I have been meaning to post pictures of a project I have been working on at Idaho State University, in the aircraft maintenance program. Plane belongs to Jim Wallace in Lava Hot springs Idaho. Tom knows him well. (courier) Jim was a Corsair pilot in WWII and after flew cropdusters for years, mostly Stearmans I believe. The project is a Cessna 170 that he used to fly around his ranch in Nevada before he moved here. Airplane went through a hail storm in i think the 80's, and ripped up the wings fabric. The airplane was torn apart and worked on slowly by a mechanic he know in Nevada. Then when he moved here, it was put in a storage container and never touched until 2006 (ish). When it was brought to the University. We have made a lot of progress in the last year and a half, and are trying to have it done by Thanksgiving for him. So now that you know a little history on this plane, here are some pictures of the progress lately.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/6326998777/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/6728097101/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/6728112605/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/6728119183/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/67 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/67 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/67 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/67 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/69 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/81 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/81 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/81 ... otostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilot89/81 ... otostream/

Very nice. It's great to see a 170 all new and shiny again.

It's looking good-- but man, that airplane is WHITE! You guys gonna add some trim paint? It'd be nice to paint it with the original scheme, but using white in place of bare aluminum.
I see a couple non-standard features: the enlarged "seaplane lip" on the lower cowl, and the dorsal fin. Those old C145's tend to run hot so the seaplane lip is probably a good idea.I've seen lots of ragwing 170's with the dorsal tail off an A or B, my old one included, but this is the first one I've ever seen with an add-on dorsal like that. I have seen C120/140's with a similar dorsal however.

Looks nice!

hotrod150 wrote:It's looking good-- but man, that airplane is WHITE! You guys gonna add some trim paint? It'd be nice to paint it with the original scheme, but using white in place of bare aluminum.

Nah. it is staying this way. It would be cool, but we don't have the know how, and want to get him flying in it as soon as possible. He's not getting any younger (although he sure doesn't look or act 92)

I wasn't aware that lip was not standard. Learn something new all the time! As for the dorsal addition, I knew it was not standard, but I can't seem to find out where it came from. A dig through the logs we have may be in order.

A lot of stuff can slip through the cracks in the logbooks over the course of 60-plus years. Don't be surprised if you dont find anything.

My Dad's 120 has a dorsal fin like that on the tail. It was an stc done by Wiley's Seaplanes in Lake Oswego Oregon a long time ago. Might be the same thing on this 170.

What happened to the required fuel pump?

Ex-nay on the ump-nay. The FFA will be checking on the livestock.

My rag wing (sold) had a log book entry removing mine. Seemed to not miss a beat. Only coughed when slipping into a shorter strip.

The ragwing's fuel lines come out of the tank & run to the forward (not aft) door posts. If a line becomes unported (for example, a nose-high attitude with low fuel level) and the fuel flow stops, it will not start again without an extreme-enough nose-low attitude to get the high point of the fuel line (at the top of the door post) below the level of the fuel. The few instances I've heard of where this was an issue involved landing with very little fuel on board, and the engine quitting from fuel exhaustion due to nose-high attitude on short final (in the flare) or while taxiing after landing. Never heard of it happening in flight, but it only takes one time to ruin your whole day.
There are some field-approval electric (aka boost) pump installations, but they generally use the same convoluted bypass/check valve plumbing as the engine-driven pump installations so I don't consider them much of an improvement.
IMHO the correct improvement would be to re-route the fuel lines as per the 170A&B models.

leadingedge wrote:What happened to the required fuel pump?

It has been reinstalled. Somewhere along the line, it had been removed. Probably when the engine was swapped to an O-300A. Anyhow, we figured out it was required and got one ordered, and are going to be running the lines in the next few days. It's no wonder it was removed. The pump alone cost $600, before the fittings, and check valve, etc.

I don't remember if the IPC for the rag 170 shows the fuel line configuration adjacent to the carb, but it's really wierd. Be sure you get some sort of diagram or photo. And be careful with that check valve, I've heard of several instances of them being installed backwards. The pressure from the pump is supposed to keep the checkvalve closed, it opens to allow gravity feed in the event of pump failure.
One bad aspect to all that plumbing at the carb is that it makes inspecting the fuel inlet screen a real PITA. Subsequently some mechanics don't do it. This can lead to fuel starvation issues. Don't ask me how I know.