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I am looking for an instructor in Wasilla that will get in my AVID after phase 1 for training for the sport pilots license. Do any of you know of a small instructor that is willing to train me in an AVID that lives in or very near Palmer or Wasilla?

Thanks

Doug,

Do your seats slide forward and back in the Avid Plus?

Thanks,

Ron

THanks Leni. The AVID Awaits your flying it. Randy has put about 4 hrs on it.

Okay this is the neck and cap assembly I want to use. Do any of you see a problem? It has the flange to glue and glass to the tank.

http://www.acsproductsaz.com/10610.htm

THanks

Thanks for the answers!

I am now the proud owner of a 1994 Kitfox IV-1200 powered by a 582 Rotax with Injection (100:1 so premixing still necessary).

Flies awesome, climbs awesome and slips like a Banshee. The first flight yesterday was the most fun I have had in awhile.

Funner then my buddies Citabria or his J3. The STOL capabilities with two pilots is actually the best I have flown so far.

We throttled up on the numbers and were way off the ground by the touchdown markers with a slight tailwind.

I got all the logs for everything and they are incredibly comprehensive, nothing has been left out.

The engine is original and has been rebuilt every 300 hours by the manufacturer with no issues.

Congrats! Now you get to learn the finer points of flying a 2 stroke.. The biggest one I can give you is WHEN THE NOSE IS POINTED DOWN PULL THE POWER BACK! If you let the prop drive the engine, it will lean out, EGT's will go up and you will melt a piston. Let it warm up good!!! I dont go over 2200RPM till I have a solid 140 on the water temp. Cold siezures are not good and can give you a false feeling that all is well because most times, the engine will squeak, then die, then as soon as it cools a tad you can restart and it will seem to run fine. The problem is, there WILL be aluminum off your piston stuck to the side walls and sooner or later, your looking at a major tear down. It is easy to avoid cold seizures... LET IT WARM UP GOOD!

If you running premix with oil injection, then you are either not trusting the pump or it is not set right. If it is oil injection then you should not need to run oil in the gas.... HOWEVER, I have read that some guys have had good results using oil in the gas to keep the tanks from going soft when they are using moonshine for go juice... this may be the reason for him putting oil in the gas.

Dont be afraid to fly the 2 stroke, just remember that you cant drive it like a 4 stroke lycosaurus. The EGT's are you life line, and while they are not 100% accurate on the readings, they will show a trend (for accurate readings you have to figure in the outside temps at the thermocouple to instrument interface yada yada yada.. I like to run mine at 11-1150 just to give me a warm fuzzy that I am not going to melt a piston. I will pay for an extra set of plugs a few times before I want to deal with the cooling fan not turning.

There is ALOT of posts here about flying a 2 stroke and the tricks we have learned to keep them running RELIABLY! ChrisB, Joey, Jim and a host of others including myself have put ALOT of trouble free hours on them. Yeah, I have had a couple ohoh's but that was not due to it being a 2 stroke.. I have had more issues with certified engines than I have with my 582.

Hi Paul - the foam is not hard to cut and sculpt, easier than I expected and much better workability than the standard sofa cushion foam. Since my sewing experience is non-existent and my dear wife actually laughed out loud for several minutes when I asked if she wanted to tackle the covers, sure looks like I'll be supporting my local business community on this one. :)/>

Doug,

Thanks for the detailed post! I'm about to tackle this myself, so I'm glad to follow your lead.

I broke my back in the military, and I have a lot of nerve issues that make my tailbone hyper sensitive. Because of that I have tried about every cushion shape and thickness to help long drives or flights. The design that helps me the most has the back center cut out so that your tailbone and spine are not holding you up, your gluts are.

So, I was wondering if you made the main cushion out of the Confor foam for heavier pilots, and then cut out the back center, then filled it with Confor foam for lighter pilots, if it would work in the same way?

My spine has been injured so long that I can't remember what body part hurts, on normal people, when sitting for long periods. However, I think it is pressure on the tailbone.

