Tommygun,

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Someone spent a lot of time building that aircraft. Looks like the wing might have been covered with silk and painted. Can’t tell on the fuselage, might be coated with epoxy and panted but the original had open areas on the sides of the tail. Interesting that the fuselage has filets and a bolt on wing, because the original Kwik Fli III did not have filets and used rubber bands to hold the wing on. Looks like the fuel tank hatch has been modified too and must be held by a screw on the front. Whoever built it did a very nice job and put a lot of air time with it. It has a fabulous patina and if it was mine I would leave it as is. From the AMA number the person that built it would be in their early 60s now unless they were older when they joined the AMA.

From the pictures it looks like it has wood beam mounts for the engine. The original Kwik Fli III only had a little over 3 ¼” from the front of the fuselage to the firewall for the engine space. It was designed that way because Phil used an aluminum plate on the back of his engine that bolted directly to the firewall. The short space limits the type of engine that will easily fit. On beam mounts, most modern 61s will need about 3 ¾” or more with the remote needle valves. The OS 91 is almost 4” plus the space needed for the remote needle valve so I expect you would need to do a lot of rework on the nose to make it fit. Although I prefer 61s in Kwik Flis, some of the 50 - 53 size engines like the Irvine 53 ABC (with a front needle valve) with a pipe would be a good choice.