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Truno223
07-24-2020, 07:22 AM
Hi everyone I have been lurking for a bit and posted one or two questions but I feel like it's probably time to start an actual build/rebuild/revamp thread.

I am a PP who has no experience building until now, but have a strong background in welding, light machining and heavy fabrication. I have been waffling on doing a build from the ground up for about two years now and just decided to pull the trigger on a project plane. I'm currently not living at my actual house because of my better half's job situation so I am setup in a temporary shop without many of my tools (welder, lathe, etc). Which was a big part of why I decided an already flying project would be better at this point.

That's how I came across N195CL, which was originally built by another forum member who unfortunately passed away last year.

It's a Classic IV 1200 with ~1100TTAF and a fresh ~140hr Jab 2200A.

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It looks like it had a rough landing in 2012 (guessing based on replacement of grove gear without reason given in the logbook). That resulted in some tweaked tubing that I will be straightening and then replacing. I have some material onhand to add gusset reinforcements to both sides as well.

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Beyond that, there were some longstanding fuel leaks that hadn't been addressed so I have some new fuel tanks on order from KF, as well as a new Al header tank. I pulled some of the fabric off the wing yesterday from immediately behind the tank which had cracking. Then stripped the coatings and performed a pull test. Even with my terrible test rig (not applying even clamping pressure) it passed. Given that this is the worst of the fabric on the airframe I am not planning on a full recover, just the front of the fuselage and wings where the tanks will be going. The rest of the fabric looks great, no cracks, still very pliable.

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My ultimate goals are to get it all put back together by spring time (tanks are 3-4 months backordered) and to use it as a fun time builder. I plan to eventually operate out of a local strip and some hay fields so i will likely be adding some 22in tires, and upgrading the tailwheel. The panel is going to be replaced as well since I need ADSB compliance to operate out of some of the locations near me.

In any case I wanted to get this thread started as an introduction and place to post some pictures. I'm sure I will be asking plenty of questions along the way! Right now I have some wing rotisseries in the works and just got a bunch of goodies from Aircraft Spruce to start repairing the fuselage after the metal work is done.

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avidflyer
07-24-2020, 10:19 AM
Looks like a nice project for you. I have about 550 hrs behind an early model solid lifter Jabiru (#903) in my Avid Flyer MK IV, and it has been good to me. What is the serial # of yours? When I rebuilt the plane, I went with an MGL e1 engine monitor, and that takes care of all the engine gauges in one 3 1/8" instrument. That frees up lots of room on the panel. A grand rapids EIS would do the same. Have fun, and keep us posted on the progress. JImChuk

Truno223
07-24-2020, 12:22 PM
Thank you sir, I'm looking forward to the project! Thought fabric is new to me I think it will be satisfying to get it done. I'm hoping next weekend I can get the plane to my shop and get the welding done, otherwise I may have to bring a small welder here (power is limited in this shop).

The Jab is Serial No 22A 3814 Model No 2200A

The plane had a GRT EIS in it, a model 3 which when I called GRT is apparently an older unit. Depending on the budget I am toying with the idea of a full pannel from GRT to handle everything but that will all come down to budget and how deep I go on other things.

bbs428
07-24-2020, 03:36 PM
Now there is something you can get your teeth into! Lol. Great project. Will be nice to see her flying once more. :D

All the best!

avidflyer
07-24-2020, 05:51 PM
Maybe you have seen these pictures, I've posted them before, but here are a couple of modifications you could do while you have things apart that will make it stronger and give some more room as well. This is the fuselage for my Kitfox 4 before I sandblasted and painted it. I widened the fuselage 4" using the 1/2" tubing that goes around the door. Makes for way more room. The doors are later bent to fit the new wider openings. Have to take the windows out of them, and bottom panel if that's what you have, cause the doors wont bend otherwise. Make new windows and bottom panel later to fit the new shape. JImChuk

PS, here is my somewhat oldfashoned panel. Have room for a tablet on the right side

Truno223
07-28-2020, 07:09 AM
Thank you all for the comments and insight! Avidflyer I have been reading your posts here and on backcountrypilot for some time now haha. This past weekend I was not able to get much/anything done because we were out of town. But this morning I cleaned up the fuselage some more, pulled the brake masters and tubing in preparation of removing the floor, and did cut out my templates for bracing. My plan is to do it as pictured, filling in some of the outer webbing with perforated 4130 tinwork. I'm hoping I can knock that out this weekend as well as some other small welding projects I need to do here and there assuming I can get up to my home shop with the plane.

