We bought this plane last week and brought it home to Livermore.

Even though it’s a fairly new aircraft compared to the rest of our fleet, it has 7335 hours on the tach and 9365 on the Hobbs meter.

The Lycoming O-235 engine isn’t going to set any records, but it has only 600 hours SMOH (2400 hour TBO).

We bought it from the original owner that bought it new in 1999, and it’s been a workhorse on the line at a local flight school for the past 20 years.

The wings were ratty and got red tagged by the FAA on the ramp, so the previous owner sent it to a shop at Calaveras to have the wings recovered. Turns out the metal spars were corroded, so he put all new wings on it and covered it in Stits Poly Fiber and painted it with yellow polyurethane.

The covering on the fuselage is beat up and due for replacement, but the owner moved to NC and wanted to sell the plane without fixing it, so we picked it up for a song.

We went to Calaveras, inspected the plane, did a taxi test to make sure the wings weren’t too far out of rig, and then flew it home.

The plan is to take the wings off, strip the covering off the fuselage, rehab the tubing and all the other bits, and then recover it with matching Poly Fiber.

———

We started the day with low clouds and had to wait it out before we could hop in the 182 to fly to Calaveras.



All the recent rain makes for some very green landscapes



Here she is in the shops hangar



The new wings look gorgeous.



Then the work begins







Finally everything is inspected and it’s ready to come out



Sump the fuel tanks and check all the inspection panels fitted securely





Basic VFR panel









With something as major as new wings installed, we did a high speed taxi/hover taxi for the first run. Everything felt good so we took off on the second attempt and flew around the pattern and landed.

Then we took off as a flight of two with the 182 and flew back to Livermore.





I was in the 182 and loped along in formation at 120 mph, but that’s pretty darn good speed for the Citabria.

Here’s a video of all the stuff from the flight to bring it home. There’s a big cloverleaf at the end of the video which was fun.

https://youtu.be/F7qf_6pq6NI

And finally back in its hangar at Livermore, safe and sound.



Lots of squawks...tailwheel is beat and shimmies on landing rollout, main wheel bearings are shot, rudder pedals need to be rebushed, left rear window needs to be replaced...who knows what else but it’s to be expected on a 20 year old plane with this many hours. Nothing we can’t handle.

Silicone repair attempt on a window crack



Fuselage covering all bagged out



Hardware is ugly



Gross cosmetics on the fuselage



So as of today we have a fleet of four aircraft, all very different from each other!

Cessna 170B
Cessna 182D
Christen Eagle II
Citabria 7ECA

The obligatory internet disclaimer: All aircraft maintenance and inspections outlined in this thread are conducted in accordance and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

Draining all the fuel in preparation for removal of the wings.



Got the wing root fairings off and disconnected the electrical wires for wing tip nav lights & strobes, as well as the aileron cables that run up both sides of the cockpit.





Flying wires and cables for the rudder/elevator removed.



Prop removed



Front seat and door off.



Upper and lower cowling off.









Fuel lines disconnected.





Rudder removed



Pins for the elevator hinge took a little coercing but they came out without too much trouble.





Now the fun part begins...the horizontal. It’s just a steel tube that slides on to another that nests inside. Why they don’t use anti seize on these when they build them at the factory, I’ll never know.

The time required to remove these is measured in days, not hours.











The gang

In an earlier post, I mentioned how it takes days to get the horizontal off when it’s seized in place.

Here’s the trick in case anyone ever has to undertake this task.

- Use two long pry bars, one on top and one on bottom, putting outward pressure on the horizontal stab where its aft tube inserts into the fuselage. Large screwdrivers work perfect here.



- AeroKroil in the seam, with a heat gun heating the fuselage tube inside the vertical stab.

- Stop and spray the AeroKroil in the seam every now and then and continue heating the fuselage tubing until it’s nice and hot.

*DO NOT BURN UP YOUR AIRPLANE - The interior of the fabric is much more flammable than the exterior. Cut away all the fabric from the area that you will be using the heat gun.

- After many cycles of heat and penetrant, once the tubing is nice and hot, one person repeatedly moves the horizontal up and down while the other person uses both pry bars to put outward pressure on the horizontal to separate it from the fuselage.

