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Bought an Avid Speedwing, need advice

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Posted

I found an avid speedwing not.. excessively far away for a really good price and bought it. Not a pilot yet (this is my motivation) but checked it out fairly well and i trust the guy who sold it to me for reasons. It was registered in 96 ad Mk iv or c (it gets confusing) . Engine starts. another 70 hours before rebuild. It has sat for probably 2 years . The guy who sold it to me said hed change out the fuel lines as he doesnt like the type on there. Its only flaws are someone was redoing the wiring and screwed some things up. Im honestly thinking of almost entirely rewiring it. (thats some old wiring folks). Replacing the fuel lines.. it has new fuel filters. Im kinda athinking i should replace the bungees though the guy told me (long after he sold it to me) they were fine but i could check them. One thing we forgot (i was tired) was the prop spinner? any suggestions? i have no desire to pay whatever kitfox charges for a carbon fiber spinner.
Any thing else i should do? I want to seal it better to cut down wind noise.. any tips? products? im thinking some sort of fiberglass tape.
They moved to a much bigger radiator located below the engine in front which means more air resistance but im thinking it should stay very cool. Id like to run a small heater inside. Any tips or links on this? I was thinking a heater core from some very small car with a cutoff switch.

I want to get this all done before i finish my license which i expect to do in 6 months ( i work a LOT). I could use any suggestions on things to replace/check/upgrade. From those of you who fly an avid kitfox.. my cruise speeds is supposedly right around 90-100mph which is awesome. Would it be useful to eventually extend the wings/mod chassis for another 100 pounds and lower cruise speed? I plan on mostly using it to occasionally fly 240 miles to the beach on my one day off.. and to mess around locally away from airports maybe finding some remote fields?

Im looking for any advice .

Thanks,

Charles

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Posted

What kind of wires? The standard white insulated aviation wires last a long time. Mine was built about in the same time frame. The bungies were fine when I bought mine. I cut them off to install the bush gear. Do your have the cables for a fail safe in case they break? What prop? My spinner came from Warp Drive. As for the noise, get a nice headset. I like a David Clark.

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Pictures would be nice. :-)   Lots of planes flying without spinners, both of mine.....  If you replace the bungee cords, you are best off to buy the 3/8" shock cord from Aircraft spruce and make your own.  Part # 06-12400  JImChuk

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/shockcord.php
 

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Posted (edited)

I have a dave clark h10-60. Prop im not certain about ill have to dig through the logs. Original was a gsc 57 3 blade but currently it has a 2 blade "ivoprop 2 blade med." which i THINK is adjustable on the ground. (which is why i think the spinner was actually off). The wires that literally broke appears to be a solid wire.. probably silver/steel. All easily fixed. It looks like someone decided to redo the wiring with good new wiring (and the fuel system as well) and got half done.  I think the owner  groundlooped and decided to get a tricycle (he's 70+). Plane wasnt damaged btw.  Ill check on the failsafe.  Ill check on warp drive.

The reason i want the cabin sealed better isnt totally noise. Im a professional trucker and i know the toll noise/vibration/temp/atmosphere have on you. Believe it or not our job is FAR more dangerous than flying (or than the superbike i ride). Fatigue causes death. What kind of bush gear? Id love some giantass bush wheels but replacing $3000 tires every couple years sounds painful :) I literally chose the avid because a: kitfox's are laughably overpriced. b: ill be damned if i pay 5 grand a year to some scamming a&p and 100 a month to sit a cherokee on someones grass

Edited by cdreid

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5 grand a year? Man, I've been way too cheap at 400 for a conditional insp on an experimental. But then I don't do composite aircraft, just rag and tube types. Most A&P's that work for an FBO won't touch a E/AB because they are covered under the FBO's insurance and its not permitted outside of that coverage. Gotta love lawyers!  I guess I am lucky that my airstrip is a private farm and the only rental is mow the runway every couple of weeks. And we only have 2 other aircraft, T-crafts and they don't fly much. Usually I have the field and sky all to myself, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. I did run over a big blacksnake on landing in my challenger and wrapped him around the gear leg. He was really pissed, too. BTW, a good way to keep mice out of the airframe is a few Wal-Mart rubber snakes laying aroung on the airframe. Cheap and works good, till you forget one and it falls out on short final, done every maneuver in the aerobatic handbook ten feet off the ground. Exlax doesn't have nothing on a dollar rubber snake. Took a dozen of the little pinetree air freshners before I could stand to fly again.