I'm with you on the sewing! I bought a special sewing machine so I could cover some seats on a different plane and after a lot of wasted time and horrible looking covers, I took them to a local professional! It is definitely an art, that takes a lot of practice!

Your seats are looking great!

Thanks again,

Ron

THanks Leni. The AVID Awaits your flying it. Randy has put about 4 hrs on it.

It is going to be tight this time home.. I am working over a week and am headed to the lodge for a couple birthdays back to back so I may only have one or two days I could sneak off to fly. I will call you when I get a time frame nailed down. The only other option for me this time in would be to swap planes and take it to the lodge and do some flying out there to put hours on it.

I am seriously digging those new seat cushions! After about an hour in my seat I am getting fidgety and the last flight to the lodge that took almost 4 hrs, my back was down right pissed off at me. I wonder though at -30 how long it will take for the heat from my butt to get through the snow gear and into the seat foam to soften them up so I am not sitting on a brick... I would really like better cushoining but I dont want to raise the seat height either...

The plastic cap wont rain fuel down unless the vent tube glue joint breaks loose. I took Randy's advice and reglued my tubes and now only tighten the cap until it is good and snug, but not till it ratchets. He fould that by doing this it does not break the glue joint every 5-6 times you fill it up.

The best fix is probably to get the caps that Jim listed and glass those onto the TOP side of the tank and then have the solid metal cap on it. I never had an issue with the kitfox metal caps leaking unless the cork gasket material got worn out, but that is easy to inspect and replace.

:BC:/>

THanks Leni. The AVID Awaits your flying it. Randy has put about 4 hrs on it.

What type of gas caps are on the kitfox. Can you post a picture? I am tired of this fuel issue and want to resolve it. Nothing worse than raining gas on the forest below that costs 4 bucks a gallon.

The plastic cap wont rain fuel down unless the vent tube glue joint breaks loose. I took Randy's advice and reglued my tubes and now only tighten the cap until it is good and snug, but not till it ratchets. He fould that by doing this it does not break the glue joint every 5-6 times you fill it up.

The best fix is probably to get the caps that Jim listed and glass those onto the TOP side of the tank and then have the solid metal cap on it. I never had an issue with the kitfox metal caps leaking unless the cork gasket material got worn out, but that is easy to inspect and replace.

Just looking my Wag-Aero catalog at gas caps and necks and they show (on page 3) and aluminum weldable neck that is 2/14" in diameter. If one was to use a hole saw, maybe 2 3/16" size, you could slip this neck into the hole. Might have to file a bit, but usually the hole saws cut just a bit oversize. You could then perhaps epoxy or fiberglass the neck into place. Not saying this is the best way, but it's the one that comes to my mind right now. The price for the neck # E-448-000 was $8.40 the cap # E-482-000 was $6.95 Take care, Jim Chuk

Just reread you post and as far as fixing the leaking fuel caps, when you install the new caps, remove the old ones and patch the hole with fiberglass. Just thought of another thing. Do you have plastic caps? Wasn't Leni saying his caps leak fuel also. He had the plastic caps. The caps I mentioned from Wag-Aero are the steel ones and look like what my MK IVs have. No problem with fuel leakiing out of them.

What type of gas caps are on the kitfox. Can you post a picture? I am tired of this fuel issue and want to resolve it. Nothing worse than raining gas on the forest below that costs 4 bucks a gallon.

If the fill and the drain are on the same side, either its a boo boo from the manufacture, OR the builder cut them out and moved them (a more likely senario) so he would not have to deal with draining tanks when he folded the wings. I would look at cutting the filler neck out and moving them to the outboard side. It would not take that much glass work OR fabric work to fix it right.

Chris, you just need to spend more time out in the shop with those two planes turning wrenches and whatever else they need!! LOL. One other topic: Congrats on the purchase of the new plane RMendler?? Was wondering what you meant by oil injected but at 100-1 so premixing is still required. Is the oil injection pump set incorrectly? Take care, Jim Chuk

Yahoo! Awesome!