In pulling the wing tanks... are there any tricks/tips to getting the filler out of the front seam without damaging the spar? I plan to try the wire/floss/string method to remove the silicon bond on the rear and front but didn't know about the filler itself which seems much harder.

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Truno223
08-03-2020, 06:59 AM
Well, after some more eventful travel than I had anticipated....some minor breakdowns.... I made it to my place/home shop for the weekend and was able to get some work done on the Kitfox.

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I started by straightening out the bent tubing over the landing gear attach point. Then sectioning out the crimped/dented area. I forgot to take pictures during the initial repair but the process was to section in a new piece of 1/2 4130, which had each end sleeved over with another piece of tubing, fully welded at all ends and roset welded in place. Of course I ran out of straight gas for the TIG so everything was MIG this weekend. You can see here the piece of tubing that I removed and then the gusset material added. This was .042 4130 sheet with 1.5in holes. I didn't add it as extensively as some others have done, but I may add some more before finishing up, havent decided yet.

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Next to repair was the spar attach points. When I picked up the plane the gentlemen who were at the hanger mentioned the previous owner had some issues with one side. By the looks of it the tops and bottom of the tube were pretty warn and wallowed out. Beyond the point at which I was comfortable putting off a repair. The spars themself will also need some repairs as it looks like they are oblong too. Those I will cut some sleeves for on the lathe and attach/reinforce when I have the wing tanks out. For this part on the fuselage though I decided the easiest way to perform a repair would be some faux "lineboring"

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It's important to mention that only the top and bottom of my holes were damaged, the center section maintained concentricity. So I started by cleaning up the inside of the tubing with a die grinder, then proceeding to build up some material with the welder.

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Since the middle of my tube was still concentric and within spec I used a long end mill with a short length of cut to remove the recently added material. This effectively used the center of the tube as an index. Lots of lube for this! And proper speeds and feeds are a must... that being said I still managed to break an endmill. Also since they arent meant for blind punches like this there were frequent stops to clear chips.

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Once I had the bore cleaned I hand filed the top surface, being mindful to keep the shoulder square and not go past the original length. Once the top was back in spec I repeated the operation for the bottom.

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When it was all said and done I threw a dial indicator on it and I have less than 4 thou of lateral play in any direction. This matches the other side that did not need repair, nor did the rear mounting points.

I hit the bare metal with some primer for the trip home but still have to debur and clean everything up before it gets finish painted. I was waiting on some MEK resistant (butyl) gloves to come this week so hopefully I can get that done soon.

And to finish off the post, I'll include a picture of the shop helper.

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alexM
08-03-2020, 07:46 AM
Cool project. I'm still hung up on how much of a "hard landing" it would take to bend the Grove gear.

Truno223
08-03-2020, 08:17 AM
Cool project. I'm still hung up on how much of a "hard landing" it would take to bend the Grove gear.


I agree, and given the contact point of the bend in the tubing it very well could have been from something else. There unfortunately was no reason given for the gear replacement, and no mention of the damage to the fuselage in the logs either. So I am effectively guessing.

Truno223
08-20-2020, 08:47 AM
Well not too much to report in terms of progress here. I have been playing with fabric, I had a few small repairs to make and it has been very satisfying. The instant gratification of shrinking fabric is terrific. I could do without the chemicals.... but I am taking the proper precautions in regards to respirator, butyl gloves etc...

It looks like my header tank shipped from KF this week so hopefully I see that soon. In the meantime I have been working to remove the old wing tanks... not fun. I have tried floss, piano wire, synthetic strings. A lot of silicone was used to attach the original tanks and I have resorted to cutting them out to make it more manageable.

Once the tanks are out I will put the wings up in storage and concentrate on finishing the fuselage repairs and recovering. This week I am working to re-do the floorboards and get it ready for paint.

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If anyone has suggestions on the tank removal process I am open to try anything!

Jerrytex
08-20-2020, 02:33 PM
Braided Kevlar fishing line like Spider Wire worked for me. It won't scratch the spars.