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Being that it's a taildragger speedwing, it could prove exciting to land.  Mine's the STOL and it's exciting enough, even with its lower stall speed.  But I don't carry flap for landings.  With less span and the lower-cambered, essentially flat-bottomed airfoil, you may be able to carry more flap on final and into the landing flare wthout running short on elevator authority, which could help.  My advice is to just replace the LG bungees; the current ones are most likely more than 5 years old.  They get soft with age.  And validate that the safety cables allow more than 3" bungee stretch (5" if you want it to survive a 3-G plop-down!).  On mine, first flight, I misjudged height after the flare, and banged her in.  Too-short safety cable came up tight on the seat truss tube, crimping and bending it!  Next stop was the weld shop!  And hardware-store 3/8" bungees don't cut it; go with Aircraft Spruce's "type-1" bungee.  It's twice as stiff as the hardware-store stuff!  There are lots of posts on here on how to wrap the ends, do the installation, etc.  Good luck, and welcome to this forum!  I think we've got a great bunch of guys here, with a lot of valuable experience to share.

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Posted

Oh, and on noise:  don't expect it to be even tolerable without a headset.  Most of it is engine noise anyway.  But it's that way on most light planes.  What engine do you have?  I have  the Rotax 582 with a 3- blade IVO prop and yeah, they're ground adjustable.  Not having to fly formation with strangers all the time really takes the stress out of flying vs. driving.  It's way more fun!

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Posted

Solid wires may be thermocouples wiring. What motor? You’d be hard pressed to get me to do a 200 mile trip in my speedwing. My advice is to do everything you can to get it airworthy, and fly the snot out of it, don’t worry Terribly about upgrades and such, you end up with a plane down for projects longer than anticipated that you can’t fly.

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Posted

thanks for all the advice especially on the bungees. Guys if you see people talking about the hardware store bungees or even trucking bungees (MUCH  stronger etc etc) tell them NOT to use them .the hardware bungees are likely the lowest quality fauxrubber they can find and i can tell you as someone who used to buy the big black bungees by the case they tend to last a few months before effectively dry rotting (becoming brittle). Theyre not designed for long term use.

Allen from Everything ive read 5k a year is average for a LOW end certified aircraft. people talk about cherokees (the plane id buy if i wanted a certified tricycle) running 10k a year. thats if you dont fly it.

The engine is a 582. I was looking at kitfox's with 912s but noticed i kept raising my price limit and stopped myself. I bought a dave clark h10 60 from a friend which should be ok.
as for distance.. im a professional truck driver.. while you guys think an hour long drive is long.. ive driven over 900 after a 4 hour unload to get home. And on average truckers drive 500-600 a day im something probably Louder and bumpier than most airplanes so the 3 hours to the beach wont be a problem heh. You guys who dont like flying more than 2 hours i get it. Heres the trick you learn trucking. Put a LOT of work into comfort and reducing vibration and sound. A day in a daycab (loud, BUMPY, vibratey!) i come home and pass out. A day in a volvo (think lexus) and i come home fresh and alive. The sound reduction matters a LOT.

Matthew it DOES look like thermocouple wire but it goes to the tach? Im just going to splice it. The other stuff i have to trace when i have time. Oh im old man i dont do projects. these are SMALL things  to do while i cant fly it. For instance im installing a nose/ground camera because i dont see the fascination with not seeing where youre going. Im thinking of rigging up a laser height thingy to give me audible or visual indications of "hey youre WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too damned high"  if i can find an accurate one. Current plan is a tablet i can switch between gps/cameras and maybe some avionics someday when i get rich.

 

And.. im kinda thinking of running it without a spinner.. it does look kinda cool and different :)
 

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Posted

btw i love this community thanks guys

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