Now if only I had a flyable plane.....Two in the shop and Zero in the air is not where I like being, but it is far better than Zero in the shop with no hope of getting in the air! :-/>)

ChrisB

Very interesting and Boo Boo indeed.

Curious.....How are the fuel lines from the tanks routed? The outlets on the bottom of the tanks are opposite the filler caps on top. Doesn't this place the fuel outlets about 2 feet away from the fuselage? How has the fuel line routing been solved?

ChrisB

Its weird because the drains and fuel line are in the right place but the filler necks are not. Could be that the tanks came that way so the guy that built the wings had no choice and didnt know better.

Just looked at the builders log and the picture of the wing tanks. Sure enough the drain and fuel supply is on the same side as the filler neck.

Just looking my Wag-Aero catalog at gas caps and necks and they show (on page 3) and aluminum weldable neck that is 2/14" in diameter. If one was to use a hole saw, maybe 2 3/16" size, you could slip this neck into the hole. Might have to file a bit, but usually the hole saws cut just a bit oversize. You could then perhaps epoxy or fiberglass the neck into place. Not saying this is the best way, but it's the one that comes to my mind right now. The price for the neck # E-448-000 was $8.40 the cap # E-482-000 was $6.95 Take care, Jim Chuk

Just reread you post and as far as fixing the leaking fuel caps, when you install the new caps, remove the old ones and patch the hole with fiberglass. Just thought of another thing. Do you have plastic caps? Wasn't Leni saying his caps leak fuel also. He had the plastic caps. The caps I mentioned from Wag-Aero are the steel ones and look like what my MK IVs have. No problem with fuel leakiing out of them.

Was just talking to brett at airdale and he was thinking the same thing, however he was wondering if I needed to get to the back side of the cap to do that which is impossible because it is inside the tank. Maybe you can help me research a little. However, I still need to solve my leaking fuel problem.

Thanks for the answers!

I am now the proud owner of a 1994 Kitfox IV-1200 powered by a 582 Rotax with Injection (100:1 so premixing still necessary).

Flies awesome, climbs awesome and slips like a Banshee. The first flight yesterday was the most fun I have had in awhile.

Funner then my buddies Citabria or his J3. The STOL capabilities with two pilots is actually the best I have flown so far.

We throttled up on the numbers and were way off the ground by the touchdown markers with a slight tailwind.

I got all the logs for everything and they are incredibly comprehensive, nothing has been left out.

The engine is original and has been rebuilt every 300 hours by the manufacturer with no issues.

Yahoo! Awesome!

Now if only I had a flyable plane.....Two in the shop and Zero in the air is not where I like being, but it is far better than Zero in the shop with no hope of getting in the air! )

ChrisB

I have learned that the previous partial builder of my AVID installed the wing tanks on the wrong side therefore placing the fill cap about 4" away from the lexan. Also this causes me to lose about 2 gallons of fuel per tank because I cant fill them all the way. Not so much worried about the little less fuel but I have fuel spilling out during flight. I have the vented gas caps. What is a permanent fix to keep fuel in the tank and off the wings. It is very critical because the fill cap is so close to the lexan.

Definately when I get more time I am going to remove the fiberglass tanks and install plastic or aluminum if available. But for now I just want to keep her flying.

Does airdale or any supplier sell a gas cap that fixes that problem?

Thanks for input.

Very interesting and Boo Boo indeed.

Curious.....How are the fuel lines from the tanks routed? The outlets on the bottom of the tanks are opposite the filler caps on top. Doesn't this place the fuel outlets about 2 feet away from the fuselage? How has the fuel line routing been solved?

ChrisB

Wonder if you couldn't fiberglass new caps in where they should be, and remove the old ones? Might not have to do a lot of fabric patching, and it should all be over a solid surface. (the tank) Take care, Jim Chuk

Was just talking to brett at airdale and he was thinking the same thing, however he was wondering if I needed to get to the back side of the cap to do that which is impossible because it is inside the tank. Maybe you can help me research a little. However, I still need to solve my leaking fuel problem.