I think it was 50 lb test.

Truno223
08-23-2020, 01:51 PM
Thank you Jerry, the braided 50lb was on point! I still managed to break about a dozen pieces to get the last wing half out but it was far better than the other methods I had been using. Once the second wing is stripped of its tank ill be putting them in storage until the new tanks come in and concentrating on finishing up the fabric repairs for the fuselage.

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bbs428
08-23-2020, 07:34 PM
:eek: Now that is some serious work. Making headway - the only way - pure grit and determination wins over finesse. ;)

Truno223
08-25-2020, 03:52 PM
Haha yup! Just working my way through it. No progress to report really other than that my header tank came from KF and I got the one wing put up away awaiting the new wing tanks...The spars are on wooden blocks on one end so the trailing edge floats, and I threw a strap around for good measure. The other end has the last rib sitting on a towel also being mindful to keep weight off the trailing edge.

Probably not the most conventional storage but I think it will suffice for the couple of months until my wing tanks show up.

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Truno223
09-02-2020, 05:24 AM
Well not much to report, hunting season is rapidly approaching and our weekends have been pretty well booked up. I'm working on pulling the other wing tank still and in parallel have been prepping the fuselage front for paint and fabric. As a part of that I cut out some new floor pans... now to get them installed....I had to bend the old ones for removal and can't seem to find an easy way to get these in yet, any suggestions or tricks would be appreciated!

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Truno223
09-04-2020, 07:00 AM
I got the second wing tank out this morning. And without cutting it into multiple pieces nonetheless! You can see in the picture the silicone contact patch is MUCH less for this tank so it was a breeze compared to the other side. The nice thing is that now I can store this wing with the other and start concentrating on knocking out the fabric for the fuselage front.
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And I apologize but I dont know how to rotate these pictures to correct their orientation...

Truno223
09-09-2020, 11:26 AM
A little more progress. I was have the fuselage suspended and off the gear so that I could clean and coat the tubing where I performed weld repairs. I was then able to get the floorboards in and this morning mounted the primary flight controls. I'm replacing all the hardware as I go but it was nice to install some parts in the plane rather than removing them for a change. On to fabric for the fuselage next, then likely some paint before putting the gear back on and deciding where to go from there.

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alexM
09-09-2020, 07:03 PM
Are your rudder pedals suspended below the instrument panel or do you just have them stowed there so you don't have to disconnect cables?

Truno223
09-10-2020, 05:05 AM
Its the latter, I have then stowed up there for transport and work. I didnt want to completely disassemble them until I was ready to replace all the hardware and re-instal.

Truno223
09-11-2020, 06:18 AM
A bit more progress this AM before work. I got my new hardware from AC Spruce and rebuilt the control sticks, and then went on to begin covering the fuselage after applying final torque to all the through floor bolts.

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I haven't finish cut the edges, everything is just roughed in with Polytak to hit my 2in overlap minimums. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to get out there and finish cut the edges, complete gluing it all in place and while I'm at it finish up the patches I need to make for a few spots in the front of the fuselage. I'm still not set on a color scheme so I think I will get this finished out with polybrush and then wait for paint until the wing tanks come in so I can spray everything all at once.

Truno223
09-15-2020, 06:19 AM
We got a bit more done this weekend. The fabric is finish cut, glued, and tightened. I got all my finish tapes on last night and hit it with the first coat of polybrush this am. I have a few areas I want to go back and clean up a bit, but it should be sitting back on it's gear in a few days and then it's on to repairing the cowling and rebuilding the firewall.

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Truno223
09-18-2020, 05:21 AM
Well, I got back at it this morning but only had about 30 minutes to clean up a bit of tape on the fuselage before throwing the gear back on and test fitting the cowling. The cowling is going to be a project within itself, between existing failing/failed repairs and overall tweaks I think this is going to take some time. My plan of attack (open to any suggestions here) is to get everything aligned where I want it first. Then go about repairing the attach points (not all of them were even used, I think I can pickup atleast one more on each side). Once that is handled I will finish by taking the tin work off and rebuilding in glass as well as repairing the rest of the crack and flaws.

