Another rudder rib and Airbike progress
I got rib number two made and welded. Amazing how long it's taking me to get that finished. It must be the result of only working a couple hours a week.
I decided to see what it would take to get the Hirth engine back on the Airbike. It was running when the Airbike was disassembled, but that was four or five years ago. Since then, it has been sitting on a dolly in the hangar. I emailed Matt at Rec Power to see about getting a gasket and seal kit to let me do a full teardown and inspection. He offered to do it for under $300 and that includes labor and new gaskets.
This seems like a good deal since he sees the inside of these engines all the time. He is a better judge of the state of the parts than I am. Chances are good that the crank is rusted and needs to be replaced. If that is the case, the price of the parts will determine whether it gets fixed or not. If the crank and other internals are still servicable, then I'll start getting the Airbike back together immediately. It shouldn't need much other than the usual maintenance items. I'll replace all the fuel lines, filters, etc. The tanks need to be cleaned out. They had auto gas in them last and it gunked up the tanks.
The rest of the work will mostly be cleaning it up and replacing a few bolts that got re-assigned to Pitts duty. The covering and paint is still in great shape and just needs to be washed. As long as the engine hasn't been junked from lack of attention, I could be flying the Airbike again pretty soon. Just have to wait for the results from Matt's inspection.
Here's a picture of the rudder with rib number two.
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