Ready for final assembly

[rosslr]

Great stuff Phil! AND IT LOOKS REALLY NICE.

I am about to post on my site too - you will se my W&B is heavier i think!

cheers

ross

[airlina]

Nice job on keeping the weight down , Phil. Most I0-240 powered Series 5 Kitfoxes come in around 950 lbs empty. You must have used some helium in the wing bays! As far as the forward C.G. goes this is typical with the weight of our engine. This showed itself early on in my flight testing by the inability to trim out all of the nose down stick pressure on final at slow speed with one notch of flaps. I later added the trim assist kit and gap seals to the elevator and this solved the problem. I also keep a 10 lb tool kit in the aft baggage area to help out. Also good idea to tune your fuel injection as per the Continental Service bulletin before the first flight. This was needed on my engine to produce a stable idle . Keep us posted you are almost home! Bruce N199CL

[ken nougaret]

What does the model v say the empty cg range should be? My SS says 9.5 - 16. I know mine will be close to the forward as well with my o-200. What battery do you have and did you put it in the tail as per the manual? Ken

[t j]

What does the model v say the empty cg range should be? My SS says 9.5 - 16. I know mine will be close to the forward as well with my o-200. What battery do you have and did you put it in the tail as per the manual? Ken

That must be the CG limits. Its not too unusual to have an empty CG forward of the CG limit. Any weight added, like fuel and a pilot, will move the CG back inside the forward limit.

[PapuaPilot]

Ken,

My manual doesn't give the EWCG range. The 8.11" is the actual EWCG. The CG limits for a Model 5 with the 1 degree forward sweep of the wings is 9.96' to 14.75". My most adverse forward forward CG come out to be 9.97", just barely squeaking in.

As far as weight saving things I did:
-Removed the original alternator and installed the B&C 30 amp dynamo (saved about 6 lbs.)
-Used LED 3 in 1 lights on the wingtip instead of the Whelen set (reduced 6 lbs.)
-Used an Odyssey 680 battery instead of the original B&C (reduced ~8 lbs.)
-Installed the Garmin G3X instead of steam gauges/vacuum pump/hoses/etc. This probably saved 20 lbs.
-Installed 6.00 x 6 main tires instead of the 8.50 x 6 that came with it (reduced 5 lbs). I plan to get the Desser 22" tundra tires, but they weight the same as the 6.00 x 6 tires that are installed.

My other goal was installing anything I could in the tail or removing weight up at the engine so I could use the lighter Odyssey battery and move the CG as much aft as possible. Up front I used a Catto prop, which is about 12 lbs. and installed the lighter B&C alternator. For the aft end I put my ELT way back in the tail and installed the transponder, AHRS and ADSB in receiver aft of the baggage area.

[ken nougaret]

Phil,
Thanks for the reply. May i ask what the catto prop cost you? I was looking at sensenich but read some things about the harmonics. Do you know of any issues with the catto and harmonics? I have the mccauley for the o-200, but i cant see putting a 20lb prop up front. Thanks, ken

[PapuaPilot]

I believe my Catto prop cost $2750. The thing I like about Catto is that they design the prop to match your engine and airframe to get the best performance possible. Many people I know have gone through 2 or 3 props before they got the right one. I am hoping that I only will need one prop.

I haven't heard anything about harmonics issues with Catto props. You could always ask the factory.

[PapuaPilot]

Today I was able to move my plane into my hanger that I just purchased at the Nampa airport. Unfortunately I had to push it because it wouldn't run. It started and ran for about 5 seconds during the first attempt. After that it wouldn't start again and was kicking back. I checked, but it wasn't hydraulic locked. Once I got it in the hanger I pulled the lower spark plugs, which were a little oily and wet with fuel. Next I checked the magneto timing and one of the mags was not timed right. I didn't pull the mag yet, but this has me concerned.

The last thing I did was to open the plane up for the DAR to inspect and I did most of the Condition Inspection. I found a few issues that need to be corrected before I fly.

[rosslr]

Hi Phil,

Love the photo! It look like a studio for photo shoot of a model! Of course, that is just what it is!

Bummer about the engine run, but I guess you are the man to sort it. All the best for the inspection.

Go well.

cheers

r

[airlina]

Phil, When I tried my first IO-240 engine start , the prop would swing about 20 degrees and go no further. I pushed her back to my shop , thinking the battery must be shot after sitting for 4 years during the build. No that wasn't it. Took out some plugs and saw they were wet-hmmmm? Went underneath and found that a mud dauber had plugged my cylinder drain tube ! Good thing it didn't fire or I would have liquid locked the engine and something would have broke. So , prime your engine then look underneath to see if fuel runs out of the cylinder drain. Cleared out the mud and the engine started but ran very poorly and wouldn't idle. Now bear in mind that this was a Mattituck built engine that was supposedly run and tuned in a test cell before delivery. I thought it would be plug and play install-not so fast grasshopper. Next step was to get the Continental Fuel injection service bulletin and perform this feat. A pressure gauge rig is required and I made one up for this purpose. This is a run tweak run tweak procedure that takes several attempts to get it right. Once this was accomplished the engine ran fine, and 700 hours later still does. Every few years I accomplish this procedure to keep the fuel injection tuned. If you need any further info let me know. Bruce N199CL