Classic IV Restoration

[Av8r3400 1178]

Well, keeps your post count up...just sayin'

 

LOL!

[Bandit 286]

How can you build an airplane without tools and shit all over the floor?

[Av8r3400 1178]

…trick photography.

[EDMO 1078]

I think it is called a "Clutter-Shutter", but I cant seem to find mine in all the mess!

EdMO

[Av8r3400 1178]

I'm still working on the Mangy.

Here's the new expansion tank next to the original.

 

A couple pics of the FWF coming together...

 

[Av8r3400 1178]

Spent the day working on the plane.  (I needed a mental health day away from work)

I'm still working on plumbing and wiring on the firewall forward.  

 

I'm at the stage where every little task I complete seems to lead to at least 7 more...

[1avidflyer 1983]

At least you're getting something done.  I wish I could say that.   Keep at  it!  Jim Chuk

[Av8r3400 1178]

Stopped over today to continue with the wiring, and found this...

The fiberglass fairies have been playing with my cowling.

 

We're getting there.  Slowly but surely.  A little bit more every day.  Lonnie Prince says my prop should ship by the end of next week...

[EDMO 1078]

Larry,

       Do you have a mean-fairy there, or is something else going on?

I note that you don't have the large lip on the cowl bottom like ChrisB has on his - Is his rad going to cool better than this one?

EDMO

[Av8r3400 1178]

Look at the nasty before pictures of the Mangy.  The cowl was a hodgepodge of krylon, lacquer, poly tone and laytex. This all has to come off to get any type of decent finish. 

The lip is required to draw air through the cowl.  It will disrupt flow over a belly radiator.  The Kitfox IV cowl never had this type of lip, like the Avids did. There's no radiator in the cowl to force air through.  (Just the oil cooler in the front)

[EDMO 1078]

Look at the nasty before pictures of the Mangy.  The cowl was a hodgepodge of krylon, lacquer, poly tone and laytex. This all has to come off to get any type of decent finish. 

The lip is required to draw air through the cowl.  It will disrupt flow over a belly radiator.  The Kitfox IV cowl never had this type of lip, like the Avids did. There's no radiator in the cowl to force air through.  (Just the oil cooler in the front)

I thought maybe the screws or camloks had come loose, or someone unfastened them - didn't even consider the spotty finish on cowl.

I'm not sure how ChrisB has his rad mounted - thought it was same as yours

EdMO

[C5Engineer 1170]

Great to see progress and always fun to see big parts bolted on! I am planning on tackling my cowling when I get home.

[Av8r3400 1178]

No photos today. 

Finished wiring the charging circuit and the starter.  Almost done with wiring.  I'm waiting on some connector pins from stein air and I'll get the temp probes hooked up.  Then, tying up all the bundles.  I think that's it for the fwf. 

Next will be the doors and windshield. 

Shoot a little paint on the cowl. 

Hang the wings on her and take a little trip...

[Av8r3400 1178]

Still plugging away.

The cowling is coming together, now.  Electrical is nearly finished.  I fired up the panel for the first time today.  Then I discovered what happens if you hook up a capacitor with it's polarity reversed.  

Oops...

[EDMO 1078]

Oh, you let the smoke out of it - been there and done that too!

EDMO

[tcj 150]

I did that too.  I looked at it very thoroughly to see if there was any positive and negative markings on it and couldn't find any.  Only after it blew up while I was starting to taxi did I see those enourmous  minus signs all down one side and pluses down the other side.

[EDMO 1078]

I did that too.  I looked at it very thoroughly to see if there was any positive and negative markings on it and couldn't find any.  Only after it blew up while I was starting to taxi did I see those enourmous  minus signs all down one side and pluses down the other side.

Where are you using these capacitors - on ground connection from somewhere?   What is the mfd rating?

EDMO

[Av8r3400 1178]

The capacitors are 22,000 mfd, 25 volts. 

Used to be able to buy these for a couple bucks at RadioShack.  Not any more, they ain't got shit in that place. 

I ordered two from Newark Electronics for $10.  Now I'll have a spare. 

[nemesisnxt 12]

What happened with the plan for a "home made wide body mod" you mentioned on the fist page of this thread?  Did I miss that, or did you decide its not worth the effort?

-Joshua

[Av8r3400 1178]

Good question, Josh.

I did some soul searching and comparing to my current plane.  I rarely fly other than solo, but when I do, it really isn't that tight in my yellow plane.  So, I decided to use the same bubble doors as my yellow plane instead of adding a "wide body kit".

The flared wide body kit only adds to the shoulder room, really.  IMO, the hip area is where more width would be a benefit.  Adding to the fuselage there would be a major, MAJOR, change I wasn't ready to dive into.

[Av8r3400 1178]

Did a full assembly of the cowl today with paint.  From this distance it looks okay.  Up close you would be able to tell it's really pretty f'ed up.  The guy who originally built this plane, didn't do a good job on certain things and the cowl is one of them.  I think that eventually I will need to replace the cowl because this one is so out of whack and tweaked.

Now I can lay out the red stripe on it and it will be done.  Next is fitting the doors and windshield.

 

 

Edited 11 Nov 2015 by Av8r3400

[tcj 150]

I did that too.  I looked at it very thoroughly to see if there was any positive and negative markings on it and couldn't find any.  Only after it blew up while I was starting to taxi did I see those enourmous  minus signs all down one side and pluses down the other side.

Where are you using these capacitors - on ground connection from somewhere?   What is the mfd rating?

EDMO

Kitfox sells them as a noise filter for the radio to be installed between the regulator/rectifier and ground.

 When I finished my kitfox 15 years ago there was a lot of miss information on the internet that preached you could not use resistor spark plugs if the engine had resistor spark plug caps.  Mine had the resistor caps so I installed non resistor plugs.  There was lots of engine noise on the radio so I wasted about $25 on a capacitor.  After it blew up like a stick of dynamite and filled the plane with dense toxic stinking smoke I put resistor plugs in and the radio noise went away. 

Edited 11 Nov 2015 by tcj

[RobS 52]

Looks good from here - it's going to be a sharp looking plane when finished!

[dholly 718]

I did wonder if you would switch over to the smooth cowl during this rebuild, in so much as you had everything stripped down. I know it ain't cheap (I did get the parts list and cost a few years back ) but it sure would have helped forward visibility on your longer gear legs. Seeing over/around that big fat round cowl was one of the few things I disliked about my Kitfoxes. Maybe that's why I'm working on a tri-gear now (flame suit on!).

[Av8r3400 1178]

The big stick showed up today.  A pretty sexxxy piece of lumber if you ask me…

(Prince 78x48")