1avidflyer

Hi Bob,  the email address I got from you didn't work, so I just sent pictures and a message to you here in a private message.  Thanks,  JImChuk

Still looking for the IVO hub if anyone has one.  Thanks,   JImChuk

Hi all,  I ended up with a rough shape Kitfox 2, and am going to part it out.  Looks like it was ground looped, and seat truss is bent.  Looks like it was repaired once and then fixed again, then bent again.  Not beyond hope for someone who can fit and weld tubing though.   Wings are pretty rough, rear spars are salvageable, and maybe one front spar.  Flaperons are a bit dinged up, but center tube isn't bent.  Could be used again.  Landing gear, 8" wheels, hydraulic brakes all appear to be fine.  Rudder pedals good, joysticks and cross tube plus mixer controls behind the seat seem fine as well. 582 motor mount, and back two pieces of cowl, plastic fuel tank, and turtle deck also there.  Anyone needing any of these parts can contact me with a private message for starters.  If you want pictures of anything in particular, say the word.  Thanks,  JImChuk

PS  forgot to mention lift struts as well.  Here are a couple of pictues.  

Hi all,  I ended up with a rough shape Kitfox 2, and am going to part it out.  Looks like it was ground looped, and seat truss is bent.  Looks like it was repaired once and then fixed again, then bent again.  Not beyond hope for someone who can fit and weld tubing though.   Wings are pretty rough, rear spars are salvageable, and maybe one front spar.  Flaperons are a bit dinged up, but center tube isn't bent.  Could be used again.  Landing gear, 8" wheels, hydraulic brakes all appear to be fine.  Rudder pedals good, joysticks and cross tube plus mixer controls behind the seat seem fine as well. 582 motor mount, and back two pieces of cowl, plastic fuel tank, and turtle deck also there.  Anyone needing any of these parts can contact me with a private message for starters.  If you want pictures of anything in particular, say the word.  Thanks,  JImChuk

Just a heads up, I had taken a deposit on the Avid late last fall, with the buyer to pick it up by end of April.  I got a message from his today saying he is going to have to back out of the deal.  So after the first of May, the Avid will be back on the market.  JImChuk

I finally got around to checking and comparing the Kitfox  and Avid firewall angles in relation to the wing carry throughs.  The Kitfox ends up being about 91 1/2 degrees, and the Avid is about 95 degrees.  The bottoms of the firewalls are further ahead then the tops of the firewalls.  The bottom of the Avid is further ahead than the Kitfox bottom.  Hope that makes sense.  I'm thinking I would still maybe use the Kitfox mount, and use the center bottom attachment point on the Kitfox mount as the starting point.  The center attachment points on the Avid are about 3/4" wider than the Kitfox mount so in modifying that, bushings could be turned enough to make up the different angle of the firewall.  Then the top two Kitfox attachment points are removed from the Kitfox mount, and new ones fabricated to fit the Avid mounting points.  This is how I see it at this point.  I think it would be way less work for me than building an entirely new mount, and I happen to have a spare Kitfox mount as well.  

Glad you are having a good time.  I pulled my skis off a week and a half ago, and since then we got two storms that dropped about 8" each time.  JImChuk

Sorry,  I should have said, leading edge of the wing is the datum point.  I haven't checked for any offsets with the 912 Kitfox mount, but did on my Avid with a factory made Jabiru mount.  The Jabiru engine was not twisted to one side or the other.  Also, in checking for up or down offset, the prop was at 90 degrees to the underside of the wing spars.  I need just a small rudder trim tab as the plane tends to turn to the right just a little bit.  Here are a couple of pictures of crudely checking the up and down angles.  You did get me thinking, now I'll have to compare my Kitfox 4 and Avid MK IV projects to see if the firewalls are at the same angle in relation to the wing.  Can you post up a picture of your ring mount?