Wonder if you couldn't fiberglass new caps in where they should be, and remove the old ones? Might not have to do a lot of fabric patching, and it should all be over a solid surface. (the tank) Take care, Jim Chuk

I have learned that the previous partial builder of my AVID installed the wing tanks on the wrong side therefore placing the fill cap about 4" away from the lexan. Also this causes me to lose about 2 gallons of fuel per tank because I cant fill them all the way. Not so much worried about the little less fuel but I have fuel spilling out during flight. I have the vented gas caps. What is a permanent fix to keep fuel in the tank and off the wings. It is very critical because the fill cap is so close to the lexan.

Definately when I get more time I am going to remove the fiberglass tanks and install plastic or aluminum if available. But for now I just want to keep her flying.

Does airdale or any supplier sell a gas cap that fixes that problem?

Thanks for input.

Well I hope that gets corrected, when it comes to trailers the tail wagging the dog is no fun at all.

P.S. if you think a Kitfox 4-1200 with the 582 is a rocket, wait till you get in an 80 or 100 hp 912 powered one!

in the hangar this aircraft was in, there was a beautiful blue and yellow one with a brand new HKS 700E. Beautiful Engine

I may be playing around with different engine options in the future. Definitely interested in the 800 swap if it ever gets done

Well I hope that gets corrected, when it comes to trailers the tail wagging the dog is no fun at all.

P.S. if you think a Kitfox 4-1200 with the 582 is a rocket, wait till you get in an 80 or 100 hp 912 powered one!

the trailer didnt work out. it was recently modified to fit the new grove gear and matco wheels. as soon as i would hit 35mph the airplane would wag left and right violentely. I tried to go a few miles and couldnt so I took it back to the airport.

I had to go home so I left the airplane at the airport and the owner is going to have the trailer inspected and repaired. He is going to deliver it Saturday for me.

I think when they moved the ramps for the new gear they moved the CG of the trailer too far aft and its causing the wag. It was nerve racking.

I'm also working on a deal for a nice enclosed gooseneck trailer to store it in

I have learned that the previous partial builder of my AVID installed the wing tanks on the wrong side therefore placing the fill cap about 4" away from the lexan. Also this causes me to lose about 2 gallons of fuel per tank because I cant fill them all the way. Not so much worried about the little less fuel but I have fuel spilling out during flight. I have the vented gas caps. What is a permanent fix to keep fuel in the tank and off the wings. It is very critical because the fill cap is so close to the lexan.

Definately when I get more time I am going to remove the fiberglass tanks and install plastic or aluminum if available. But for now I just want to keep her flying.

Does airdale or any supplier sell a gas cap that fixes that problem?

Thanks for input.

Congrats Richard, official welcome to the Kitfox community. And you got a trailer! :bday:/>

The guy on the TeamKitfox Forum with the Kitfox 3 wings has the flaperons also. I'm thinking they may be the same as the Avid ones. You would have to compare the hangars/hinges and distance between them and yours. I do know that the Kitfox 4 flaperons are larger and mount differently. He is in Michigan, I'm in Mn, so he's further from you than me, but maybe a deal could be made. Anyone want to offer an opinion what one should ask for them? And yes I do realize that opinion would be somewhat different if one was buying or selling. LOL! Take care, Jim Chuk

I do have the brand new flaperons that are in that Kitfox 1 kit I just picked up a week ago, but I'm still not sure if I want to part it out or sell it off as a complete kit.

Please keep me in mind if you decide you can part with them... (and I can afford what you want). :shitfan:/>

Thanks

Stephen

I'm very impressed with the shaping and finish you've achieved so far. Now you've got a sideline business to fall back on. Are you going to sew the cushions yourself too?

Hi Paul - the foam is not hard to cut and sculpt, easier than I expected and much better workability than the standard sofa cushion foam. Since my sewing experience is non-existent and my dear wife actually laughed out loud for several minutes when I asked if she wanted to tackle the covers, sure looks like I'll be supporting my local business community on this one.