Still feels good to throw the cowling on though, almost looks like a plane again... sort of

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Truno223
09-23-2020, 05:59 AM
A little bit more progress but not much unfortunately.

I got the header tank mounted and all the fittings installed, much nicer than the poly tank that came out that's for sure! I also threw the pedals back in and did some initial planning on repairs/revisions for the cowling. I messed up the camloc series when I ordered last time so I am awaiting on another order from AC Spruce before I can start really making some headway on the fiberglass work. I plan to reinforce all the mounting points and repair all the obvious cracks. plus replace all that tin work with glass.


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Truno223
10-28-2020, 11:43 AM
Well it's been a month and honestly I haven't done too much. Well I've done a lot of hunting so no complaints on that end!

I have been going through and replacing and inspecting linkage parts as well as working on the lower cowling. I got the mount points reinforced and have been able to use the forward most lower mount point now. Previously that mount was zip tied to the fuselage.

Next up is redoing the oil cooler extrusion and providing options for additional future cooling if needed here. The cowling isn't aligned as nicely as I personally would like it, spinner is about 1/4 off center and the entire cowling is rotated about 3/4in in relation to the fuselage, but I dont think it's worth chasing too much further. Likely if it drives me crazy ill redo it entirely down the road. Firewall is going to be rebuilt too to take up the gaps present.

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bbs428
10-28-2020, 02:47 PM
I get you on the cowl alignment. If anything nags at you now, it will later on as well. Agreed on the firewall.

Keep on plugging away, now back to work... ;)

Truno223
10-28-2020, 04:55 PM
I get you on the cowl alignment. If anything nags at you now, it will later on as well. Agreed on the firewall.

Keep on plugging away, now back to work... ;)

That tends to be how I am, I am sure it will bug me if I don't fix it!

4Hummer
10-28-2020, 06:59 PM
Great Thread. Enjoyed the read so far

Truno223
01-16-2021, 12:58 PM
Well New Year and finally have some progress again. The cold weather with long cure times and temporary heat is slowing me down... but excuses aside I have basically just been distracted with other projects.

I did manage to get the oil cooler bump out redone, and I am certain I did it the slowest least efficient way possible. All in I have about 8 hours in redoing the cowling and probably need to spend another 2 finishing and sanding before it will be ready for paint.

This frightening image is what I used as my initial form, I should have created a mold and then cast a part but I didn't.

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From there it was lots of sanding and re-glassing to get the shape I wanted. Then filled and smoothed the small voids with Micro Ballons and epoxy. I also redid the air dam at the back and molded a bump out for the exhaust.

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For anywhere I added glass I took the base material down to remove all paint, filler, etc until I got to the original glass like in the case of the cracked upper cowling below.

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Then I layered in glass on both sides of the original material to sandwich it all together.

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Like I said I know there are more effecient and faster ways to get this done, but it worked for me.

I also got in the stainless I need to redo the firewall, and will be working on that next. The metal fab is way more in my wheelhouse so I am looking forward to knocking that project out. Still waiting on my fuel tanks from KF but once those get here the wing work will be next. If I get the firewall done first I will probably move on to brakes and tires just for the gratification factor of seeing that through.

Truno223
01-19-2021, 05:47 AM
Cleaned up a few things today but need to run to my place to grab an engine hoist this weekend so I can pull the motor to redo the firewall.

In the picture below you can see where I taped cardboard to the original firewall in order to take up the gap between it and the cowling. The black sharpie mark indicates where the existing firewall ends.

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Ordered some hardware from AC spruce to get properly sized washers and bolts used when I put the motor mount back on.

Truno223
01-29-2021, 12:27 PM
I got the motor pulled this am and plan to start working on the firewall this weekend. Definitely missing my heated shop since it was 4 below this am when I was out there.

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I'll be using the old tin as a template and seeing if I can clean up the design a bit. Hopefully more updates to come shortly

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Truno223
01-31-2021, 03:25 PM
A little bit done this weekend. I got the majority of the firewall cut out and roughed in. The lower portion will be narrowed up to enlarge the footwells and provide enough clearance for the pedals. Right now those two pieces are just cleco'd in place. I need to grab some more propane for the heater but I am anticipating getting this finished up this week if things go well.