Maybe you noticed this topic was discussed recently,  Not trying to sound negative in any way, just wondered if you saw it and were able to glean any info from it.  Avid empty weight and balance is about 11.2" to 16".   Avids do tend to be a bit on the nose heavy side even with a 582.  IN that other post, I did talk some about how I would modify my Avid firewall and the mount to make the Kitfox mount work in the Avid.  With the regular Kitfox 4 mount that uses 4 arms bolted to the engine, my prop flange face on a 912 is 24 1/2" from the firewall.  I have a Kitfox 5 ring mount style that was modified to fit the Kitfox 4, and with it the prop flange face on the 912 is 28 1/2".   I wonder if your ring mount is any different in distance out than mine is???   The 4 arm mount would be helpful for the nose heavy condition with the Avid if it keeps the engine further back.    JImChuk

Looked at this some more, and if I used a Kitfox mount, I'm thinking I would only modify the firewall at the bottom for the bottom Kitfox mount.  I would remodel the upper kitfox mount tubes to fit the Avid locations.  That will probably allow the carbs to stay in the original Rotax location, rather than switching them side to side like you have to do with the Kitfox mount.  Less work as well.  Still want to look long and hard at my Kitfox to make sure I'm not setting a trap for myself by not thinking of something that ends up being in the way.   

Hi all,  I'm trying to find out what the width of a Kitfox 5, 6 or 7 is.  I have a smooth cowl for one of them, and want to modify it to fit a Kitfox 4.  Thinking about cutting out a wedge shaped piece to make the back part of the cowl narrower to fit the Kitfox 4.  Can anyone grab a tape measure and measure the firewall at it's widest place?  Thanks,  Jim Chuk

The certified world of airplane registration is far different from the experimental world.  I think it will be harder to certify a Chief than an Avid or other experimental.  Easiest way is probably to find another basket case with paperwork and put them together.  I looked up the 8050-3 form, and it's an FAA official form that they use from what I could tell.  The 8050-1 is the request for change of ownership the buyer submits, and the 8050-2 is the FAA bill of sale provided and signed by the seller.  JImChuk

Last week I put up a want add for an IVO medium ground adjustable hub.  Yesterday, I got a private message from someone who sent me an email address to someone who has what I need.  Pretty suspicious about it though, being that it was the poster's first post.  That usually is a bad sign.  I didn't respond to if.  Just a heads up to be careful who you buy from.  I would say, never buy without talking to them on the phone.  If they don't know anything about airplanes, that should become apparent fairly soon.  JImChuk

I suppose one of the front spar bolt holes was drilled in the wrong place (obviously).  I'm guessing the factory would say replace the spar.  I wonder though if one was to put steel doublers inside and outside of the spar and bolt them on with 10/32 AN screws if it would end up just as strong as the inside doublers and spar tube riveted together with SS pop rivets and epoxy as the plans show.  I'm not saying do this, but throwing it out there for others to comment on.  JImChuk

I shouldn't have assumed that it was one of the front spar holes in the wrong place.  Could be the back one just as well, or a combination of all of them.  Maybe pull a string down the center of the fuselage back to the tail and calculate what wing is square with the fuselage.  Using  3, 4, and 5 or increments of that will show what is square.  Suppose you could put a mark on the string in line with the back of the spar.  Make another mark 6' from that mark on the string.  Next measure from the string down the length of the spar and make a mark at 8'.  If that wing is square with the fuselage, you should read exactly 10' from the mark on the string to the mark on the spar.  Think of a triangle, 6' x 8' x 10' Once you know what wing is off, you can address it further.  

Are you saying that when you measure from the same place on the tail to the wingtips you have 1 5/8" difference in measurement?  That would put one wing in front of the other if that's what you mean.  I think I know what I would do, but want to know that what you are saying is what I'm thinking.  Make sense?  JImChuk

Thanks Leni.  I'm not in a huge rush.  Let me know when you get home and get a look at it.  JImChuk

Hi all,  I'm in the market for an IVO medium ground adjustable prop hub.  Actually, I really only need the front plate, adjuster screw and lock nut, as I already have the back plate that attaches to the prop flange on the engine.  Happy to take the whole hub though.  I'm sure someone has taken out their prop blades in some incident and the hub is lying on a shelf somewhere.  Thanks,  JImChuk

Hi Paul,  those don't look like Bing carbs...  And those gold extensions under the intake manifolds.  What is it?  JImChuk

