Still looking for a Fat Avid Cowl

[ChrisBolkan 130]

Happy New year!

Does anyone here have any idea who makes the cowl for the Fat Avid? I really need one and have had no luck with Brett responding or any other avenues.

Many thanks!

ChrisB

[EDMO 1078]

Chris,

       My best guess is that Rod, the fiberglass man, is the one making them for Airdale.  I will have to find his handle on here and add it to this post - forgot to take my memory pill this morning - or was that yesterday?

EDMO

"stressedout72"  send him a PM

Edited 6 Jan 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[1avidflyer 1983]

I just saw a Murphy Rebel fiberglass cowl on Barnstormers for $500.  Not sure if it's even close to what you have in mind or need, but who knows?  I saw it and then thought about you still needing a cowl so I figured I would mention it.  Jim Chuk

[dholly 718]

Hi Chris,

As I understand it [old] Airdale supplied some new stock Mk-IV cowls with their Fat Avid fuse upgrade (most owners chose to modify their existing cowl) and a factory modified Mk-IV cowl for the handful of Avid+ kits delivered. Not sure if the stock cowls were being produced in-house at that time or not, but I seem to remember Steve Winder telling me they outsourced all cowl production after the Airdale Flyer was developed. The original buyer of my kit checked the FWF (and skylight) delete option boxes on the order form but I believe Vince received a factory modified Mk-IV cowl with his Avid+ kit?

In any event, I spoke to Brett a few years ago about whether the Airdale Flyer kit cowl would be a good or direct bolt-on due to the model lineage and increased cabin width. He could not definitively confirm as he didn't have an Avid+ fuse in inventory and was not planning on producing any choosing instead to focus on Airdale Flyer kit production and sales.

Not a super big fan of the Airdale Flyer cowl with the round inlets, but if it fits with minimal modification and Rod Schramm has the mold I'd be interested in confirmed specs and prices. Probably cheaper if we can give him a multiple vs. a single order. Let me know if you speak with him. I will be needing a 912 appropriate cowl like you, however, I might need it to fit a longer engine mount than Vince used. Clearly, the old 912 mounts sourced from Avid and [old] Airdale were less than perfect and, from what I've read, [new] Airdale hasn't got it figured it out yet either. Frankly, I planned to modify my FW to accommodate a KF 4 /maybe the short version KF 5-7 mount for 912, or just have my A&P fabricate what I need.

P.S. - Can't remember, did I ever post pics of my KF7 boot cowl to Avid+ test fit here?

[Guest]

So am I to understand that Rod Schramm is the fiberglass man who may have produced some Cowls? If so does anyone know how I can get a hold of him? I think the Airdale flyer cowl could be made to work in a pinch. I don't think the planes are that much different.

What I have now would be really hard to make work because it was cut up into a Boot Cowl configuration. It is extremely heavy and would become heavier if I try to put it back together. I blamed the Boot cowl conversion as to why it got heavy, but it makes sense that it was a modified MK IV cowl and that is how it got so heavy.

I want light, clean and simple......

[EDMO 1078]

Chris,

     I will try to find his phone # and or email for you and add it here.

EDMO

     I didn't find phone number - You can PM him on here at - stressedout72

     He says he is on facebook, or website is www.performanceproducts1.com

Hope this helps - I thought he gave a phone or email, but this is all I can find right now.

     Or, go to the "Introduce yourself" section here and clik on what he put in blue.

I have no clue how to put stuff in blue on here, and donno how it works either.

ED

Edited 8 Jan 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[1avidflyer 1983]

Hi Cris,  when I got my cowl from Avid for the Jabiru conversion about 5 years ago (before Brett) it came from a boat builder in Montana.  May have been Belgrade Mt.   I believe they were the people Avid got some of their fiberglass parts from.  Jim Chuk

[Guest]

I got confused and have already spoken at length with Rod. Very nice guy who owns performance products. he tried to help, by talking to John Larson, but was unable to come up with a solution. He did not make the cowls originally and was unable to track one down to make a mold from.

Jim do you know any more than Belgrade Mt?

thanks!

[Guest]

Well, I found a fiberglass shop in the yellow pages in Belgrade Mt. Called them and left a message asking if by chance they manufactured cowls for Avid. All pro composites. Maybe they are the ones. Maybe I'll get a return call. Long shot.....

[Guest]

Bingo! I may have hit the jackpot. Ron Smith from All Pro Composites in Belgrade Mt. called me back and left a message. He has the molds for several different Avid Cowls. He said to call back and we could try and figure out what was what and if he could make what I need. Bottom line I wanted to get this documented even if he doesn't have the Fat Avid cowl so others might benefit. His Phone is 406-388-3099. I will post back again when I find out more!

Thank you Jim Chuk!

[Guest]

Hello again!

Spoke with Ron Smith at AllPro. Interesting guy and interesting story. He has fiberglass molds for a TON of Avid stuff and is willing to make one offs of anything for us. He ended up with the molds as "payment" for bad debt from Tomash and they are his now. He was dealing Jerry Madison (the previous owner of Avid) before Brett and later Brett, but that has ceased too since Brett dropped out.

So he is willing to make parts. He is sending me photos of what I HOPE is a cowl that will work for the Fat Avid.

