109jb

Yeah. It is going to be a pretty easy fix. Lots of little things though. To get the airframe all fixed up will be about $500 in materials. Somewhat bad news but not unexpected is the engine probably needs new seals. I did a crankcase pressure test and it leaks down way too fast. On my sleds they normally hold 5 psi for minutes but this one leaks down to 4 psi in 10 seconds. Soapy water shows it isn't the test setup, spark plugs, etc. Most likely seals. I'll pull the C-gearbox next to soap the front seal. I'll probably do a top end rebuild kit for about another $500 but at least another weekend of work to pull the engine to get to the rear seal..

Vey nice. Where did you source the 12 ply  plywood?

work is progressing one this one.  Got the wing rib fixed and patched the holes in the stab and wing fabric. Just needs UV block and top coats on those.  Still waiting for the tubing to repair the aft fuselage. There are a few pictures of the airplane outside with the wings in position just before a buddy helped me remove them to work more on the fuselage.
 

I found this somewhere on the internet and saved it as a pdf. Best writeup I have seen on the subject
kitfox resealing tanks.pdf

I've had the airplane for 2 days and here is what i have accomplished.
Replaced tail spring with one I hadstarted straightening of the aft fuselageremoved windshieldremoved rudderremoved fin fabric and straightened finThe fuselage straightening is being done like my first Kitfox that incurred a bent fuselage from trailering damage. I removed the top fabric and corner tapes from the bay that was bent. I then used my crude tool for straightening the tubes to slowly pull them as straight as possible. The diagonals straightened just fine, but the longerons are kinked a bit, so will need to be replaced in that bay. These pictures were before some of the tubes had been finish straightened, but even so the fuselage looks a lot better than it did before.
I'm now waiting for my tubing order which includes tubing to enlarge the fin and rudder to later kitfox 4 size. Hope to have fabric on the aft fuselage by next weeken.

actually never got that rudder modified. I wound up getting a Kitfox IV Speedster project and sold the Kitfox IV 1050.

it is in the manual to put them in top and bottom.

Already have what I need and I was looking for MC-3 not MC-4. 

I'm in Morris, IL 60450

If any of you guys that switched are willing to part with your Nanco N800's let me know. I'd be interested in buying them. They aren't available anywhere I can find.

Will do. Thanks for the tip

Are you willing to pull the cylinders and put the casewith just rods sticking out in the passenger seat? Then the cylinders and pistons can go in a box in the baggage compartment.

For my gear pictured below, the strut force will be given by:
(Strut tension) = (Upward load at wheel) * 19.66/13.51. Assuming a tooth jarring 3g load @ 1200 gross that is 1200 * 3 / 2 = 1800 pounds upward at the wheel, so the strut tension will be 1800 *19.66/13.51 = 2619 pounds tension in the strut
 If I do like I guessed and use 5 pucks each 1.5" long for a total of 7.5" of polyurethane length.
F = E * A * (delta L) / L0 = 4400 * 2.356 * (-1) / 7.5 = 1382 pounds at 1 inch deflection
looking at the equation it will be linear, so 1382 pounds per inch deflection with a 7.5 inch starting length, so 2619 / 1382  = 1.9 inches of deflection
Looking at an additional puck for 9" total yields 1152 pounds per inch equating to 2.27 inches of deflection
The second picture shows what my gear would do at 1.9" extension of the strut, which would be an upward travel of about 3.2 inches of the wheel, not counting any tire deflection.
Thinking I may switch to 9" of pucks so I can preload them a little. I'm thinking no sag at empty weight would be good and then once loaded will sag a little. My old Kitfox sagged a tiny bit when empty with the stock gear and stock bungees but they were old I'm sure. I would think new bungees would not sag. So at 9" of polyurethane I would give it about 0.26" preload which would support 300 pounds per side without sag, and that would give me 2 additional inches of extension before 3 g @1200.

I do have a lathe but not with a 2" spindle bore. I will likely cut them a bit long and then put them in the lathe to clean them up.

I bought the 2" OD, 1" ID, x 36" long, 90a durometer black tube from Mcmaster Carr that I had linked earlier in the thread.
 
edit: how did youyou cut yours? I'm debating on whether to use my bandsaw or was thinking my miter saw might work better
 

Nice. My polyurethane tube arrived today from McMaster Carr, and the 4130 tubing for the new struts is on the way from Wicks Aircraft. This weekend I plan to knock the new struts out. Maenwhile, here is what the project is looking like right now.

Dusty, One more question for you. You said that you drilled the pucks like a revolver cylinder. Do you recall how many holes and what diameter you used?
Thank you so much for your help and inspiration.
 

Got the final coat if blue on and got it unmasked.  Came out nice. Has good gloss but a little orange peel that was expected. Latex is a win so far for ne. 

Dusty: So I have a 36 inch long (914 mm) piece of the McMaster Carr polyurethane tube on its way.  So I gather from your posts that the 4 pucks that are pictured are 50 mm OD (about 2 inches), 25 mm ID (about 1 inch), and 38 mm long (about 1.5 inches long. That would be 152 mm total length ~6 inches).  My thought is to make struts that allow up to 200 mm total length, start with 4 50mm long pucks and see how it goes. This way, if too soft or too much travel I could insert a solid spacer to replace one of the pucks. What do you think of this plan, being the resident expert?  Also, a question. Does your setup sag at all with the airplane empty.

Getting the color on her. The gloss of the latex is definitely better than polytone. The white is really hard to tell but the blue has a little orange peel which was not unexpected. It is about what I was expecting and is in the perfectly acceptable realm for my tastes. If I ever decide to I could color sand and buff it but I doubt I ever will. Overall I would call it a success but in doing the fuselage I have learned a few things and will be modifying the process a little. The results that Malcolm at wienerdogaero.com gets can't be argued with, but at least for me a few changes to his process make it much easier for me. For my rudder and landing gear legs I made the following modifications which work very well for me.
I am starting to thin the first coat of primer a bit more than he recommends in order to make it easier to get more complete wetting of the fabric.
On the primer coats on the fuselage I used the wienerdoaero method and brushed each coat on sanding between each coat with 320 grit dry sandpaper. I still brush that first coat on, and on the landing gear I also brushed several coats, putting the primer on in one direction and tipping it at 90 degrees. Ultimately I went to spraying the primer on. The primer is still thinned and sprays nicely, leaving a slightly orange peeled surface. The orange peel is much easier to sand smooth than the brush marks from brushing/tipping. On my rudder I am spraying all but the first primer coat and it is going very well. You can get a smooth finish brushing and sanding, but it is a lot more work in my opinion. Spraying i was also able to reduce the sanding interval to 1/2 by applying 2 coats (one cross coat) at a time, waiting until the first coat tacks up and applying the crossing coat. I have also gone to wet-sanding with 400 grit which again is much easier for me.
Anyway, here is crappy picture of the airplane after the first cross coat of blue was applied and had dried about an hour.