Kitfox-4 Porche powered ?? Yes !!!

[rogerh12]

Howdy All;
Well, I have finally stopped taking apart the Porsche Aero engine, and started putting it back together !!! I am getting a lot of work done, cleaning and making parts, since my wife left the country to visit her mom, but the house is looking a bit ragged (now it’s more like a warehouse). This larger variant of the type-1 engine offers more cooling fins, which should really come in handy with the slow flying Kitfox-4, though weight and CG are a constant concern. I have modified the exhaust and intake to try and move the engines CG back, along with most the accessories mounting locations, and ordered a light weight wood prop. But beggars can’t be choosers, and with the prop now on order, I still only have about $5,200 bucks in the whole firewall forward, which includes custom Engine mount, over-sized cowling, new duel ignition and electric start + Generator. I hope to have the whole thing mounted up and test running in 6-8 weeks.
Roger

[Dave F]

Roger -- looks promising.........

You marriage looks less promising LOL

better get it cleaned up and installed or you be in the dog house... for life LOL

[SkyPirate]

Lol brings back memories, before i got married i had a whole airplane on its wheels and wings on in my living room, you were liable to find airplane parts in the dish washer , pizza box's on the wings, and of course the cockpit was always free of debri so at any given time i could climb in and make airplane noises while looking out the sliding glass doors lol
Ahh the good ole days envy is stirring

Chase

[Dick B in KY]

Better hope the wife doesn't have access to this forum , or you be in REAL trouble from those pics.

Dick B

[Geowitz]

Where can I get rugged landing gear like that???

[Dorsal]

Looks like it might be retractable

[Av8r3400]

Looks a little narrow for me, but I'm sure Roger has a plan...

[rogerh12]

Howdy All;

Well it’s Saturday night, and the wife is still out of the country, so I figured, what the heck, I would just hang the engine on my Kitfox tonight !!!
As mentioned before, it’s a Kitfox model 4, the engine is a Great Plains conversion of a Type-4 Porsche 2400cc motor. As this engine fit requires a custom Engine mount and Cowling (which I bought premade), I still have to make my own custom firewall. So, I figure since the landing gear is wood, why not make the firewall out of cardboard? Ok, well it’s just a handy material to cut and add to, as needed, until I get the final firewall shape worked out, but it works good (though it kind of looks like a fire hazard, a “real” firewall !!! ). From the pictures, you can see that clearance from the motor to the firewall is good, despite it needing to be so close to the firewall to keep the CG in check, but the magneto clearance is minimal, so I will need to bang out a bit more room in the firewall.

The primary Distributor ignition is not yet installed, but the intake and exhaust pipes are done, they just need to be mounted (then I will test fit the cowling).
Well, that’s it for now
Roger