- It will slowly work it’s way off, don’t rush it.



This horizontal hasn’t been off since new in 1999, and it looks like a combination of mud and glue was used in the mating surfaces of the tubes. Terrible!!

Left side





Right side



Took me about 20 mins total work today to get both horizontals off. Much better than the 2-7 days* that all the mechanics on the field were saying it would take.

*I guess technically this is the second day since we started soaking it with penetrant yesterday.

The fuselage, before your work, looked like most of the airplanes I used to fly.

Wow, what a project. Keep the pics coming.

Disconnected the forward fuel lines from both tanks.

Left



Right



The interconnected tank vent hose wouldn’t budge so it was cut and will be replaced.



Left jury strut removed





And the right





Next step is to remove the wing attach bolts and nuts and replace them with long screwdrivers in preparation for a no wind day to remove the wings.



Random interior shots

Replaced all four wing mounting bolts with screwdrivers today in preparation to take the wings off.





Used a punch in one because it fit so good



All the strut attach hardware is loosened and ready to come off. Just need a few guys to show up and the wings are ready to come off now.







Time to peel back the fabric. This part is always fun.













All this fluffy padded interior will not be reused. It all weighs a lot. We’re going to do a very spartan and bare interior to save weight.













Definitely some work to be done on the tubing before painting it all.







Some wavy wood!





One piece is dated 2005 and has clearly been replaced. Nothing in the logs about it, but that’s not surprising.



All the rest of the wood is dated 1998



When built new at the factory, they use these expanding rivets to hold the wood to the fuselage tubing.



You can see bolts installed where they replaced the wood



All the wood formers will be replaced with new.



Plate on top of the fuse for the data plate and antenna.









Next step is to remove the wings. Thanks for following along.

Very interested to see what you are going to do for interior panels. Any hints?

The Poly Fiber will be pink on the inside, so leaving it totally bare won’t work.

As of right now we’re thinking some aluminum panels with no upholstery in select spots, with Selkirk foam attached to directly to the fabric in some other spots.

Having some of the control linkages exposed and visible on the side panel isn’t a bad thing. We’ll get creative and see what we can do.

Aryana wrote:The Poly Fiber will be pink on the inside, so leaving it totally bare won’t work.

As of right now we’re thinking some aluminum panels with no upholstery in select spots, with Selkirk foam attached to directly to the fabric in some other spots.

Having some of the control linkages exposed and visible on the side panel isn’t a bad thing. We’ll get creative and see what we can do.

I'm not sure youd want to leave fabric totally bare no matter which system you use unless you brushed silver onto it for UV protection. Actually, just brushed silver would look pretty decent. Some selkirk foam would add a bit of protection.
Are you going to add a baggage door?

I don’t mean leaving it bare in terms of not following and using the entire process. Taking the interior up through paint isn’t feasible, but I think I just wasn’t clear enough in my post which may sound confusing.

I meant leaving the interior of the fabric “bare” as it is after you take it all the way through paint on the exterior. The inside of the fabric on the fuselage will be pink after the entire Poly Fiber process, and that isn’t our favorite color.

Some Selkirk foam could be installed directly on the fabric to make it prettier which is what we’re considering. Also the sheet metal around the throttles could be left bare or painted instead of the upholstery which is glued on it from the factory.

A spartan interior like you find on many Champs is more along the lines of what we’re going to lean towards.

Aryana wrote:I don’t mean leaving it bare in terms of not following and using the entire process. Taking the interior up through paint isn’t feasible, but I think I just wasn’t clear enough in my post which may sound confusing.

I meant leaving the interior of the fabric “bare” as it is after you take it all the way through paint on the exterior. The inside of the fabric on the fuselage will be pink after the entire Poly Fiber process, and that isn’t our favorite color.

Some Selkirk foam could be installed directly on the fabric to make it prettier which is what we’re considering. Also the sheet metal around the throttles could be left bare or painted instead of the upholstery which is glued on it from the factory.

A spartan interior like you find on many Champs is more along the lines of what we’re going to lean towards.

I understood what you meant by the pink color. But I'd still be worried that any exposed (pink) areas could be exposed to UV. I'm not suggesting taking it right to paint, but brushing some silver on would get rid of both the pink and UV issues.

