I decided to tackle the gear tower covers this evening. This is a modification I've seen on several RV-8s, and everyone I've talked to says it's a good one. It removes the material between the two lower lightening holes in each gear tower, and replaces them with a pair of covers fastened with screws and platenuts.
I cut out two 11-3/16" x 4-1/2" covers from a sheet of spare 0.040 aluminum using my new pneumatic shears (see previous "Tools" entry). I then rounded the ends to match the radius of the lightening holes, marked the covers for the location of the 20 screws, drilled #40 holes in them, positioned and taped one of the covers to the right gear tower, drilled matching holes in the gear tower, then removed the cover and cut out the access hole.
I'll do the left one when I get a chance to flip the fuselage over on its left side in the rotisserie.
The access covers, marked for trimming.
The access covers are taped, marked and ready to be used as a drilling template.
