Basket Case
The following description is of the basket case I am rebuilding for a customer.
The first picture is of the pile of parts as stored after the day long trip to pick them up. The trike portion was assembled and sat in front of the previous owners house for quite a while, long enough to sink into the ground a couple inches anyway.
Hard to imagine this pile of parts ever having been flown, much less being flown in the future.
Being outside and uncovered, the bolts and fittings were rusty and tarnished. The engine is covered with aluminum oxidation.
Tires were rotted, wheels were broken, throttle cables were frozen solid, and luckily, the prop and seat cover were stored in a nearby trailer.
The rudder frame still has a small piece of fabric clinging under the trim tab, the person who tore the balance of the fabric off not wanting to drill the poprivets out and remove it.
An interesting tube that showed up along with the complete trike was a used and abused landing gear downtube. The large gouge is from the driveshaft eating into the side of the tube after a crash landing. Note that this tube is severly bent along with the gouge. Often such a gouge will occur on a tube that is not bent or perhaps straightened for reuse as a result of other tube failures allowing contact between the shaft and tubing parts.
The engine appears to be OK but will require a full teardown based on the exposure and the totally unknown history. New crank seals, and a bead blasting will perk it up along with a complete inspection of everything. Caged needle rollers will be replaced too , no cageless needed here based on the low HP and expense.
The used plane deal also imcluded a brand new factory Quicksilver sail easily distinguished from an aftermarket sail by the Quicksilver printed rudder cover. Some mods will be made to the sail package such as the tapered stab mod and possibly a clipped wing too.
I'll be working on thie rebuild over the winter and expect to have updates as major portions are completed. I will keep a running discussion of the parts used, costs of major items, etc.
Any questions may be addressed to mark@trikite.com
mailto:mark@trikite.com
For the next segment go to Basket Case 2