New guy new project

[mtcicon]

Hi everyone. New sheep to the flock. I own a cessna 150 that I'm selling in anticipation of a Kitfox 5. It is the early model 1400 lbs. O200 for power. A friend built it and due to some build issues and bad luck wound up munching up a gear leg and collapsing the gear on landing along with a wing tip. He finished most of the repair before losing interest which is where I came into the story. As long as we can make sure the paperwork is good and that the airframe (which has been inspected and found to be perfect) can be found flight worthy then we have a deal pounded out. I will buy the plane as is and complete repairs with my mechanic and begin flying a Kitfox. So here's hoping everything goes well. The fsdo in Portland will hopefully tell us that the aircraft can be made flight worthy again.

[Norm]

Congratulations and welcome. I see you have already changed the gear so looks like your close to ready. I think more spring gears are put on after the original fails. BTW You might find the Kitfox V has just a little more performance than a 150 :) Good Luck
Norm

[kmach]

Hi, You should notice a difference from the 150 :)

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Cessna is pending sale now. The buyer has been found and delivery is on Sunday. Now all I need is info on the Kitfox. Another photo of this project for you guys.

[SkyPirate]

Love my 5 , it's powered with a 912,

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After I recieved an approval from Joe at LSA aviation I am pleased to say that I have purchased the kitfox. N852PG should be in the air hopefully this spring. I will keep everyone posted on this thread. Also I'll have photos posted when I can.

[DesertFox4]

The model 5 is a great Kitfox. Congrats and good luck.

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I just finished a visit to Joe at LSA aviation. I spent just over a full day there. In order to save time and money my girlfriend and I worked for about 12 hrs yesterday on PG. We removed the old plastic header tank and the seat. We then washed out the planes' interior. Since I recienved the aircraft in a basket case configuration I then sorted all the parts and hardware to see what we had and what we would need while Joe installed the wing tips. Then we started ironing one of the wings. Last but not least we organized and restored the books and located all important records while copying down part numbers of hardware needed to complete the plane. All the tedious work is completed now and all that is left is to paint and install the major aircraft parts. After that it's all about the engine. Should be seeing test flights in about 2 months I think.

[mtcicon]

Ok so some updates. I'm going to be getting back to work on my plane today. First things first I'm up in Seattle at spencer aircraft getting paint and thinner as Joe has run out. He sent me some photos so here goes

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Washed upon arrival. I think the average accumulation of dust was 1lb. Per year of sitting

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Tail assembly

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Wings in the paint booth

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Silver is done

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The white is on.......... But we need more to finish the job

[DesertFox4]

Good progress. Nice paint booth.
Keep after it. Lots of fun when she is finished.:)

[mtcicon]

Worked about 3 hrs on her today. I got the newer three spring tailwheel spring installed. The rudder is installed. The wings are fully painted and ready for installation tomorrow. Also I will be doing a one hr test run tomorrow as well.

[mtcicon]

We are getting some progress now so it's time to update this thread. Shortly after my last post I tested the O200. The results were a disaster. The engine was unable to achieve RPMs greater than 1400 and once the oil warmed up the pressure went to 10 lbs. after running the leak down test revealed one cylinder was completely trashed. So that engine was no good. I didn't know what to do for a long time and eventually we decided to try to do a rebuild. I figured a cost of about 15k was going to be required to accomplish this. Joe my mechanic suggested going with a corvair which after some research I agreed would be a fun alternative to what I had. We sold the engine and have been collecting the parts ever since. Today I picked up the final box of parts down in Florida and am on my way home to begin assembly. The motor will be comparable in weight to an O200 but at 120hp. The current plan (men plan, God laughs) is to begin assembly in 2 weeks and hopefully start first flights around New Years if all goes well during installation. The fuselage is done at this point. Joe put in the adjustable pedals along with a new floorboard. The tail and wings are done and the fuel system is plumbed in with the new header tank. Now all that's left is the engine installation. The folks at SPA in Florida are developing a motor mount and exhaust system for use in the Kitfox. I owe them a great debt of gratitude for all they have done to get me to this point. Since the next step is going to strictly involve the engine I have decided to continue this thread over in the engine forum titled "Corvair in a Kitfox". Most likely due to the fact that that will overshadow the rest of any aircraft related work I do I will probably post the flight results there as well. So thankyou for letting me post here and let's hope the next thread is a success.

[DesertFox4]

Will be watching for the Corvair postings. Very good luck with the engine build and install.