Depending on who you talk to, their effectiveness can be questionable, but I decided to go for it and install Micro VGs. (not looking for a debate on this thread)

The 185 vert stab I put on the 180 for the GW increase already had them installed, and since I was painting the horiz stab, it made sense to install them before I shot the coat of red. I'll post some pics of the install, but first pics of the kit.

Regardless of your opinion on the VG, you cant dispute the fact that Micro Dynamics puts together a very organized kit. The directions are super easy to follow, and the kit is totally complete down to a pre-sharpened pencil and a nifty tape measure.

Looking awesome man!!!
Ive had and flown 180's and early 182's both ways.
I dont care for the looks of them on my bird but can say that especially with wing x, they're nice to have.
Also flown side by side in equally equipped birds minus the vg and the non vg bird fell off consistently sooner than the non vg.
I've got over 200 hrs on my wing x bird now and still can't say that I'd do that again without a real "need" for it.
Didn't mean to get off track on ya their. Great great looking machine and what an awesome quality job!
Thanks for sticking with the well documented thread this long. Has to be as close to one of those shows where they build an entire hot rod in an hr on tv!

Some pics of the install... As mentioned, its pretty simple. (Of course this post is just for fun, truncates the full instructions, and is in no way meant to instruct one on the installation of Micro VGs. Please follow their directions)

First find the landmarks in the drawing, in my case, 3" from the trailing edge of the horiz stab.





Use masking tape to lay down a reference line with the thread provided.





Find another landmark and lay out the VG templates. Once the sticker is on, use the provided Scotch Bright to prep the surface for adhesion.





The VGs are adhered with a two part Loctite system. First, spray the activator on the surface (small aerosol can,) then place one drop (only one drop) on the bottom of the VG.





Spread the adhesive across the bottom of the VG press it on the flat surface and hold for a couple of seconds. Once they have set up, do a cursory clean of the excess material, and remove the green template.



Once the templates have set and you have waited a bit, clean the remaining Loctite for a nice install.

Nicely done! With great photos!

Keep them coming!

As I had previously mentioned, the harsh line of the red against the polish on the vert stab was bugging me so I ended up painting a small stripe. Today I finally got the stab bolted on. Im really happy with the aesthetic.

I also had my vinyl guy cut a bunch of stickers for me and have been having some fun. I scanned the orig Cessna parts book and was able to create the "Cessna" and "Skywagon" graphics. I also had him cut the black-out for the cowl. We tried to go much wider, but the compound curve was giving us problems. Still looks kinda cool I think. I'll see when its installed on the Wagon. (nice thing about vinyl is you can always pull it off!)

WOW!

Needless to say it looks awesome Greg!

Will you be placing a rubber protector on the leading edge of the landing gear?

The addition of the famous PPonk MLG kit often is fertile food for debate. (not interested in debating it here )

To Ponk or not to Ponk, that is the question. There are plenty of arguments against, and plenty for... Generally speaking, those against claim that if a failure happens and your Ponk'd, it tends to become catastrophic ripping the entire gearbox out. If this happens, the aircraft is usually a total loss as several of the components damaged are no longer source-able. This is a photo of (what was a beautiful 180) from just such a crash.



The counter argument says that if you are to bung it up with enough energy to rip out the entire Ponk'd gear box, that the aircraft is going to get totaled regardless. It's a fun game of what ifs and maybes, but in the end, who really knows.

Personally, I went ahead and installed the kit... which leads me to this post. Just what is a PPonk kit?



PPonk is Knopp spelled backwards. Steve Knopp (who has been around for a long time) has been a really great resource for me and a big help. The kit is a very well thought out kit, with simple easy to use instructions. Steve will tell you that they install both sides in 3-4hrs, but for someone who has never done it, it might be the better part of a leisurely day.



Steve sells his "special" stubby drill bit, which although not impossible to find/make, for less than $10 price, its worth just buying from him.

Here is the basic install in a nutshell (again, this description is just for fun and in no way is meant to represent the proper PPonk installation instructions!!!) Get the aircraft off its sneakers. (Having a friend with a hoist in his hanger comes in real handy at this point.)



Remove the MLG or "Jesus Bolt."





(this is a good time to totally remove the gear for inspection, and if you are so inclined, a fresh coat of Imron) Set the Ponk bracket on top of the MLG and install the new provided AN bolt with making sure to use the old nut.

Using a 90 degree drill, provided drill bushing and provided bits, drill thru the gearbox. Remove the Ponk bracket and chase the holes with the larger bit. Debur and alodine.



Locate proper landmarks on floor inboard of inspection port and rivet line. Using a pilot and then step up drill, open a new access hole.



This new hole is now used to feed bolts thru gearbox and then thru Ponk bracket. Note: Bolt heads go inboard to outboard. This step is a PAIN IN THE ASS. Bring a mirror, lighted mechanical picker, magnet and plenty of God damn patience! If your AP/IA is inherently lazy, do not let them drill a second hole in the floor. I assure you that ALL the bolts can be installed via this little 7/8 hole, it just takes a bit of time.

Reinstall the bracket with new AN bolt and, washer and locknut. Torque your bolts down, cap the new access hole with the bung provided, and drop her down back on her sneaks. Easy pezy lemon squeezy...

