Today I bought the white and blue Avid Flyer B model that had been accidentally damaged at HSF. It was a win-win for everyone. The insurance bought him a later model Avid Mk. IV, and the seller kept the engine from the B model to transfer over onto it. I got something that will get me back into the air sooner, for a very low price.

This is likely the highest time Avid or Kitfox on the planet, having some 4200 hours in the logs. I have a line on a very reasonably priced lightweight 60HP 4 stroke engine to put on it, so I don't have to become a 2 stroke expert like BCP member Avid Flyer.

The damage is surprisingly light. The left main gear absorbed most of the force, being torn apart and twisted in the process. It needs some very mild straightening of 3 or 4 fuselage tubes, perhaps without replacing any of them. Scrapes on the wingtips, abrasive damage to the cowling. That's actually about it.

What I would like to ask is whether anyone on this forum has a couple of parts and pieces that might speed up this process:

I'm looking for a good left main gear, or a pair of slightly taller gears from a later model, at an attractive price. I'm unfortunately NOT in the financial position to buy the brand new style bush gear from Airdale, Roberts, Grove, etc.

I'm looking for an engine mount that will fit an Avid model B, that I can modify for the new engine (Franklin 2A-120)

Thanks in advance for any such parts, and for any advice pertaining to the Avid B model.

EZFlap wrote: Today I bought the white and blue Avid Flyer B model that had been accidentally damaged at HSF......

As opposed to one that had been damaged on purpose?

hotrod180 wrote:

EZFlap wrote: Today I bought the white and blue Avid Flyer B model that had been accidentally damaged at HSF......

As opposed to one that had been damaged on purpose?

It's been known to happen.

Bill,
Check the teamkitfox.com forum and the avidfoxflyers.com forum classifieds. I have met a couple guys on these sites that may have the parts you need. I will give one of them a call and see what I can find out.
By the way, welcome to the club....I just bought a Kitfox IV myself. I have been looking at 180's/182's all summer and my son mentioned wanting a Kitfox. I happened to find an almost complete on for a decent price so bought it and hope to get it finished this winter. The above suggested sites seem to have a good following and plenty of guys willing to help.
Good luck with the new toy!!

Be sure and join AvidFoxflyers.com.There's lots of guys with projects on there.I also know of a B model parts bird but I'm not sure what the guy is planning to keep or get rid of as he's doing the same thing as you. Good luck with bird I'd like to see it get back into the air.

EZFlap wrote:I'm looking for an engine mount that will fit an Avid model B, that I can modify for the new engine (Franklin 2A-120)

So let me see if I've got this straight we want to stick a 900 year old 2 cylinder Franklin death defier on a ho-made mount bolted up to an airplane that was designed for the Rotax 503......a proven reliable engine that is available in great numbers for very little money.....and go where?

Just kidding Bill. Have fun.

Your pal Dan

Glad you are jazzed! May we see some pictures? Seems like a sweet deal to me.

Mister701 wrote:

EZFlap wrote:I'm looking for an engine mount that will fit an Avid model B, that I can modify for the new engine (Franklin 2A-120)

So let me see if I've got this straight we want to stick a 900 year old 2 cylinder Franklin death defier on a ho-made mount bolted up to an airplane that was designed for the Rotax 503......a proven reliable engine that is available in great numbers for very little money.....and go where?

Just kidding Bill. Have fun.

Your pal Dan

On the other hand, if none of that works, it's the safest airplane on the planet--good for shade only.

Cary

Mister701 wrote:
So let me see if I've got this straight we want to stick a 900 year old 2 cylinder Franklin death defier on a ho-made mount bolted up to an airplane that was designed for the Rotax 503......a proven reliable engine that is available in great numbers for very little money.....and go where?

There's about 4 miles of solid houses around my home field in most directions, and all of the normal traffic routes are over them. Whether it's pilot error, mechanic's error, or lack of operator education, the bottom line is that if I have any sort of engine issue on the way to or from my home field, I'm gonna be in someone's back yard trying to learn how to speak Spanish.

If it was a brand new Simonini Victor 2 Plus (2-stroke), and if I went to some sort of Mini-Squirt fuel injection to escape Mikuni Madness... yeah maybe. If the Simonini had one giant version of the Perry carburetor on my old K&B .40, I'd probably be willing to run that

You might be confusing the 2 cylinder Franklin with the geared 4 cylinder special version (113 HP) that they tried to use on the Interstate L-6 in WW2. A large percentage of those didn't make it through the Air Corps delivery flights !

Wasn't that 2-banger Franklin the engine Champion hung on the short-lived 7ACA?
60hp should be plenty for an Avid, as long as the weight isn't prohibative. That seems to have been the trouble with small 4-stroke engines.

Yes, the 2A-120 was the engine off of the 7ACA. Apparently it weighs 128 pounds, which is very close to the Jabiru that came off this airplane.

Because of my specific and debilitating aero-medical condition (Gravitas Maximus Beer-gut-itis) the airplane will be 95% operated as a single place. It has the original thinner wall spar tubes, so I went into this with a mind-set that flying it single place would give me a reasonable structural reserve for gusts.

So in that situation 60HP should work out fine for now. Eventually I can make about a 10% improvement by going to an electronic ignition, and perhaps another ten by fiddling with the carburetion, compression ratio, exhaust, etc. over time.

I've located a set of replacement (stock) landing gear for it. Some time in the future I might upgrade to a taller or wider set, but not right away. At this stage, the biggest single obstacle is doing a little straightening of the fuselage structure, and replacing one slightly bent tube.

Will be good to see little john's bird back in the air. Just watch for them concrete blocks.

I will post up about this on AFF, I can help you out with some of the parts needed,