In August I sold my beloved Pacer and bought a hot rod Cessna 182. My wife and I are expecting our first child early 2016 and I was wanting something a little bigger to haul our new little monster around the backcountry.

I found a 1960 Cessna 182C that had just about everything a BC pilot would want. I bought the plane with a low time PPonk, but knew ahead of time of a issue with the old phase 1 case. Engine runs great just had a crack that needed attention. I flew it 1700nm home from Corpus Christi, TX to Grants Pass, OR over two days.

I took the plane over to my favorite mechanics in the world, Steve and Brian, at Steve's AC and confirmed the diagnoses. I ordered a case from AERO outside of my new home away from home, Chicago. AERO took care of the machining for the PPonk conversion and the case was delivered to my mechanic.

Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr
Yesterday, I flew the 25 miles over to Beagle Airpark and we started the process of taking the motor off the Beast. I will be using this opportunity to improve the "firewall forward" aesthetics of my new machine.

Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

I have been doing owner assist annuals with Steve's for the last 4 years and learn something new all the time. These guys are such true professionals and I have been looking forward to understanding how the engine really "works".

Time for some new plug wires:
Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

Getting ready to lift:
Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

The culprit:
Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

The crack has actually grown substantially over the last 20 hours of hard flying I did. It makes me feel much better that we are taking care of this issue.

How we ended the day:
Cessna 182 Rebuild by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

Headed back over next week to finish the disassembly and start cleaning parts. We will be replacing bearings and will be checking the cam and lifters over.

More to come.

Awesome, Sean!
Brian and Steve are the best. You're in great hands there!

Those guys are awesome! I'm going to enjoy following this engine build.

Great choice for a plane!! The C model Skylane is my favorite and I believe I have lusted over yours when it was up for sale…

Didn't they put a straight tail on that old girl??

Very nice- Keep the posts/pix coming

Must have been sad to sell the Pacer, that was a neat plane.

Test

SixTwoLeemer wrote:
Didn't they put a straight tail on that old girl??

Is that possible? What's the advantages other then aesthetics?

Introducing the new single cylinder Continental:
IMG_7940 by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

Yes, my plane was converted to a straight tail. This is required if you are doing the tail dragger conversion. I have heard that there is more rudder authority with the straight tail, but I couldn't tell if that is true or not.

Sweet ride gptc, that plane has been to my ranch. You gonna do the tailwheel conversion?

Sweet plane and cool pics! I'm excited to follow your progress

Skalywag wrote:Sweet ride gptc, that plane has been to my ranch. You gonna do the tailwheel conversion?

Originally, that was the plan. Looking at the economics of it, I think I am going to pass for the time being. The 182 is no 180, but will get me in every place I personally feel comfortable going.

Skalywag wrote:Sweet ride gptc, that plane has been to my ranch. You gonna do the tailwheel conversion?

I am with Sean on this one too... Can go just about anywhere with the way it is currently equipped...

This aircraft has the Landis nose fork with 8:50 and 8:00 on the mains.. Sportsman Cuff, Vortex Generators, wing tip landing lights, bubble door windows, Atlee folding rear seats, extended baggage and of coarse the Ponk motor.... Sean got it knowing about the case crack and was able to negotiate the cost... He got one hell of a deal... One of the few airplanes I have been in where you can feel your insides hit the front of your spine when the throttle hits the stop...[emoji3][emoji3]

Needless to say, I'm impressed...

Brian

That is a sweet 182. Hey Sean, if you really want a taildragger again I'll trade you straight up for a nice 170!

I agree, that 182 will go anywhere I can in the tailwheel conversion minus some extreme scenarios, just asked cause u mentioned the straight tail being required for the conversion. Glad u got a great plane, having seen it in person I can say that is one awesome ship!!! Congrats [emoji106]

I'm lusting over your 182 and I fly a T206. Those fast back, straight tail 182's are classic. Nice bird!

Since Sean had to work today, I went ahead and finished tearing down...



Start of the day...



Sean got most of the accessories off the rear of the engine right after we removed it from the airframe...



Oil pan off...



Will have to take a good look at the cam after its out of the case..



First cylinder off...



One cylinder left...



This is where I stopped at the end of the day....



My way of keeping the individual cylinder components separated... Note the lifter bodies are marked for intake and exhaust...

Tomorrow we start cleaning...

Brian

Very, very interesting!

Great thread, Sean and Brian.

Today I headed back out to the shop to clean all the parts as we ready the engine for the reassembly. I can tell you with great confidence that I am NO mechanic and truly appreciate the patience and guidance Brian and his dad, Steve, have with me.

Brian had taken the case apart and only the crank and rods stood on the engine stand. By days end we had measured the crank and removed all the connecting rods.

I spent almost the entire day standing in front of the solvent tank.

Starting with piston and pins.
image by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

I came up with an idea of putting everything "cleaned" on blue paper towels so I knew what had been done. Taking your time to organize and number everything is super important.
image by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

I also got to start bead blasting items.

Here are the push rod tubes and springs (before and after)
image by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

image by Sean McGillivray, on Flickr

I have to head back to my work home (Chicago) so Brian will be ordering parts and getting things put back together. We will be powder coating a few things and really cleaning up the firewall. I am excited to get back to the project at the end of the month.

Awesome build thread! Thanks for the updates.