Model IV Edge Performance EFI, Panel, and Other Miscellaneous Upgrades

[Podunc]

Good day all! I want to document this small project so others can get some ideas of what to do or not to do.

SpiritFox is a model IV -1200, 912 ULS, with a 72" IVO Prop. I've had some issues with the carburetors and decided to upgrade to EFI, and while I'm doing that I decided to do a whole bunch of other items as well. They are as follows:

Engine:
1. Edge Performance EFI
2. New coolant, fuel, and oil lines
3. Relocate the oil tank to the port side vice on top of the engine
4. Reduce the oil tank height by 23 mm
5. Relocate the expansion tank to the starboard side
6. Service the gearbox (completed)
7. 36" McVernier Throttle cable

Prop:
1. 72" Luga prop

Panel:
1. Garmin G5 (hooked up to the Aera 660)
2. GTR-200B with music input (hooked up to the Aera 660)
3. GTX-335
5. Garmin Aera 660
6. Vigilus FlyBox
7. iPad mini (mounted with a Guardian iPad mini mount and power supply)
8. 30A Tyco circuit breaker switch (for backup battery)
9. DigiKey switches
10. Klixon 7277 circuit breakers
11. iLevil 3 AW (Wifi to iPad and Aera 660, ADS-B in, and will use WingX Pro app)
12. Red LED fuel low light

Fuselage:
1. Replace starboard flaperon push pull tube in between the flaperon horn and mixing assembly (found slightly bent)
2. New fuel lines
3. Relocate radiator further forward (may do this in preparation for the Shock Monster Gear upgrade later on, but don't know how much of a pain it will be to move it.

Electrical:
1. All new wiring
2. x2 Shorai batteries (LFX18A1-BS12) [2.19 lbs]
3. Aveo Powerburst Daylight Light Set
4. Landing lights

Additionally, I'm going to be re-basing the conditional inspection as well as 100 & 200 hour inspections on the 912. This way when I get up and running I can fly without having to worry about breaking everything down again.

The attached pic with the panel cutout is not the final panel. Calling myself out on this one, as I screwed up and placed the circuit breaker holes 1.5 mm too close to one another and the screws on the backside will not allow the installation of any terminals.

I'm hoping this helps out someone later on down the road. Stay safe all, and I look forward to the conversations and inputs in the future.

[avidflyer]

Where do you keep your airplane, Ferguson? I spent a few months in Gulf Shores this winter, and did a flight review in the Legend cub there. Nice field other then the low airspace when you take off toward the south. Stay busy on the Fox, maybe I can look you up next winter. JImChuk

[Av8r3400]

Interested to see how you do this. Please post lots of photos.

[ryflypeterson]

is there anywhere to buy a blank instrument panel for the IV or did you fabricate it yourself?

[Meyer]

Good luck!!

What did it weigh before? What do you think it will weigh after?

[Podunc]

Where do you keep your airplane, Ferguson? I spent a few months in Gulf Shores this winter, and did a flight review in the Legend cub there. Nice field other then the low airspace when you take off toward the south. Stay busy on the Fox, maybe I can look you up next winter. JImChuk

I’ m at 2R4. There are a lot of airspace idiosyncrasies here because of all the flight training we do. Anytime you’re in the area message me and I’ll show you around. Barring we are past this whole pandemic thing! Stay safe out there.

[Podunc]

Basic weight is 756 lbs. Weight savings will come from the panel, EFI, and LED lights. The panel is already 5 to 6 lbs lighter, minus about 6 to 7 for EFI (educated guess), and 2.1 lbs for the LEDs. So around 13 lbs on the conservative side.

[Podunc]

is there anywhere to buy a blank instrument panel for the IV or did you fabricate it yourself?

Kitfox sells the blank panel for about $165. I opted to have my panel cut using sendcutsend.com. Excellent company with quick turnaround.

[Podunc]

Interested to see how you do this. Please post lots of photos.

Will do! I will definitely be asking lots of questions and hoping to answer them as well. I look to the Mangy Fox and others for inspiration no doubt! There are going to be some decisions that I’m still on the fence about and hopefully with some expert advice we can get through them and on to flying. Long time before that happens though!

[ryflypeterson]

Kitfox sells the blank panel for about $165. I opted to have my panel cut using sendcutsend.com. Excellent company with quick turnaround.
Thanks for the Info, do you by chance have a cad file of the panel?

