Need help evaluating a barn find Kitfox Series 5

[jmodguy]

I just completed a Series 5 and can tell you that the 5, 6, and 7 share many similarities. Trent Palmers Bird is a Series 5 also. The cabane gear and Grove gear will bolt up and the fairing covers will work. Cowls and firewall fwd will also work. Seat pan will fit and you can still get a baggage sack for a 5.
The one item you need to check is the wall thickness of the wing spars. If they are .050, the gw is 1400 lbs. If they are .063 the gw is 1550.
If you do buy this, you may want to consider buying the S7 elevator. It has a deeper chord (@3”). The other item is the reinforcing plate at the tailwheel if the fuse is not covered yet.

[alexM]

I just completed a Series 5 and can tell you that the 5, 6, and 7 share many similarities. Trent Palmers Bird is a Series 5 also. The cabane gear and Grove gear will bolt up and the fairing covers will work. Cowls and firewall fwd will also work. Seat pan will fit and you can still get a baggage sack for a 5.
The one item you need to check is the wall thickness of the wing spars. If they are .050, the gw is 1400 lbs. If they are .063 the gw is 1550.
If you do buy this, you may want to consider buying the S7 elevator. It has a deeper chord (@3”). The other item is the reinforcing plate at the tailwheel if the fuse is not covered yet.

Can you expand on this reinforcing plate for the tailwheel? If I'm going to have any welding done (and it looks like I will), I want to do it once and move on.

[Jerrytex]

https://teamkitfox.com/Forums/thread...3606#post83606

[alexM]

https://teamkitfox.com/Forums/thread...3606#post83606

Thank you. That does not look like major surgery

[Greg g]

This is a great read, I thought I would through in my 2 cents, and that’s all it’s worth. I would look at your entire budget for the build. If you are intending to build a plane that’s bare bone, as inexpensive as you can, this may be the way to go. If on the other hand you plan on outfitting it with a new Rotax, a fancy panel, $4k bush wheels you are investing allot of money in a 20-25 year old fountain. As for value, prices in the stol category are through the roof, it’s a sellers market.
best of luck to you, keep us posted.

[Eric Page]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the additional input. It's been humbling to see how much useful advice and information I received in a short time. I can see that this forum will be an enormous resource.

Greg g, you make a good point about the economics of the project, but buying it represents a savings of >$30k vs the order sheet I had in mind for a new kit, it avoids the >1 year wait from the factory, and it gets me about 85% of what I wanted. The other 15% is either non-critical or will cost a minor fraction of that $30k to achieve. The remainder will pay for a large chunk of the firewall-forward.

-=-=-=-=-

I went to see the plane again yesterday, intending to buy it. Unfortunately, the seller didn't have the paperwork for the plane at home; it's stored in his semi trailer... somewhere. Since it was pouring rain we couldn't move his other stuff out of the trailer to make room to get behind the plane, so there was a limit to the area we could search. We found seven boxes of parts and hardware, the Poly-Fiber manuals and a roll of cloth, but the Kitofox build manual and his bill of sale from SkyStar didn't turn up.

I'm going back on Monday with a truck, a trailer, and a pair of wing slings that I liberated from my neighbor and re-carpeted. The seller has two guys coming to help move his stuff out of the way. That should make room for a thorough search, and if the missing papers (or at least his loan documents that show he paid SkyStar for the kit) turn up, then we'll do the deal. Apparently the FAA is fussy about showing an unbroken chain of ownership from the factory to the person registering a plane.

Wish me luck.

[avidflyer]

Lots of planes have been listed as built from parts when the ownership trail was not completely in order. JImChuk

[SilverFox5]

Hi Eric, sorry not to answer back but got sent out of town with last-minute notice. But i see you received some good info. We removed our rudder pedals and drilled out the rivets and are welding in some 4130 gusset's.
Our fuel tanks had not been installed yet and we will be running pump auto gas most of the time. That is why we bought new tanks. We have access to ethanol free auto gas here in wisconsin now but cannot guarantee if that will always be available.
We also cut our elevator apart and added 3 inches to enlarge it instead of buying a new one.

Joe