New Jersey to visit family. Likewise, probably travel to Florida as well to visit Maria’s folks (and explore down there).

Considering the amount of money I’m pouring into the Van’s and likely won’t see crazy amounts beyond that from work, this would be the main plane I could fly and afford. Thus, I want to make sure I get 30+ years out of this plane when it’s done. Unless I miraculously come across a bunch of money and can build that just-announced Sling Twin ;)

So, the game plan is to prime the aircraft! Priming or not is a massive debate in the Van’s community. Even more so is how to go about priming.

My game plan is to assemble and fit all the parts first except for dimpling. Then disassemble, clean, prime, and cure the parts. Then dimple, refit, and rivet.

Stewart Systems

This company offers a few products that metal plane builders can use: EkoEtch, EkoPrime and EkoPoxy.

From what I understand, their system is as non-toxic as it gets. It can be cleaned up with water and anything that’s not used can be put right back in the can. No waste! The only thing to keep in mind is EkoPrime is not solvent resistant. Meaning, it can’t be in contact with fuels and whatnot. So, that would be used for interior surfaces. EkoPoxy can be used in contact with solvents, but has a 3-5 hour pot life.

https://stewartsystems.aero/wp-content/uploads/Which-Primer-To-Use.pdf

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