Kitfox 4 rebuild

246 posts in this topic

Posted

I see a few posts back that I said that maybe by the middle of the week I would be spraying it.  I said that on July 28.  Well now it's August 10 and I finally started to spray poly brush.  Ready for poly spray tomorrow.  Nice thing about this paint job, is the majority of the plane will be gray like my Kitfox 1 was.  And that gray is actually poly spray.  So maybe it wont be that long before I can start spraying the Kitfox 3 once this one gets out of the booth.  Oh well.  JImChuk

 

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Posted

Little bit more progress showing today.  Ready for poly spray on the fuselage tomorrow.   Paint stripes on Monday??  JImChuk

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Posted

Looking good Jim. You might run out of projects if you keep this pace.

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Posted

It will take a while, I have a few projects lined up....Thanks,  JImChuk

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Posted

Poly spray today!  JImChuk

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Posted

Looks good Jim!

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Posted

Now it's blue, and soon I'm thru.  Just the yellow left to do.   Wahoo!   (what a poet)  JImChuk

 

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Posted

Wow you are killing it! Amazing progress!

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Posted

That's Crazy!  Awesome Progress!  Keep up the Great Work and the posts.... Cheers Randy 

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Posted

Thanks guys.  It's been a long time getting to this point.  Still a long way to go though..  :-)   Still have to do the colors on the tailfeathers.  And then of course there is the panel and FWF.  Ya, it'll be a while yet.  

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Posted

Today's efforts.  JImChuk

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Posted

Nice work! I like the paint scheme.

Is this going to fly before we see snow?

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Posted (edited)

Thanks,  I'm copying the color scheme on my Kitfox 1 that I had.  Will be putting red pinstriping on the orange stripe.  Won't fly this winter I'm guessing.  

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Edited by 1avidflyer

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Posted

Tailfeathers are done as well.  My wife says it's far and away the best looking paint job I've done all year.  The more far and away you get from it, the better it looks.  :lmao: I'm sure glad it's done.  JImChuk

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Posted

Still have the pin striping to do, but here it is together.   JImChuk

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Posted

It's looking great Jim. I really like that color blue.

Is it a Classic 4 with the bigger tail?

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Posted

Yes, it's a 1200 lb GW classic 4.  JImChuk

 

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Posted (edited)

A couple of months ago, I picked up a 912 that I knew had some ignition issue, but the price was right, and I figured I would try to work it out.  I mounted the engine on a temporary test stand over the last few days, and had it ready to run today.  I didn't have the chokes hooked up, so splashed a bit of gas in the carbs and then put the airfilters back on.  It turned about 1/2 revolution and fired off!  Died almost immediately, but I gave it choke on the carb closest to me, and tried again.  It caught, and stayed running that time.  That was nice to hear!  It went from a possible boat anchor,, to a possible engine to fly behind.  It seems I've sort of found the ignition problem, ran out of daylight before I could try a few more things, but this is what I've found so far.  The bottom spark plugs on #1, #3 cylinders aren't firing.  Both of those plugs fire off the same ignition module, but different coils.  Can a coil be bad on just one side?  and what are the odds of it happening to two coils at the same time?  Going to get some new plugs tomorrow, and I'll try changing the plug wires if the plugs don't do it.  Anyone have an opinion on the coils being half bad?  There  is only one wire coming into them from the module, and a ground wire going out, plus two plug wires..... Thoughts?  The way I isolated the ones that weren't firing was with a tiny tack.  I had one wired up temp. for a tack, and then I hooked up another one and started putting it on one spark plug wire after another.  Showed an rpm on all but the two I mentioned.  Any thoughts?   JImChuk

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Edited by 1avidflyer
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Posted

Bit of an update that sheds a different light on things.  Today, I ended up using a timing light, and found that I don't have spark on either side of the two coils that I thought were half bad yesterday.  Funny that I was able to get an rpm reading on the tiny tack, but there was no spark according to the timing light.  Anyway, knowledge is progress.  Like a monkey trying to put different shaped objects in a certain shaped opening.  Now if I can just remember which one's I've tried already.   I did try different plugs on the two that I thought didn't fire last nite,  and also shortened the plug wires by 3/8" at the caps.  Some one said that if the plug wire is bad, it's almost for sure bad at the end where it goes on the plug.  No joy with either of these trys.  JImChuk

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Posted

More testing, and it looks like I have two coils and one module that are not working no matter what combination I tried.  Even tried a different module from a different engine.  Still progress though.  Tomorrow, I'll borrow two different coils and see If I can get back to firing on all 8 plugs.  I'll also check bad module and coils for broken wires.  JImChuk

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Posted

Hey Jim,

did you check the ignition trigger coils?? The gap is critical and they should have a certain resistance.

Hope your trigger coils are good as they cost an arm and a leg @ Rotax..

Laurent

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Posted

I connected the four pin connectors from the trigger coils to each module and # 2 module worked with both of them but only on coils 3 and 4.  That would indicate to me that the trigger coils are working.  # 1 module never worked with either set of coils, and the third coil I tried only worked with the #3 and 4 coils.  With the third module, I didn't try both four pin connectors, but it worked with # 2 module,  so they should be good.  The numbers I put on everything may not match the manual, I just took some tape and labeled everything so I could make notes that made sense as I tried different combinations of parts.  I did check the trigger coil gaps, and they seem right to me.  JImChuk

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Posted

Well I now have an engine that's firing on all 8 spark plugs.  Here is what I found.  The one ignition module does not work.  Swapped one from another engine. Had one broken wire coming from the charging coils, and one broken ground wire going off a coil.  When I started to remove that coil today, I went to unhook the ground wire, and it pulled off.  There was just some insulation still holding.  Couldn't see it though at a glance.  JImChuk

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Posted

Wow, been a while since I updated this thread.  I've been working a bit on it since I got back home.   Installed a single axis auto pilot, it's a Trutrak Digitrak that will either follow a course from a GPS or you can set it to go where you are pointed.  Kind of a wing leveler.  Got a deal on it, so I went for it.  I built a new instrument panel, and am working on the firewall now.  Lots of engine on, engine off to get dimentions and such.  Anyway, progress is being made.  JImChuk

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Posted

Jim, I feel like the old thread resurrector this week. Any progress on the plane? 
 

Kenneth

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