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Thread: What are these tubes for?

  1. #1
    Senior Member 109JB's Avatar
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    Mar 2019
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    Morris, IL
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    Default What are these tubes for?

    Been stripping and modifying the fuselage on my project Kitfox 4 and was wondering what the purpose of the 2 tubes circled in the attached picture are for. They are located between the firewall and the instrument panel. I don't think they were used on my airplane and before I cut them out I wanted to know what their original intended purpose was. Can anyone shed light on what they are for?

    Thanks.

    Kitfox tubes.jpg
    John Brannen
    Morris, IL
    Sonerai IIL (Single Seat)
    Kitfox 3/4 1050 - Rotax 582 (Back Flying and sold)
    Kitfox IV 1050 - Rotax 582 (sold)
    Kitfox IV 1200 Speedster - Rotax 912 UL (project)
    Piper Twin Comanche (Sold)
    Glasair 1 FT (Waiting to start)

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    North central Ia.
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    28

    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Throttle cable's. I eliminated them and used the rotax dual carb throttle control.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Gothenburg, Sweden
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    11

    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Hi, nice work to restore the airplane!
    I wonder what method did you use to remove the paint from the steel tubes, rotary steel brush, sand/soda blasting or dissolvent?
    I also wonder if the fuselage was powder coated or not?

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Kitchener, Ontario
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    127

    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Quote Originally Posted by Iowa 67 View Post
    Throttle cable's. I eliminated them and used the rotax dual carb throttle control.
    Yup ditch that setup and go with the McFarlane Throttle. The stock mixer is crap and a pain to synchronize, throttle doesn't alway return to perfect idle.... Cut that crap off.

  5. #5
    Senior Member 109JB's Avatar
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    Mar 2019
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    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Quote Originally Posted by snowpaw View Post
    Hi, nice work to restore the airplane!
    I wonder what method did you use to remove the paint from the steel tubes, rotary steel brush, sand/soda blasting or dissolvent?
    I also wonder if the fuselage was powder coated or not?
    Still working on removing the powder coat. I started to just repair a few spots that had rust peeking through and when I did a couple spots found that the powder coat was hiding rust. Spots adjacent to the stained area looked perfect on the surface, but there was rust underneath. My analysis is that the prep was poor prior to powder coating. After peeling a bunch off I could tell that the tubes still had all of the mill scale and some spots the powder coat was not stuck to the tube, probably due to oil not being removed from the surface. After finding this I decided to totally strip the fuselage. I started with sandblasting but immediately determined that the powder coat was too tough to sandblast the entire frame, so on areas I could get to I did a combination of chemical stripper and wire wheel which will be followed up by sandblasting. I still have to sandblast from the seat back forward but weather isn't cooperating.
    John Brannen
    Morris, IL
    Sonerai IIL (Single Seat)
    Kitfox 3/4 1050 - Rotax 582 (Back Flying and sold)
    Kitfox IV 1050 - Rotax 582 (sold)
    Kitfox IV 1200 Speedster - Rotax 912 UL (project)
    Piper Twin Comanche (Sold)
    Glasair 1 FT (Waiting to start)

  6. #6
    Senior Member 109JB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Morris, IL
    Posts
    484

    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Quote Originally Posted by 4Hummer View Post
    Yup ditch that setup and go with the McFarlane Throttle. The stock mixer is crap and a pain to synchronize, throttle doesn't alway return to perfect idle.... Cut that crap off.
    They are gone. The airplane already had a mcfarlane throttle, so all set there.
    John Brannen
    Morris, IL
    Sonerai IIL (Single Seat)
    Kitfox 3/4 1050 - Rotax 582 (Back Flying and sold)
    Kitfox IV 1050 - Rotax 582 (sold)
    Kitfox IV 1200 Speedster - Rotax 912 UL (project)
    Piper Twin Comanche (Sold)
    Glasair 1 FT (Waiting to start)

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Angola In
    Posts
    89

    Default Re: What are these tubes for?

    Quote Originally Posted by snowpaw View Post
    Hi, nice work to restore the airplane!
    I wonder what method did you use to remove the paint from the steel tubes, rotary steel brush, sand/soda blasting or dissolvent?
    I also wonder if the fuselage was powder coated or not?
    If your looking for a great paint stripper that works on powder coat also.
    Check out D-solve 15-33r. From solvent Kleene company.
    I used it to strip my powder coated frame worked great. Let it sit for a couple days, steam clean,repeat.
    no harsh smell and doesn’t try to dissolve your skin!

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