[Podunc]

I have a solidworks file. PM an email address and I’ll send it.

[Podunc]

Good day! First, I can't figure out how to rotate pictures, and I think I have to complete this prior to me uploading them. So I apologize for that in advance.

Mocking up the radiator to move it forward so that I can eventually install a cabane gear, and decided to use at least one of the nut plates, of the two installed (one fore and one aft), so that I don't have to drill two holes in my floor board. Essentially, I just moved the radiator forward so that the aft hole on the radiator lines up with the forward nut plate on the aircraft. The radiator will be about 1-1/4" forward of the forward gear mounting attachment. Then I will drill up through the floor board using the forward radiator bracket hole and install a bolt and screw for each side.

The issue is: there is a bump protruding downward in the fabric very near where I'm to drill. I don't know what is there and if the radiator isolation rubber will eventually wear the fabric over time.

Two questions:
1. Will there be enough spacing in between the radiator and the forward mounting attachment point for a cabane gear?
2. Would shaping the rubber to the bump be a wise idea?




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Here is my panel mocked up. I just received some McMaster Carr vibration-dampening sandwich mounts. They are the natural rubber, 8-32 thread, with 1/8" insert into the rubber. They will be installed on the two instrument support arms at the top of the panel. I used a rustoleum textured paint to reduce the glare off from the panel during flight. I'll be laser etching the labels into the panel and keeping the bare aluminum exposed.

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[About2Stall]

Awesome Project you have going here!
Will definitely follow your progress, and curious to see your results with the Edge Performance engine!!

We just released a video of our 165hp Edge Performance engine install in our Kitfox 7, if I may share that here:

From what we have seen so far, its amazing!!
https://youtu.be/f0n0Z0YrRH0

[Podunc]

Already watched the video last night! Standing by for part 2. I'm only installing the EFI portion on my 912 ULS. The model IV doesn't have enough room for the inter cooler and turbo under the cowl. I wish it did though! Maybe one day I'll go with a bigger bore for a bit more horsepower.

[About2Stall]

Awesome, Thanks!

That's still going to be insane on the Model IV!!

Image that! Edge engine with intercooler and Turbo on a IV - I would start worrying about VNE by then 😋

If you have any questions about the Engine, im working on Part 2 now, Mabe I can work it in?

[jiott]

I am an engineer so I am going to ask the obvious question-isn't there a limit to how much HP you can ask of an engine that was designed for a little over 100 hp? The addition of turbo intercoolers, EFI, and bigger bores does nothing to strengthen the bottom end. I know the factory pushes the 915is to close to 150 hp, but its a brand new engine with possibly strengthened bottom end compared to a 912/914. Has anyone done any engineering to determine if a basic 912/914 can handle 165+ hp with any reasonable longevity?

[About2Stall]

I'll answer all of those questions in part 2, comming soon, but in short:

They rebuilt the engine from ground and up. They start off by precision welding the crankshaft to make it a solid “one piece” crank to handle the increased power. Next they machine the crank case half and install piston oil squirters which job is to keep the pistons cool under high loads. They change the overload clutch settings in the gear box, install forged pistons with 8.3:1 compression ratio which had Teflon coated skirts and ceramic coated crowns. add their fully sequential fuel injection system with lambda sensor and the ECU has auto-tune features and individual injector trim to balance out any EGT spread. And they add the turbo and turbo exhaust and tune, break in and test the engine for 99 minutes on their test bench.


They've stressed the cranks to well above 200hp, and broken a few, so they know exactly where the limits are...
More than 250 such engines have been built since 2006 and none has failed. Some has more than 1200-1500 hours. So they have a perfectly good track record!

Hope this helps?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kitfox Guy]

How does the weight compare to a stock 912 and any idea what the TBO is?

[About2Stall]

Our KitFox 7's Total weight is 13kg lighter than with the 914 Turbo which we had (Conversion was done on this 914) and that includes the 2kg we added by upgrading to the Alaskan Tailwheel... So in total it's around 15kg lighter.

TBO is around 1200h

[About2Stall]

PART 2 now up!

Hopefully we've answers some of your questions...

ENGINE REBUILD | 165hp Rotax Upgrade Edge Performance vs Rotax 915is - BUILD Part 2
https://youtu.be/gs3zq--4R7E

[thenorthernaviator]

What's the total weight of this package?

