corefile wrote:And of course on literally the last part of this plane that has not been gone over with a fine tooth comb - we stripped the last control surface to get ready to paint and we find this lovely surprise on the aileron. I have to say, the amount of effort that the shit mechanic went through to hide this illegal repair is... well.. same guy that did the lovely doubler on the rudder spar that had been snapped in half. I hope he lived his life with large painful hemorrhoids.

it looks like he trimmed off that damaged aileron skin with a pair of kindergartners safety scissors, feathered it, slapped some bondo and painted over... Some of the bondo was removed when we stripped - you could not see this repair under the old paint.

Well new skin is on order...

That has to be really, really frustrating. There's a guy in Embarass, MN who can make those new, though. Tough deal, in any case, to be that close, then find THAT.

MTV

Fuselage came out of the paint booth today, wings are done. cowling and control services (repaired and refurbished) are done and ready to be painted. Wiring is close to being done.


heavy duty “J” steps from Atlee Dodge (reinforced using an inner tube of 4130N)

I had RAMI make all my antennas in black (2 com, ELT, GPS, marker beacon, transponder)

That is going to be the nicest 180 out there!!!

I swear to god corefile, if you ever, i mean EVER, drive a uhaul truck anywhere close to that damn airplane, you will not be forgiven. That is so nice.

How long has your airplane been up at Kyle's, Paul?

asa wrote:I swear to god corefile, if you ever, i mean EVER, drive a uhaul truck anywhere close to that damn airplane, you will not be forgiven. That is so nice.

Yeah... what a f'n nightmare. I was cleaning my hangar up the other day and there is still the bottle of whisky my mechanic brought to me while we were catching all the leaking fuel out of the smashed up wings. For sure no heavy equipment with my driving is going to be allowed near this plane - and thanks I think its looking pretty nice as well, but that said - its not going to be a hangar queen either - lots of camping and mexico dirt strips in the future.

hotrod180 wrote:How long has your airplane been up at Kyle's, Paul?

This month is the 2 year mark... Yes it been slow - there has been quite of bit of engineering work in the background for the approvals on some of the bigger changes/modifications and then some of the time line was me stretching out the work as my budget allowed. But yeah it has been a long haul for sure.

It will be worth the wait in the end. Thank you for taking the time time to document and post for our benefit.

MW

I know it’s been awhile but those control wheel emblems look great! Mine don’t and oddly don’t match. Did you get yours refurbished or did you source replacements?
Fantastic rebuild bty.

Mantoga wrote:I know it’s been awhile but those control wheel emblems look great! Mine don’t and oddly don’t match. Did you get yours refurbished or did you source replacements?
Fantastic rebuild bty.

I got them from Tim at https://www.avcraft.aero/products/skywa ... emblem-set . I sent him my old ones and he had them rechromed and then made the inserts on that page.

Thanks!

All new hardware - bearing, pulleys, cable, bolt, etc.


I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m loving this level of detail.


I think the later model window mod looks great on the 62 180E.

I really prefer the look of the earlier window setup, BUT, that baggage compartment is a deep, dark hole without that third aft window. So, I'd live with the look....and that plane looks GREAT!

MTV

Looks very nice. I like the extension of the lower forward seaplane doubler, extending it all the way to the firewall, definitely adding a lot of strength in that area no doubt. Looks great!

Any update? It
s been almost a month!

It happened to me, when I’m relaxed enough to tell the story I’ll delve into it.

The summary on mine is a little more clean cut as the engine had 250hrs left, IO520D and involved operator error (prop strike) so it wasn’t a blind side like yours. It still cost nearly $100k, but could have been done for $60k. I bought an exchange engine, found out my core was toast and lost that deposit. Then decided to do upgrades while at it (all peripherals, fuel pump, controls, alternator, etc), prop, Seaplanes West engine mount from Acorn. I’ll probably yet upgrade to a Hartzell Voyager.

Playing the shell game with money and shuffling it from one idea to another, trying to get the most bang for buck and a plane I don’t have to touch for years maintenance wise beyond oil changes and annuals. If you plan to keep the plane for the long haul, the cost is less of a worry, not to say it still isn’t a major stress.

Long haul ownership and investment in it also gives you the luxury of doing the fix over time to assuage the cost. There isn’t a ton of sunk cost in a 180 or 185, if you stay reasonable on what you’re putting into it, you’ll get a good deal of it back out at the time of sale due to the strength of the market. Yes.. . We’re both going to lose, but not severely.

Hopefully we both get our returns from the new motors in smiles and memories made with the plane, too. It’s why we buy these machines in the first place!

The airplane is looking great! I was over there yesterday and they were working the interior lighting and wiring.

RC5280 wrote:Any update? It
s been almost a month!

Been swamped with work (gotta pay for this sucker) and the holidays. Also trying not to be an over poster

Ardent wrote:Hopefully we both get our returns from the new motors in smiles and memories made with the plane, too. It’s why we buy these machines in the first place!

Amen!

jugheadF15 wrote:The airplane is looking great! I was over there yesterday and they were working the interior lighting and wiring.

Thanks for the first hand update Jughead - I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve already got reservation for late February in Baja Mexico so I guess we have a deadline now! It’s starting to look like a plane again.

All the control surfaces are getting weighed and balanced and should go on this week.

This is the nicest 180 in the world at this point. I’m sure you feel like you have more in it than you might ideally want, but what does a new 180 cost? It’s inspiring….

Wow. Just wow! Congratulations on your art project.

Great thread that I have found quite informative. Its looking very nice.

I am working on one with similar issues in the firewall area. I had been advised to remove and replace each boot cowl one at a time and not to take everything out as you did. Did you run into any issues with reassembly after having both cowls and firewall removed?