I had my MD-RA inspector over today to inspect the project thus far. The MD-RA inspector in Canada is roughly the equivalent to the DAR inspector in the US. One of the key differences is that in Canada the inspector will come multiple times throughout the build to review the progress and then a final inspection prior to flight. My understanding is that the DAR inspection in the US is only the final inspection.
Today's inspection was to review what was needed to be done by myself or others (or even Ray, the previous owner) vs. what was from a flying aircraft. The definition of an amateur built aircraft is that the builder does at least 51% of the work. For example, Vans RV kits are beautifully engineered such that even the quick build kit requires the builder to do at least 51% of the work. Each section of the build is considered and scored on builder vs. factory or previous aircraft. My inspector went through the project and he gave the project a score of 80%. That is, only 20% of the work to get the plane flying will be from the original build the remainder will be done by me. I reviewed the project myself and was a little more critical. I gave the project a score of 71%. Either way, it's a lot more than the required 51% and it's therefore well within the guidelines to be classified as an amateur built.
I should point out that the MD-RA inspectors are volunteers with pretty specific training and experience on building and maintaining aircraft. My inspector has built many planes himself so he knows what he's looking at. He joined the RCAF in 1955 and flew with them until 1980. He's got thousands of hours on jet fighters of that era. Additionally he's flown WWI rebuilds and replicas, WWII warbirds, test flown many different aircraft from homebuilts to jets and he flew water bombers for many years. Certainly some incredible experience.