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The header tank fuel level warning lights has been intermittent so I finally got around to draining the tanks and removed the sensor. This is what I found. Attached are pics of mine and the same part as new.
The substance is like a very hard gummy plastic. And it will burn like hard nitrate dope. Carb cleaner will not soften or dissolve it.
I have my ideas of what and why but I am looking for opinions.
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Looks great bro. I have sent pics out to people on the matronics site that wanted info and also sent them links to here. You have done a great job on the ole bird , Thanks happy flying and blue skies for ya .
JP
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I made a quick vid of a little hunt we were on last week. The camera man cant quit talking but once you get past that it is ok lol..
A little history, I put my floats on my brothers kitfox, as I have been having too much fun flying his plane since he got it up here to even think about working on mine. I was not happy with the performance as I knew it could do better. I have moved the step location 3 times and changed the angle of incidence 3 times also. In this video I had a bit too much angle of incidence on it. You could get it off the water quick, but it had so much drag it slowed me down 8 knots. I added a 3/4" shim to the rear float mount and now have it nailed. The cruise is still good 70 knots at 5800, and takeoff is great with no tendency to porpoise.
At about 6:00 minutes into the vid you can see the slew I was taking off of in the first part of the vid, and at 6:10 you can see the little pond. The rest of the vid is just a small part of the flats we hunt. The ducks and geese are really starting to move through and KF makes it a breeze to hunt the area.
Edit... I had to change the video and get rid of some of the commentary...then I thought... oh damn... free bird may not be the right song for a flying vid lol...
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Well my Avid took a back burner to fishing and flying this summer.. I have had my brothers KF II to play with so I have not been going after my Avid as agressively as I was. I have put his plane on my floats for now to give me a float flying fix.. I hope to get back to work on my Avid next week if the weather is crappy.. if it is nice, I am sure I will be burning more gas in his plane... I think I may be onto something... run the hours up on his plane so I can fly mine longer between TBO! great plan from the way I see it lol..
Here are a couple shots on a semi local river.. the second one is a reminder to keep an eye on the daylight left when you are having lits of fun cathing fish... night float operations are not the smartest thing a person can do.. infact it ranks right up there on the list of top 10 stupid things you can do in a plane...
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Just a short clip of a recent flight.. I dont know why youtube cut the quality down so much... I will try to figure out how to get it loaded directly to this site so you can download the full resolution version if you want to.
Edit.. I re-edited the video to make it a little better. I think it is a bit less pixelated..
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just a quick update... after we tried full fuel and two up, it was determined that these floats are too small for the KF. I have since installed, my full lotus 1260's and love'em... they are a match made in heaven for this bird!
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last ones...till the video is done..
This is parked at John Stoners dock having a KF stare down..
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here are a series of random shots from flying last week..The first two are of Mount McKinnely the highest peak in north america...but were taken from the 737 on the way home from work... not with the KF. I dont think I can get it to 22,000 on floats lol..The rest are pick from a day of cruising Cook inlet and Tuxidney Bay doing what a KF was designed to do.. low and slow.
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For anyone interested, I am posting the word document that shows the calcs for the square footage of the floats hence giving me the displacement. They are not modeled perfectly, but really really close. I will put up the 3D cad file also for anyone interested.
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WAhooo yeah Bro Thanks alot for gettting her done . She flys perfect al we need is yours done and then we can play .
;D 
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I took a buddy from maine that was up here fishing with me for the week out flying and chasing "spotting" bears. I only got one shot of a bear as I was too busy flying.. low level flying and filming just does not cut it in the mountains lol..
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Well I spent most of the day yesterday rigging my brothers kitfox to a set of floats he had picked up that are a fiberglass copy of the Northaire floats. I am not sure what they were rigged on before, but I had to cut and lengthen the rear struts, as well as make some sleeves for the front axles (they were set up for 1.25" axles and he has .75" axles.
I set the wing root incidence at 3.5 deg and it turned out to be a great number! After the launch I did a few high speed taxi runs and some step turns then it was seat belt on and firewall it. She popped right up on step and at about 40 mph indicated I popped the flaps and was in the air. I felt it out for a few seconds, dialed in some more pitch to the prop and pointed her to the sky. A few laps around the patch revealed I need to add some slight up trim to the tab (not inflight adjustable). I lined up at 65 mph, dropped over the trees and set her down for a picture perfect landing (my best landing in his fox). I taxied in and set the trim tab and went around again, and this time it flew hands off. I loaded up my brother and took him for a ride. He was so damn excited to finaly see it on floats he could not hardly fly lol.. the ole jitters got him so I took it back and brought it in for another greaser. A few more TO and Landings and it was time to bring it over to another lake closer to the house (that and it was 11:00 at night and I did not think the neighbors wanted me buzzing them anymore). All in all it flys great, but the northaire floats are a tad undersized for my liking. With two fat asses in the plane (me and a buddy) I had to step turn it to get off the lake I was on... not a big deal but I think with a bit more float it would handle better with full fuel and two guys onboard.
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and pictures during same.
New muffler is fine. The fit and alignment is perfect. The tailpipe centers in the lower cowl opening just like the original.
The ride went up to 10,000' msl. and was still able to climb at 500 fpm @ 70mph. The total weight was about 1000 lbs
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It was dead around here... guess the novelty wore off..ohwell., I plan on getting back to my avid project this time home and hope to have some new pics to show..but then again, a fishing trip may trump the avid work...going out and catching halibut, salmon, shrimp and shark in the same day has a certain appeal to it right now..
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dat one big gaggle of 2 strokes
the first pic is a pair of canadair 215's that just loaded up at a lake about 20 miles away. The second pic you have to zoom in right over the tire and you can see one of them dropping the water. This was about 300 yards away from my cousins cabin as they were trying to hold the line to keep it from jumping the road.. They did the job and got it shut down just before it hit his cabin!
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sweet! I will be looking for a hangar in a couple months.. but so far it is looking like 450-600 a month for a local t hangar... HOLY Crap! I am thinking for that kind of money I may as well get a lease at the airport and build my own hangar..
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Couldn't fit 84KF in with the CubCrafter so it went into a new hanger by itself
Also logged .1 in the book in the CC SportCub during a quick ride in the back seat. Flew...like a (very nice) Cub.
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The new muffler should be here soon, maybe a week. Then I can get back to business. The weather here has been perfect, but this has given me time to do a little detail work on the bird.
I loose my big hanger tomorrow as my friend is returning from Key West with his Navajo, so I have to double up with the Cubcrafter Sport Cub again. It was nice while it lasted.
I'll try to take some pictures of the new slum soon.
steve
How to...and not to.
in Avid fox flyers pics and vids
84KF
Posted
Had the Old Man and his camera at the end of the runway for some pics.
I guess ya have to take the good with the bad.
Love the Grove gear. It takes a beating.