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I have to put on my a**-hole hat here and be the bad guy. Hang up my picture on the wall and start throwing darts at it, I can take it.

Sorry, but IMHO the best way is going to be removing the fiberglass tip altogether. I'm sure it's a PITA. If the wingtip is epoxy bonded on you can carefully pry it off the aluminum tubes with a chisel or a piece of scrap aluminum sharpened on a sander, and tap it into the joint with a mallet. Aluminum hates being glued, it shouldn't be that much effort to pop the glue joint. Unless they alodined and chem-filmed the aluminum before gluing, at which point you will put down the darts and pick up an M-60.

Considering that this is primary life-death structure, and you already know that you have some amount of mouse pee/poo in there, I believe it is definitely the right thing to do to remove anything and everything that is in the way of 100% full clear access to both ends of the tube.

I hate to be the a**-hole that puts this picture into your head, but you need to imagine how it will feel when the wife and kids (of the guy you sell this airplane to) call you and say that a wing spar tube gave way and that someone got hurt or killed. At that moment, the time you saved by not removing the fiberglass tip, or the covering, or whatever... won't amount to much.

Once you have this access, EVERYTHING gets easier... it will be much easier to remove the nests, see and quantify the damage/corrosion, clean out the corrosion with 100% confidence you got all of it out, do any repairs that are needed, re-treat the aluminum, etc.

OK, now where's that Kevlar vest I had laying around...

I am finishing the cleanup of my barn find this weekend. One wing was invaded by mice and both spars have nests way down toward the tip. When I redid my wings I used a round toilet brush on a pole to clean them out but they were in waaaay better condition than these ones. I am looking for suggestions on how to get the actual best material out of the spar and clean them up so I can evaluate the corrosion level inside the spar. Hoping the one wing is okay but I am not real optimistic at this point. Jet of water or compressed air with the wingtip up in the air maybe??

"The Book" is the overhaul manual which can be printed out from this site. It contains all torque specs and procedures for the 582. Everyone flying behind Rotax 2 strokes should print this great document out.

The grey head is the "mod 90" and the blue head is the "mod 99"  The book calls for the same tq specs for both.

Hey guys if anybody has torque specs on a 582 blue head please let me know. I am looking for the cylinder bolts that hold the jugs to the crank case, and also the head bolts, I know the head nuts on the grey head but wasn't sure if the bolts and nuts were the same torque.

I posted those picks of the leading edge wing extensions a while back, ( maybe three years ago ) and referred to them in a recent post. And I was out of high school for 11 years in 1980. Jim Chuk

The bottom of the fuselage is stock as far as I can tell. It could have a flat firewall installed if you wanted to, but the bottom of the firewall is stepped forward to give more legroom. Top of this step is just above the horizontal tube a bout 12" above the bottom of the front of the fuselage. Jim Chuk

I was in high school in the 80s. You're making me feel old...

I was out of college in the mid 80's... you guys are making me feel ANCIENT !

I was in high school in the 80s. You're making me feel old...

Good info! I will gladly credit whoever the original writer of this piece was. i wondered how they shared information back before the World Wide Web lol. Yes I was born in the 80s. Sorry Ed not trying to make you feel old 😄

It looks like that was number 38 but it says only for vixens, not sure but I would think it should be for all.

I'm pretty sure this stuff on this file was done by a guy named Lee Dubay waaay back in the late 80's. neat to see it all tabled in one source like this!!!

Awesome score Joey. Thanks for taking the time to share about it.

Hey Joey, thanks for going to the trouble to scan all that stuff in. It's interesting to read all that stuff (I've only had a chance to read parts of it so far). Helps shed some more light on the History of Avid. I liked looking at the old price lists too.

Luke D.

Can anyone verify whether that forward fuselage structure in the photo is stock Avid? My lower longerons do not extend as far forward as what is shown in that photo. The photo of Joey's barn find shows a fuselage that could have a flat firewall bolted to that tube structure... and the lower longerons on my airplane essentially stop at the last diagonal member. Is this one of the differences between the Avid B and C models... or is the one in Joey's photo a modified aircraft? I'm having a hell of a time designing an engine mount that fits my fuselage because of this.

Be sure to check out all the new pinned items in the Files and Forms area that I posted today. All of that came with this weekends Barn Find Avid and I scanned it in for your viewing pleasure. 

Found this with my recent barn find as well. This plane has the leading edge cuff built onto it as well as several other of these " mods"

Avid Options_Improvements.pdf

Not sure if this is all of them but it is a good collection. If your still building or have recently purchased an Avid be sure and make sure you comply with these!

Avid AD's.pdf

Some more goodness from my barn find

Avid big brochure.pdf

115 pages of awesome info for your reading pleasure. This also came with my barn find. I've never heard of this before but it's a gold mine of information!

Avid Yearbook Part 1a.pdf

Avid Yearbook Part 1b.pdf

Part 1 of a bunch of good stuff I've scanned in from my recent Barn find. These are the the original color brochures scanned into one document. 

Avid Brochure.pdf

I will share the total when it's done.  I'm doing the fuselage, doors, h-stab and elevator.  They gave me a range, which I'll keep to myself for now, depending on the amount of time required to blast.  They've done aircraft before, so I'm confident they will do a good job.

Probably done next week, they told me 10 days or less.

Larry,
I would be interested to know what the blasting and painting cost you. You could PM me if you don't want to post it. Mine was $1000 for blasting and 2 coats of epoxy, and included tailfeathers and nose gear.
I couldn't see all the pain of blasting on my own, and the cost and bother of painting - thought it was worth the price.  They do all of the WACO fuselages that my welder builds.
This was a company that did our cranes when I was with the Coast Guard Indusrial, so I knew that they did good work - They charged the government a lot more!
EDMO

If you don't mind my asking, roughly how much to do that? Jim Chuk

Well--  Here she is.  

Dropped the Mangy Fox off at my refinisher.  Crystal Finishing.  

They are going to blast with Aluminum Oxide and re-powder coat it.