[About2Stall]

149.91lb and about 48.5lb lighter than the 915 installed

[thenorthernaviator]

Double bump then with the HP upgrade, and the Power to Weight ratio. V nice.

[About2Stall]

Part 3 is up!

ENGINE INSTALL | 165hp Engine Install, Cowling mods, Taxi test - BUILD Part 3
https://youtu.be/Tah9Fnuk7Tc

[Podunc]

Update to the project.

1. Panel is completed and now on to installing avionics and wiring.
a. Paint was a textured Rustoleum.
b. Etching was done using a homemade CNC.

2. Update to the Aveo Dayburst LED lights and mount modification.
a. Paint was a matte black enamel Rustoleum.
b. I cutout some cardboard templates traced them out on some fiberglass and bonded the cutouts with JB Weld. Sanded and painted. Viola!
c. To wire the lights I'm going to use JST SM 4 Pin connectors: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K3M1TB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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[Podunc]

Here is the panel in the CNC.

[About2Stall]

Update to the project.

1. Panel is completed and now on to installing avionics and wiring.
a. Paint was a textured Rustoleum.
b. Etching was done using a homemade CNC.

2. Update to the Aveo Dayburst LED lights and mount modification.
a. Paint was a matte black enamel Rustoleum.
b. I cutout some cardboard templates traced them out on some fiberglass and bonded the cutouts with JB Weld. Sanded and painted. Viola!
c. To wire the lights I'm going to use JST SM 4 Pin connectors: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K3M1TB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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Looking Great!

[Podunc]

Lots to update on SpiritFox.

Updates are as follows:
1. Got the engine mount gusseted. I up-cycled the oil tank mounts that I cut off to make the gussets.
2. Cut the old oil tank mounting brackets off and relocated new mounting brackets to the port side.
3. Media blasted my engine mount as well as primed and painted with Dupli-Color Engine Enamel and Ceramic that I got from Advanced Auto Parts store. https://www.duplicolor.com/product/engine-enamel-with-ceramic/
4. Panel is installed. Yay! But have to finish up the wiring.
5. Hall sensor installed.
6. Found adapter to the FlyBox 601040 (http://www.flyboxavionics.it/files/fuelpress_7hwjpspt.jpg) Fuel pressure transducer with 2.0 m cable + fitting.
a. Normally the sensor gets turned down on a lathe by Jason Busat to 1/8" NPT (no flare) so that it can mate up to the fuel port.
b. I'm not good with a lathe, and I couldn't find anyone I trusted to turn down a 98 Euro sensor with a cord attached on a lathe. so I found this adapter from McMaster-Carr https://www.mcmaster.com/1786N203.
c. The fuel pressure transducer is male 1/4" BSPP and the port the transducer has to go into is a female 1/8" NPT. The part # 1786N203 from McMaster-Carr is a brass fitting adapter that will do the trick. Additionally, I'll use PTFE thread compound to seal up the threads on the 1/8" NPT side and there is a grean seal provided on the sensor for the 1/4" BSPP side.
7. Installed two new ignition coil packs. $900 for two of these bad boys. Rotax is sure proud of their stuff.
8. Wired up and finished installing my Aveo Powerburst Daylight LEDs. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aveopowerburst.php

More Pictures to follow
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[Podunc]

Installed panel pictures. The Aera 660 mounts above the GTR-200. The Ipad Mount is from Guardian Avionics with the USB lightning port only for the Ipad with the fan.

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My apology for the sideways picture.
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[Podunc]

Edge Performance EFI Kit. See the previous comment regarding the McMaster-Carr adapter part number.

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[Podunc]

Aveo Powerburst Lights installed. I still have to complete the wiring from the wing root to the panel.
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[PapuaPilot]

Aveo Powerburst Lights installed. I still have to complete the wiring from the wing root to the panel.
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You might want to look into the proper/legal position for nav and position lights. I not sure if this position is right.

[Backpacker]

Installed panel pictures. The Aera 660 mounts above the GTR-200. The Ipad Mount is from Guardian Avionics with the USB lightning port only for the Ipad with the fan.

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My apology for the sideways picture.
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Hi, i see you have the Vigilus from Flybox, curious if you or anyone has pics of the Ammeter / current sensor installed that is from Flybox. I have one but they don't make a mounting housing for it, and it doesn't seem very robust. Curious of how others have mounted the ammeter and if they had any issues with it.

thx