Hotrod -

Thanks for the info on the doors.

We have the same set up as you with regards to battery and generator. We had a hard time getting the Sky-Tec past the compression stroke the first time but the cylinders were new. After awhile it got better but every so often we have to jab it a few times for it to fire at the compression stroke. Have you had your engine or cylinders redone?

Here's the LH cowling access door, with the original opening blanked off and a smaller door added.
The (former) RH access door is similarly blanked off, but without a small door. The cut-outs in the lower cowl for the access doors are of course also blanked off.



Here's a shot of the small oil door added on top, where the 470K's oil filler is located.

Quickdraw1 wrote: Hotrod .... After awhile it got better but every so often we have to jab it a few times for it to fire at the compression stroke. Have you had your engine or cylinders redone?

This K is a factory reman with about 1150 hrs on it- compressions generally still in the 70's. Hard to believe but the logbooks don't indicate any cyl's have been off. Previous owner was a little slack in the paperwork dept so maybe yes, maybe no.
FWIW the electrics guy pilled the endcap off the energizer starter and said it all looked good. He adjusted the regulator to 14.2v for me-- no adj screw, you have to bend the spring attach points. I think a little bending goes a long way, so I figured it'd be easier to just pay him to do it on the bench instead of me doing the old trial-and-error thing.
So re fixing the starting, I'm just installing a new battery and cleaning up all the electrical connections. I'm hoping that'll do the trick, if not he suggested taking some voltage readings at the starter solenoid & at the starter itself (under load aka when engaging the starter) to see if I'm getting a voltage loss through the solenoid. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Bogert battery cables.

The battery cables are fine, only about 10 or 12 years old. I think the Bogert cables are probably a big improvement though if you still have the 50 year old original cables from the standard battery location all the way back behind the baggage compartment.

Well, I'm a happy camper. I don't know if it was the new Odyssey battery, cleaning up all the power cable and ground cable connections in the FWF area, or most likely a combination of the two things, but the starter cranks the engine over perfectly now. The tweaked regulator has the buss voltage right in the 14.2v range, as planned, and the new CHT gauge & probe are working perfectly too. Hurray!
FWIW although most people and even the Cessna factory use the spark-plug-gasket type probes, I've always thought they were cheesy so I went to a bayonet type probe. If anyone else does this, be advised that the O-470 engine TCDS says that the CHT redline is 460 degrees if you use one of these, but 525 with a gasket type.
Flying the beast kinda clicked for me yesterday too. I'm making a point of being a lot more proactive with the trim wheel now, which makes it a lot easier to make the airplane do what I want it to. (thanks for the tip, Gump!). I was clipping along yesterday at about 140 when I spotted a little bunch of elk just outside Sequim. I had to make a big 360, go down, and slow down, then do another low'n'slow 360 for observation purposes. Rolling in lots of trim and winding the prop up to high rpm made it a cinch.
Looking forward to a little more flying today in the nice thick cold air.

hotrod180 wrote:I'll snap some pics when I'm at the hangar today. Personally I would recommend staying with the big access doors, just add some screws at the very top where it tucks into the cowling to safety it. Like I said, the small door is great for not coming loose and flailing around, and also great for just snapping shut with the little push button latch, but the downside is that you have to pull the cowlings to do anything inside there. A buddy of mine does his oil changes (and I think even checks the screen) through those big doors, saves a lot of time not having to R&R the cowlings. Plus IMHO it saves some wear & tear on them too.

I have the big access doors on the left and right side on my 57 182, as hotrod180 said, its nice to have the extra room to access the engine with out needing to pull the cowling. Mine has the two screws at the top large oil dipstick access side, added before I owned the plane. I'm trying to think of a better solution (its just two phillips head screws), as I would rather have something I don't have to hunt down a screwdriver every time I check my oil and attached so I don't misplace the screw and spend 20 minutes looking for it! Maybe some type of winghead screw or something that is attached and requires no tools to open.

Also I have the SBS J16 firewall mounted battery from 182 STOL Driver, have had no problem firing up my 470, more then enough power.

What box or tray does Bill Reid's Odyssey installation use? Maybe you could post a photo?
I think the Odyssey "bracket" is a pretty good show, but for my application it wouldn't work too well, unless you didn't mind completely removing it every time you wanted to pull out the battery. Mine is a field-approved stainless steel affair, home-fabricated in three pieces: an open-topped and -front tray which bolts to the firewall, a heat shield which covers the front of the battery, and a strap that clamps across the top. Seems a bit too complicated, but it works well. With the battery mounted slightly behind part of the engine mount, I have to take the clamp & front off, raise the battery up, then pull the bottom forward and slide it out down and out. Mine has airspace between the battery & the firewall, like the Atlee Dodge tray, to keep the battery cool I guess. Not sure that's necessary, but like I said it works well and so I have no plans to change anything (except the battery every once in a while!).

hotrod180 wrote:What box or tray does Bill Reid's Odyssey installation use? Maybe you could post a photo?
I think the Odyssey "bracket" is a pretty good show, but for my application it wouldn't work too well, unless you didn't mind completely removing it every time you wanted to pull out the battery. Mine is a field-approved stainless steel affair, home-fabricated in three pieces: an open-topped and -front tray which bolts to the firewall, a heat shield which covers the front of the battery, and a strap that clamps across the top. Seems a bit too complicated, but it works well. With the battery mounted slightly behind part of the engine mount, I have to take the clamp & front off, raise the battery up, then pull the bottom forward and slide it out down and out. Mine has airspace between the battery & the firewall, like the Atlee Dodge tray, to keep the battery cool I guess. Not sure that's necessary, but like I said it works well and so I have no plans to change anything (except the battery every once in a while!).

Bill built his own box/tray, its has a metal strap that goes over the top to hold the battery secure in the box attached to the firewall, just two screws and the strap comes off and you can lift out the battery, it too has a little space between the battery and the firewall similar to the Atlee Dodge tray, I believe he has installed over 100 or so of these. He had all the paper needed for a field approval, but I think he is getting out of that business. He said the one he installed for me was his last one. I will snap a picture next time at the plane.

corefile wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:I'll snap some pics when I'm at the hangar today. Personally I would recommend staying with the big access doors, just add some screws at the very top where it tucks into the cowling to safety it. Like I said, the small door is great for not coming loose and flailing around, and also great for just snapping shut with the little push button latch, but the downside is that you have to pull the cowlings to do anything inside there. A buddy of mine does his oil changes (and I think even checks the screen) through those big doors, saves a lot of time not having to R&R the cowlings. Plus IMHO it saves some wear & tear on them too.

I have the big access doors on the left and right side on my 57 182, as hotrod180 said, its nice to have the extra room to access the engine with out needing to pull the cowling. Mine has the two screws at the top large oil dipstick access side, added before I owned the plane. I'm trying to think of a better solution (its just two phillips head screws), as I would rather have something I don't have to hunt down a screwdriver every time I check my oil and attached so I don't misplace the screw and spend 20 minutes looking for it! Maybe some type of winghead screw or something that is attached and requires no tools to open.

Also I have the SBS J16 firewall mounted battery from 182 STOL Driver, have had no problem firing up my 470, more then enough power.

Wing Camlocs work good for this sort of thing