Water enters via the wing root-fuselage openings for cables and fuel lines. Window frames can leak. Dihedral and fairings help that happen. Figure a way to close that entry more with flex seals. Wood formers show the results. Then in the fuselage moisture condenses and rises with no way to breathe. Figure a way to let it escape. Longerons and floor get exposed to moisture. Protect them. Great airplanes had a '69 7ECA and '78 GCBC.

Gary

A1Skinner wrote:I understood what you meant by the pink color. But I'd still be worried that any exposed (pink) areas could be exposed to UV. I'm not suggesting taking it right to paint, but brushing some silver on would get rid of both the pink and UV issues.

Very true [emoji1360]

PA1195 wrote:Water enters via the wing root-fuselage openings for cables and fuel lines. Window frames can leak. Dihedral and fairings help that happen. Figure a way to close that entry more with flex seals. Wood formers show the results. Then in the fuselage moisture condenses and rises with no way to breathe. Figure a way to let it escape. Longerons and floor get exposed to moisture. Protect them. Great airplanes had a '69 7ECA and '78 GCBC.

Gary

One thing we always add to these planes when we recover them are the seaplane drainage grommets. Not a single one anywhere on the fuselage from ACA’s factory build. They work great to suck all the moisture out in flight. Without em, the water has nowhere to go.

The flex seals are a great idea for sure, even if this plane won’t ever see rain again. [emoji1360]

Aryana wrote:

A1Skinner wrote:I understood what you meant by the pink color. But I'd still be worried that any exposed (pink) areas could be exposed to UV. I'm not suggesting taking it right to paint, but brushing some silver on would get rid of both the pink and UV issues.

Very true [emoji1360]

PA1195 wrote:Water enters via the wing root-fuselage openings for cables and fuel lines. Window frames can leak. Dihedral and fairings help that happen. Figure a way to close that entry more with flex seals. Wood formers show the results. Then in the fuselage moisture condenses and rises with no way to breathe. Figure a way to let it escape. Longerons and floor get exposed to moisture. Protect them. Great airplanes had a '69 7ECA and '78 GCBC.

Gary

One thing we always add to these planes when we recover them are the seaplane drainage grommets. Not a single one anywhere on the fuselage from ACA’s factory build. They work great to suck all the moisture out in flight. Without em, the water has nowhere to go.

The flex seals are a great idea for sure, even if this plane won’t ever see rain again. [emoji1360]

Where on the fuselage do you put the drain grommets?

Kurt

Kurt, typically they’re found on the bottom trailing edges of the wings and horizontal stab, but you can put them wherever you want.

This one will get a few on the belly too.

Aryana wrote:Kurt, typically they’re found on the bottom trailing edges of the wings and horizontal stab, but you can put them wherever you want.

This one will get a few on the belly too.

Yep, I have put them on the wings, horizontal stab and elevators but was curious where on the fuselage you are going to put them.

Kurt

In the three point ground attitude, the most obvious low spots where water could collect in the best spots, usually on both sides of the center bottom stringer.

Today was a fun day











Wing dolly



By the time all 4 guys finally showed up, it was late afternoon and the wind had picked up so we pushed the plane so that one wing was sheltered in the hangar.



Struts off



And then pull the screwdrivers previously inserted in the wing attach holes to pull it off the fuselage.





Now that the wings are off, it’s time for some airplane musical hangars.





The 182D moves into the hangar with the Citabria wings.



Then the Christen Eagle II bumps the 170B out of my hangar so I can install a UGB-16 engine monitor.



And the 170B goes where the 182D used to live and the Citabria fuselage is in the end room where the Eagle used to park.



Afterwards I helped a neighbor lift his crashed 172 on to a Harbor Freight motorcycle lift. Same one I have, but mine is not used for airplanes, LOL!

I"m enjoying this Arash! Keep posting pics.

I didn't realize that a Citabria had so much wood inside.... guess I never thought about it and have never seen one naked. Bad assumptions on my part......

Why does the wood appear that it has water damage? Was the plane kept outside its whole life? Or does it collect that much condensation over the years?

Keith