Trent's RV14 Build: Firewall Forward Kit Ordering / The last inventory! (hopefully)

The Firewall Forward kit was ordered on 18th April 2025. To come up with a list of what i needed, in light of the engine choice i had made, was no mean task!

In essence, i had a couple of options - I was able to order a firewall forward kit directly from Van's, and delete the items i knew i didn't need (such as the exhaust, battery or alternator etc), or i could make up a custom list of what i needed, and just order what i wanted.

To work this out, out came a spreadsheet! I copied all the Kit Inventory sections for each Kit / Bag into a spreadsheet, then went through one by one and priced them up from the store. This took ages!

Since the IO360 is a lot closer to the IO390-A3B6 kit then the IO390-EXP-119, I asked for a quote from Van's for the RV14 FWF kit which is designed for the -A3B6. The quote was for the whole kit cost of $12,146, minus all the things i didn't need as a credit. I then compared this to the cost of just buying what i needed direct from the store. Some items are a bit silly - for instance an alternator from the Van's store is $1691, but they give you a credit for only $821. The worst item was a small rubber hose used to connect Cylinder #3 to the Dynon Manifold Pressure sensor. It costs $22.55 in the store, and they credit you back $4.26!.

Once i had worked that out, in the end, it was around $1000 cheaper to purchase the items directly from the store, than it was to order the FWF kit and delete the items i didn't need.

Since i was going to order direct, i also went through the inventories for each bag in the FWF kits - as some bags are much much more expensive than just ordering the parts i need. For isntance, BAG597 is $89.64, but it contains just a few bits of hardware which adds up to a cost of $8.80 in the store! Another example is BAG512 costs $225.95 in the store, but when i remove the fittings i don't need for the mechanical fuel pump (which i won't have), then the cost comes down to $160.

I also deleted some things i just didn't want - for instance i want to order my master contactors etc from B&C.

The kit i ordered already comes with a baffle kit, designed for the IO360 - this is the same kit used for the IO390. So this will hopefully fit ok! (and was over half the total cost of the FWF kit order). I ordered this kit without change.

So in the end, my FWF kit ended up costing around $6800 USD, which seems a big saving over getting the 12K FWF kit from Van's, but this does not include many big ticket items, such as the prop governor, alternator, battery, engine hoses etc. Once i add all these back on, i am sitting around the 15k mark. It should be said however, i am getting exactly what i want FWF, rather than getting a bunch of stuff i didn't need and having to sell it later on. An example is getting the B&C Alternator, or the Skytec 149NL starter, instead of what comes in the kit. I will also be using integral fire sleeved teflon hoses, rather than the rubber old school ones in the kit.

Summary of Changes

I considered posting my actual shopping list, however i feel that this would probably not help others that much, as everyone's installation will be different. If any one wants it however, send me a DM.

As a summary though, these are the genreal changes i made to the KIT

Kit Deletions:

Engine Hoses (Oil and Fuel)
Printed Plans
BAG 512 (ordered the required items seperately)
Throttle Cable (i want to use the McFarlane Vernier style)
Mixture Cable (not needed using SDS)
Exhaust System Pipes / Muffs (I did order all the hardware for the exhausts)
Master Contactor / Starter Contactor (want to use B&C)
Alternator (want to use B&C)
Battery (will get locally)
Fuel Flow Tranducer (red cube - not needed using SDS)
Prop Governor (this was very expensive. The Jhostroj is a lot cheaper)
All Wiring (i will do myself).

Kit Additions:

Hardware bags for the EXP-119 - just in case. Bags 544, 545 and 546
Harward bags for prop and mixture - Bag 533
Steel Prop Governor Bracket - VA-153-PC
Exhaust Heat Shields
Exhaust SCAT ductings and plenums (VENT DL-04, 00002 etc).
Second Battery Box / Battery Angle / Angle Seal
EXP-119 Throttle Bracket (F-14107-1)
Throttle bracket for the sump VA-173-PC

This leaves me with the following items to get locally:

Jhostroj Prop Governor / Gasket (Jhostroj Dealer in AUS)
Master Contactor / Starter Soleniod (B&C)
Alternator / Regulator / Belt (B&C)
Exhaust (a custom exhaust from Clint at Vetterman for the IO360 Angle Valve but with the EXP-119 Cowl)
Skytech 149NL Starter (Aircraft Spruce)
McFarlane Vernier Throttle (Mcfarlane Direct)
Aluminium Flange between SDS throttle body and the Snorkle (Aircraft Spruce)
Monkworkz MZ30 Backup Generator (Monkworkz)
EarthX ETX900 Battery (x2) (locally)
Fuel / Oil Hoses (locally)

I will make a seperate post about why i chose some of these items.

The Last Inventory!

Anyway, the box arrived on the 10 June - so only 1 month and 23 days. Everything arrived, except one bag was missing 7 x K1000-3 nutplates, and the second battery box i ordered, along with the master contactor copper relay bar are both backordered.

The shipping cost $414 USD for the $6800 kit (6%).

Here are some of the interesting parts of the inventoring process (which took 3 hours!)