Now if your real slick, there are a couple of forward thinking steps you can do before you drill them holes. For instance, this can also be a good time to fix any wing level issues. In my case, the aircraft had a 3/4 dip to one side. To deal with this issue, I machined some shims on the Bridgeport to stack under the low side. There is some math involved, but this is a good step for the anal OCD'ers. I cut several 0.20 and 0.10 shims to make sure I got it right. Took several tries, but she sits dead nuts on now.



Another thing to think about here is possible downstream gear upgrades. We all know that folks upgrade their MLG. Whatever we have, there is always one step up. I dont think my wallet could handle it, but before the gearbox was drilled, I spent some time on the phone with Tom Anderson of the Landing Gear Works. http://www.thelandinggearworks.com/

Turns out that his Titanium gear are a bit thicker than the stock Cessna 180/185 gear so if you ever want to upgrade to Tom's "golden gear," you should make provisions before you drill. Now Steve will tell you that he designed his brackets to have room for machining (90 thousandths,) but just in case, we decided that we would go ahead and shim the Ponk bracket up the exact height of the Titanium gear so that if I ever got real crazy, I would have the ability to install them.



Anyway... Its a bit of a ramble, but I hope this is info is useful to you guys.

Ah, so you have a Bridgeport at your disposal, my friend. Nice!

Looking badass bigG!!! No full pponk kit? that's what I'd do if I were spending your money.
Thanks again for keeping this up for so long at such awesome quality! I look forward to your updates!

I just spent the better part of a whole day reading this thread. What a great refurbishment. We acquired a 180J and were thinking along the lines of your project and had previously seen the MX2006 185 project too.

Thanks for taking the time to share all the great ideas and especially the photos!

Jim

P.S. If you find yourself painting any more control surfaces hang them with the hinge line down and the trailing edge up for balance reasons. When you do the required check of the balance about the hinge line after painting you will find your values more toward the center of the allowed balance range if they are painted hinge line down. Not as big a deal on a your Cessna 180H but on other aircraft the seemingly negligible amount of paint migration can cause real headaches when checking the balance. Ailerons and elevators have a tighter requirement than rudders but flutter can only be experienced once as a rule.

Awesome work you're doing, really setting the bar high!!! mind if I ask what horizontal rock guard boot you used? mine has taken a few too many rocks…

Thanks Jim. Great bit of info on painting. I will certainly do that in the next week or so when I paint my flaps and ailerons.

RE: the boots... From Yingling.

Greg,

At the risk of coming across as a persona non grata, and in the vein of "just saying".....

Sheesh. You have ruined my life. My brother read your posts and started ripping up our C180J. He's ordered the F Atlee Dodge folding seats and has the interior out to the point of stripping the paint from the interior. I have dropped about $4k this week in parts alone. There is drool all over my keyboard.

Now I have to go pull our battery and long copper cable out of the airplane today to install the F Atlee Dodge firewall battery box. The humanity!

Oh. Do you have any idea how far a drive it is from West Texas to some quaint town in Ontario called Brechin and Skywagon City? Are you kidding me? I haven't googled it yet but I believe it's farther North than Oklahoma City, somewhere in the mysteriously white hinterlands. The only appropriate vehicle for me to take on such a voyage would be the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. It would fit my newly transformed personality perfectly.

Thank you very much, bro. I appreciate it. It's not like I have anything else to do.

Jim

Too funny!

But don't blame me!!! This is all probably Kevin's fault. And if not his, its certainly George Mendez giving N185GM to Scott Mauch and crew up at Beegles. Had I not stumbled in one day and seen what they were doing to that 185, I would be flying my unimpressive, unmodified 170. (and perhaps having a 401k.)

FWIW, it's a bit of a hike, but its worth going up to visit Peter at Skywagon City. He was a great guy and fun to meet. I did the 23 hr round trip from Boston in one sitting. Was fun explaining to customs about the airplane stab in the back of the pickup!

I do have to admit a bit of amusement that so many of us are in deep at this point! Im glad to see so many people jumping in as we are going to have one cool fleet! The more the merrier!

bigrenna wrote:Too funny!

But don't blame me!!! This is all probably Kevin's fault. And if not his, its certainly George Mendez giving N185GM to Scott Mauch and crew up at Beegles. Had I not stumbled in one day and seen what they were doing to that 185, I would be flying my unimpressive, unmodified 170. (and perhaps having a 401k.)

FWIW, it's a bit of a hike, but its worth going up to visit Peter at Skywagon City. He was a great guy and fun to meet. I did the 23 hr round trip from Boston in one sitting. Was fun explaining to customs about the airplane stab in the back of the pickup!

I do have to admit a bit of amusement that so many of us are in deep at this point! Im glad to see so many people jumping in as we are going to have one cool fleet! The more the merrier!

Sorry for the quick thread drift, but does anyone know what George Mandes does for a living? That guy has the best of everything!





He has a great blog found here:
http://www.akpirep.com

thanks

bigrenna wrote:I do have to admit a bit of amusement that so many of us are in deep at this point! Im glad to see so many people jumping in as we are going to have one cool fleet! The more the merrier!

I find it pretty funny too, if this keeps going on the BCP fly-in at Johnson Creek is going to be a lonely one. No one will be able to go because their airplanes will be all torn apart!

CrzyIvan, in response to ur question:

"George Mandes doesn't normally drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis".

Skalywag wrote:CrzyIvan, in response to ur question:

"George Mandes doesn't normally drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis".

Haha, that made me chuckle!

Ran into George and Charlie randomly when I was up in AK. They are really down to earth and knowledgeable people with a passion for aviation.....what better place to spend your money?