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Truno223
02-08-2021, 06:39 AM
Well I got the better half to brave the cold in the shop and help me finish up the firewall. It's all in place and riveted with the exception of the bottom edge (cleco until paint).

For the time being I am working on some small odds and ends, engine controls, air plenum, pedal spring bracing etc. Not overly exciting from a picture perspective but it all needs to be done. I also want to rework the exhaust a little for some better clearance of the firewall. Previously it was dented and the firewall was pushed in for a clearance. I'll need to do that in NH though with my tig setup since its stainless, so maybe this weekend if I can get up there.

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Side note... if anyone can tell me how to rotate images that would be awesome.

Eric Page
02-08-2021, 10:56 AM
Side note... if anyone can tell me how to rotate images that would be awesome.
I presume you're uploading images taken on a cell phone. I don't have any idea why the forum software screws up image rotation, and I don't know if it's specific to iPhones (that's what I use) but any image that's taken with my iPhone held vertically will be rotated 90 deg counter-clockwise by the forum.

For example, this photo was taken with my iPhone held vertically...



...and this photo was taken with my iPhone held horizontally.
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There are two ways to avoid this automatic rotation:

1. Take all photos in landscape orientation (iPhone held horizontally). That obviously doesn't help for vertical subjects. In that case, see option 2.

As an aside, you'll notice that almost all of the photos that I upload are square. I use the "SQUARE" setting in the camera app, but it's just to make the images a little smaller and save storage space. It doesn't have any effect on the rotation problem; I still have to hold my iPhone horizontally for the forum to handle them properly.

2. Open each picture that was taken vertically in an image editor and then save it without making any changes. If you have multiple photos to process, you can do this in a batch.


Select all of the images to be processed at once (click on the first one in a folder, then hold down Shift and click on the last one -OR- click on the first one, then hold down Ctrl while you click on each of the others).
Right click on one of the selected image files, and in the context menu that pops up, click "Edit." On my computer, this opens a stack of windows with one instance of Microsoft Paint containing each image.
Click the "Save" button (the little floppy disc at upper left, on the title bar), then double-click the Paint palette icon next to the "Save" button to close the window.

Do the last step for each instance of Paint, then upload the images to the forum as you normally would. After this process, they won't be rotated incorrectly.

jrevens
02-08-2021, 12:29 PM
Regarding a photo taken with an iPhone ... I believe you can also open the picture in your photos and click on “Edit” in the upper right hand corner. Then click on the little “square” with the 2 arrows on the lower right of the screen. Then you can rotate the picture with the square with an arrow at the upper left of the screen. Each click will rotate it 90 deg. You may need 90 or a full 270 to have it display properly on the site... experiment. Then save and upload it. Eric’s way is probably better, but you can do everything on your phone.

Truno223
02-08-2021, 01:43 PM
Awesome, thank you both very much! I will try to use those methods in the future and see if I can get it figured out.

taff
02-08-2021, 02:14 PM
Here you go.
I rotated on the PC

Truno223
02-10-2021, 05:59 AM
Thank you all again for the help with the images...now for the test can I do it without jacking it all up!

Not too much to report on progress, just chipping away at little things, making new leads for the starter/engine ground, replacing assorted hardware. The rudder controls are hooked up again.

I ordered some wiring components, starter solenoid, diodes, etc to work on finalizing my FWF electronic layout. Also ordered some seals for the firewall to cowling and air plenums. I'm going to work on an airbox next, and give KF a call to see where my tanks are. If they're still a ways out I'll probably move onto running gear and brakes next and just keep chipping away at paint prep.

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Truno223
02-22-2021, 12:50 PM
A bit more progress on the FWF end of things.

I got my cowling seal installed and have begun mounting my other components. I have some fuel system components ordered, lift pump, and all of that good stuff.

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Truno223
06-29-2021, 05:39 AM
Well it's been a while! I have been picking away at the FWF and dealing with some component mountings, my throttle and choke controls, replacing all the rubber etc. But in better news my new tanks arrived.

I have then cleaned, fitted, and leak tested (many leak tests)

Hoping to get them bonded in today and once that is cured I can start getting ready for fabric.

We're on deck for another move in a week so progress will continue to be slow but once I get it painted I plan to throw the wings on and bring it to my shop where I can start on assembly.