Checking In!

[Rmendler]

Hey guy/gals, just joined the forum. I purchased my first airplane last night, just so happens to be a Kitfox IV-1200. N94JE in Warrenton, VA.

I will be trailering it home Saturday and hopefully have it in the air shortly after.

I'm sure I'm going to have some questions about it and kitfox's in general.

Thanks Everyone!

[Av8r_Sed]

Hi Richard,

Congrats on your new purchase and welcome to the forum! We'll need you to post some pics and specs on your plane real soon.

Take extra time and care when prepping your bird for trailer travel. You have a much higher risk for damage when moving it. Hopefully the seller will help you with the wing folding the first time. From my experience it's much easier if you have it in level flight attitude when you do the fold so gravity doesn't take over. I usually get the tail up on the trailer first with the wheels chocked and then proceed.

Good luck and good weather for the move.

[Dorsal]

Welcome aboard, fun plane fun crowd

[GWright6970]

Richard,
Welcome to the "obsession group!!" Not sure if I have heard of a cure yet!!! Please post some pictures when you can.

Enjoy the journey!!
Grover

[Rmendler]

Well I was in Atlanta when the aircraft was delivered and drama unfolded.
Apparently when the aircraft was coming off the trailer the winch strap snapped, which sent the aircraft off the trailer sideways and the tail swung out and hit the previous owner of the aircraft, knocked him off the trailer and hurt him.

So then the aircraft would not fit in the space i had rented (even though I was told the door was 10ft wide and 7 ft tall, it was really 7ft 8 inches and 6 ft tall) go figure.

Now the aircraft is wrapped up in a tarp, OUTSIDE, in this wicked winter blizzard we are having in the mountains of North Carolina. I'm home from Atlanta and I can't even get down my driveway. It's a solid 2ft of snow outside right now.

When this storm lifts I'm going to trailer it to Virginia Highlands airport and have the local A&P and a good friend of mine (also A&P) go over the entire aircraft and replace the carburetor intake rubbers with silicone. (dryrot got'em).

So that has been my incredibly stressful past 2 days. I really hope the aircraft is undamaged

[Grady]

Welcome to the forums and hope you have as much fun with your kitfox as I do.

[Rmendler]

I'm going to check the needle position and Jet #'s tomorrow. The plug color is normal, no abnormalities there with the exception it is running a tad rich with a small amount of fouling.

So I took off this afternoon at 3pm, first time she's been flown since moving her to the airport in Tennessee at 2,200ft MSL. The temperature was 66 degrees farenheight, density altitude was 2,000ft. Did a nice, long preflight while I was waiting on my instructor. Started the engine, let it warm up to 140 degree water temp, conducted a runup and back taxied down runway 24. As we were turning around we held on the brakes and throttled it up to 6,000RPM's and everything was great, seemed to run good. We rolled onto the runway and applied full throttle, immedietely the EGT's dropped into the 900's, then the 800's as we lifted off. They came back up to the upper 900's quickly but alas, we had a problem

The engine was making NO power and we were only 80lbs under gross. As we hit 200ft AGL the climb rate was only at 150-200ft per minute and as we turned crosswind we started losing alititude. After a fancy manuever we got ourselves back into the wind and made a midfield landing.

It's time to rejet. Looking back at the fuel totalizer, at 6,300 RPM's we were burning 6.5GPH! If we had not turned back there is no doubt in my mind that we would be in the tree's right now. Not many open landing spots in the high ridges of the Appalachain mountains. A minimum altitude of 4,500MSL must be achieved just to clear the first set of ridges.

I was shaken a bit so I came home, tomorrow I'm going to check the Jet sizes and Idle Jet sizes. I bet they are 165/55 respectively. I think a 155/45 change would be good for the engine. Not sure if I need to mess with the midrange Needle Jet or not, I have no experience with changing these. I suppose just changing its clip location may be enough to fix it?

If I had of flown 2 days ago with the temps in the mid to upper 80's and no wind I think we would have had to make an emergency landing immediately after takeoff. It may not have ended so well.

[Rmendler]

on a lighter note, has anyone tried making a radiator that will fit under the cowling? something that mounts to the gearbox similar to the ultralight radiatiors that Rotax sells? Radiator technology has improved vastly, I have a custom Griffing radiator I had made. It cools a 550HP Chevy LS1 with a 383 Stroker kit and 11:1 compression in a Mazda Miata and it does so very well. Enough that I have to cover it up if the temps get below 50 degrees. It's small too!

Also, I am absolutely sold on a clutch, saw one perform and wow. I can actually pull power back all the way at landing without worrying the propeller is pulling the engine and created a WAY lean situation.

[tommg13780]

From what I've read sofar it sounds like you are flirting with disaster. You stated that your ground runup only produced 6000 RPM's which was telling you that it ain't going to climb. At that point the airplane should have gone back to the hanger for corrections.
6.5 gal/hr is about what a 582 will consume at full throttle.
The most alarming thing going on is taking off with 2 people in an unproven setup that is not producing full power. You need a test pilot and test pilots fly solo.
Prop pitch as suggested by Av8r Sed can have a big influence on EGT temps and of course totally determines full power RPM's.
It almost sounds like the needles may be on top of the plastic slide in the carbs rather that under. That would give the symptoms described.

[tommg13780]

One more thing...... All the information you gathered while flying with your instructor could have and should have been done with that airplane tied to a tree, pickup truck or whatever.
I realize that this formum is intended for positive reinforcement, encouragement and all that sort of stuff but seriously you really need to be a lot more conscious of the risk management side of things.
Fortunately you have an opportunity to make the necessary corrections and get a successful flying program going.