That mount looks nice Paul, but I think one would have to completely remodel the Avid or Kitfox firewall to use it.  Also, it looks like it puts the engine a good bit further ahead than the Kitfox mount.  On my Kitfox, I set the oil tank about 2 1/2" into the firewall, and it's very close to the engine on the front side.  The prop flange face is about 25 1/2" from the firewall with mine.  What plane is this mount used on?  Looks like if the oil tank was recessed into the firewall like I did, the mount could be shorter.  Here is my Kitfox firewall showing the box I made into the firewall for the oil tank to fit into.  Also, one showing the oil tank from the top and where the firewall is.   And the tank just barely does fit, height wise.  That space on the Avid it taller by 3/4" than the Kitfox so the tank would fit there for sure.  JImChuk

I got some pictures of the kitfox mount against the Avid fuselage.  I should have tied it in place and got a shot from further away, but I was up on a 8' ladder and was scared of dropping something onto my Avid parked down below me.  The first two pictures are the center mounts, you can see the mount is just a little narrower than the Avid mounting locations.  The next two pictures are of the top mount locations, and looking at it again, it may be easier to fit and weld new tubes from the mount to the current Avid top mounting locations.  The last picture is the bottom mount location, something would have to be added to the Avid there.  Interesting, if one put a Subaru engine on the Avid, you were supposed to put a mounting point down near the bottom.  I imagine there are some Avid drawings on how they recommended doing this.  Because the Avid tends to be nose heavy, anything that moves the engine forward would mean more weight in the tail to offset it.  I believe Joey Myers had to put 10 lbs of weight in the tail on his Avid MK IV after he installed a 912 using an Avid factory mount.  JImChuk

The Kitfox mount uses 5 attach points.  2 at top and center, and one at the bottom.  The Avid uses 6 attachment points, 2 at top, and 4 points across the center of the firewall.  The center mount holes on the Kitfox mount is 11/16" narrower than the Avid.  If I did the modification, I would  weld another bushing to the outside of the existing center attachment points on the Kitfox mount, and then that area of the mount would fit the Avid mounting locations.  Would have to then add the two top mounting points  and the one low mounting point to the Avid fuselage firewall area to match the Kitfox mount.  I will have to look at it again today, to see how much difference in height there would be from the Kitfox to the Avid.  I have the Kitfox 4 unfinished fuselage, plus the Avid MK IV fuselage and a Kitfox motor mount as well, so maybe I'll get some pictures.  I looked at this last summer, but that was a while back and memories fade over time.  JImChuk

Hi Larry,  Do you have the ring mount on your kitfox?  I have  one but it moves the engine 5" further ahead than the standard Kitfox mount.  It was remodeled from a Kitfox 5 to fit the 4 firewall mounts.  Just the center two mounting points are different width I think.  But maybe it also projects further out than a Kitfox 4 ring mount would, I'm not sure.  The front face of the prop flange on the 912 is 29 1/2" from the firewall with this mount.  The standard mount measures 25 1/2" from firewall.  Maybe if you have the ring mount, could you measure the distance from firewall to prop flange face sometime??  JImChuk

If one was to modify the firewall a little bit, a Kitfox mount could be made to work.  The Kitfox mount can be bought new from Kitfox for just under a thousand.  Every now and then a used one comes up for sale for a lot less.   I have several Kitfox mounts, and have put one up against my Avid MK IV project and it shouldn't be that big of a job.  

I've bought a couple of these modules from Alistair ?? who sells them on barnstormers.  (sorry, don't remember his last name)  I've only used the one so far and that was to test out against a regular rotax one, but it worked just fine.  The second one I bought was so I could have the soft start feature on my newer ULS  engine that is going on my new Kitfox 4 build.  JImChuk

Interesting article.  The example given of the Kitfox that caught on fire and burned was about 25 miles from where I live.  Guy named Howard Firm built the plane.  It had a Subaru engine with fuel injection.  He told me the bird broke a high pressure fuel line off, and gas ignited on the muffler.  Sad thing, but the next kitfox he built go burned up in a hangar fire at the Eveleth Mn airport.  JImChuk