Some of the Avid molds he has:

different Spinners

different Wheel pants

different instrument and dash board tops

All Magnum fiberglass molds from cowl to bottom to floor pans etc

MKIV cowl

Jab cowl

Early Avid bullet cowl

The big one piece "mystery" cowl with two faceplates (probably for different engines) that I am hoping is the one I need (Update this is the Airdale flyer cowl Ron thinks. Ron is checking with Jerry Madison.)

Ultralight cowl

Various wingtip molds

etc.

He said it is OK for any of us to call and see if he has the mold for what we need and he will work out a price to make it. He is "in business" not marginally in business and has little patience for companies that do not deliver. I got a GREAT feeling from him.

His email is: RonAllPro@yahoo.com

His Phone is: 406-388-3099

Edited 9 Jan 2014 by ChrisB

[Av8r3400 1177]

Great lead, Chris!!

 

Joey--  Move that post to the Avid resource forum?

Edited 8 Jan 2014 by Av8r3400

[akflyer 1427]

Awesome find!  Thanks for sniffing this guy out and posting it up!  I can think of a ton of glass parts that we can use and hopefully be cheaper to buy than take the time to make!  At least we now have a source to get sticker shock from anyways

 

[stressedout72 2]

I am going to speak with him on the cost of the tooling?? will see what happens, boat builders are not light sport aircraft builders, also i am sure my costs will be far less then his.

[1avidflyer 1983]

Don't know what his prices are now, but when I got my Jabiru cowl from him through Avid which them must have made something off of, I paid $450 plus shipping.  That was about half or less of what Jabiru wanted.  Jim Chuk

[dholly 718]

Like Jim, I also sourced a 2-pc cowl from [old] Airdale for use with a Jabiru 2200 on my Mk-IV. Same maker and price, very nice piece IMHO with a flawless gel coat. At the time, least expensive X-country shipping option was via Grayhound Bus.

[dholly 718]

If interested, I put pics of a KF7 912 cowl test fit to my Avid+ here > http://www.avidfoxflyers.com/index.php?/topic/2214-kitfox-7-3-pc-cowl-test-fit-to-avid/

[Guest]

Very interested in the KF 7 cowl fit. Did it look like it would work well? That was an option it recently occurred to me to consider it.

Does anyone know the differences if any between the Fat Avid and the Airdale Flyer WRT cowl fit? It looks like the cowl mold Ron has is for the Airdale.

[Guest]

Holy Crap! Thanks for posting those pics of the KF cowl! I'm going to study them! A lot there to take in.

[dholly 718]

Well, in many regards it is a good fit. The rear edge of the KF7 boot cowl lines up perfectly with the front door frame (note in my pics that I have the whole cowl blocked forward just a bit which might lead one to believe the cowl is not long enough to reach, which is not the case). Also, the windshield curve looks to be nearly perfect, although that is not a big issue as I already plan to attach the lower edge of the windshield to a curved metal support strip rather than bond it to the glare shield or boot cowl. I am in the process of replacing the windshield in my Aerotrek which was bonded to the boot cowl AND the glare shield and I could skin the idiot who decided that was a good idea. Even the lip rake looks very close, but the major problem is that KF lengthened the 912 engine mount and FWF kit for the model 7 and, as a result, that cowl is very, very long.

 

Grafting an entire KF7 FWF to the lighter Avid+ frame results in an unworkable W&B. If you use your existing (shorter) Avid 912 engine mount, I suppose you could shorten up the top and bottom split cowls but that is a whole lot of work due to the taper of the 912 cowl. Much less modification for you if you just use a KF 5/6 version 912 smooth cowl. Not sure the differences in measure from FW to prop flange for your existing 912 engine mount from Avid vs. the KF 5/6 mount (do you have the one pictured in the attachment?), but it would be a lot closer.

 

In my case, I still need to find, fabricate or modify an engine mount anyway so that's why I was leaning to the smooth cowl and engine mount from the KF 5/6 912 FWF. Would be easy for me to add a few new engine mount attach bushings to my firewall and adjust thrust line height for the KF engine mount. Now that the Airdale Flyer cowl mold has been located (good work!), I am very interested in learning more. I've been too busy to pick up the phone but if the $$ are right and fit is better than the KF 5/6 cowl (and I think it will be) I just might do that. Would also give me the incentive to forego the KF engine mount and fabricate something similar to the 912 engine mount in my Aerotrek, I like the rubber FW donuts and integrated nose gear weldment. Very clean, efficient FWF on that plane, IMHO. In fact, I bought the Aerotrek to use the FWF on the Avid+, but decided to repair it instead.

 

Again, great job finding the molds Chris. Please let me know if Ron can pull some measures off the molds for us.

[marshawk 82]

Thats awesome news Chris ,I dont feel quite as bad now,hope they work out for you guys,  I had to do quite a bit of fiber glassing to make the wider  cowl work but had no other options  ,now as long as I don't have to cut out to much  adjusting the thrust line up i'll be happy

[RJGerstnecker 7]

Morning Chris 

im interested in the magnum kit in Washington st 

i have spoken with the owner several times, I understand you know the man, if there is a chance I can speak with you about it I would appreciate it , each time I have tried to pm you I get some error message and can’t send anything, I hope this works 

thx rjg 

[ChrisBolkan 130]

I would be more than happy to talk to you. Five 0 nine 3 six 6 zero 9 seven 4. I am in Washington state pacific time.