Model IV needed mods?

[Greg79]

Yep that will keep me busy for awhile!! Thank you!!

[Guy Buchanan]

1. Go through all the Service Bulletins. Yes, I know it's a pain, but that's where all the safety issues are.
2. Decide what your goals are. Do you want an Oshkosh winner? Do you want it ultra-light? Do you want it super comfortable for long cross countries? Your goals will define many of your mods. For example, for my plane the goal was light, light, light, but still sexy. So:
3. All wood paneling was replaced with aluminum honeycomb.
4. The fiberglass seat pan was replaced with carbon. (Early seats had cracking issues at the forward attachment.)
5. The instrument panel and glare shield was carbon.
6. No silver UV protection was used, as the entire plane was painted with Imron, which had UV protection in it.
7. The tail surfaces were kept stock, with minimal airfoiling on the horizontal and vertical stab surfaces only.
8. The rudder was gap sealed with a simple carbon extrusion. The elevator with clear packing tape.
9. Lots of other mods to keep things light.
10. Everything was designed/built to make it easy to fold the wings: turtle deck, flaperon controls, fuel line routing, and I installed inboard valved tank vents to allow folding with full tanks.
11. My upper cowl was split at the firewall. This allowed a water-tight seal over the electrical and avionics, while still having easy access to the engine.
12. Next time I'd use piano hinges to attach the various cowl pieces.
13. Build a rigid baggage compartment. I made mine out of aluminum angles of various sizes and used corrugated plastic for the sidewalls and fiberglass honeycomb for the floor. All could be removed for access to the aft fuselage. Some have removed the two diagonal seat belt supports that intrude on the baggage compartment and moved the center seat belt support outboard to behind each occupant.
14. Build your own door latches.
15. Use bubble doors.
16. Make the rear triangle windows removable. Don't attach them to the fabric; they'll then be difficult to replace.
17. Put your door struts in front. That makes flying with the doors open much more pleasant.
18. If a 912 install, put the voltage regulator behind the firewall. It's not noisy and the heat reduction may save you some money.
19. I'd reinforce the landing gear attachments. They can rotate under load. (The pins move inboard.)
20. Put in the flap detent system.
21. If you feel like some fun, extend the legroom 3" by moving the seat back and the engine forward. You'll be happy you did. (Make sure the wheels stay in the same place relative to the leading edge.)

OK that's enough for now. Whew!

[Slyfox]

Good advice Guy, keep it light. the only Mod my 4 has is elevator trim. ya it's got grove gear, real nice. I put stats in the horizontal. has the standard elevator that came with it, I think it's the 94 1200. It started out long wing. I took a bay out and added two new tanks 13 gal. put vg's on it. now has 27.5 tires and T3 8inch matco double arm tail wheel.

I don't think mine needs the added supports, I learned to land it slow. many people make the mistake and come in over the numbers at 70mph or higher. be it scared or doing the Cessna thing, don't know. but a kitfox will bounce and go all over the place and ground loop with those speeds. I would just make sure the front mains are in alignment. that can make a squarely little machine.

what has made my fox special is the 912uls motor. that really changed the airplane. power when I need it and I don't have to worry about density altitude. I also love the inflight adjust medium Ivo. My 4 is a cheap fun flying machine. I love it.

[Greg79]

Thanks Guy!That is a big list!