Nice work. I was in a 170 a few years ago working on my T/W endorsement when the front cowling latch broke and that thing started flapping around and got all dinged up. After it was repaired it looked just like that with a shiny new cover.

Those doors are awesome! I wish they never went away from the cowling doors from the 52 and prior 170s. Much easier access with those things.

Building those cowl doors to fit is a difficult task.....looks great so far. I assume you are planning on using some sort of safety device on the latches?

MTV

scottf wrote:Nice work. I was in a 170 a few years ago working on my T/W endorsement when the front cowling latch broke and that thing started flapping around and got all dinged up. After it was repaired it looked just like that with a shiny new cover.

Within the last couple of years, the same flapping cowl door situation resulted in a very unfortunate 170 crash departing Lake Hood strip. Gentleman survived, but was pretty banged up IIRC. Airplane most likely a write off.
Today the doors will likely receive their fasteners. They will be the spring-loaded quarter-turn variety. Options include #2 Philips or butterfly style like you find on cubs. I'm leaning toward the #2 Philips to keep the cowl as clean as possible and to not have anything extra to snag the engine cover in winter. Either way, there will be enough fasteners that having one or probably even three or four somehow fail, should not result in the door coming loose in a dramatic way in flight.

mtv wrote:Building those cowl doors to fit is a difficult task.....looks great so far. I assume you are planning on using some sort of safety device on the latches?

MTV

MTV- mostly I've just gone with the recommendations of the shop- as you know they are top-notch and have more and better ideas on most of this stuff than I would. In this case, I think quarter-turn fasteners all around should be pretty solid. This is an evolution of Mark's installation on his own 170, so the basics have been worked out already.
-DP

denalipilot wrote:

scottf wrote:Nice work. I was in a 170 a few years ago working on my T/W endorsement when the front cowling latch broke and that thing started flapping around and got all dinged up. After it was repaired it looked just like that with a shiny new cover.

Within the last couple of years, the same flapping cowl door situation resulted in a very unfortunate 170 crash departing lake Hood strip. Gentleman survived, but was pretty banged up IIRC. Airplane most likely a write off.
Today the doors will likely receive their fasteners. They will be the spring-loaded quarter-turn variety. Options include #2 Philips or butterfly style like you find on cubs. I'm leaning toward the #2 Philips to keep the cowl as clean as possible and to not have anything extra to snag the engine cover in winter. Either way, there will be enough fasteners that having one or probably even three or four somehow fail, should not result in the door coming loose in a dramatic way in flight.

What caused the crash, distracted pilot or did it actually do some damage to something on the engine? When it happened to us it started with a loud bang and at first we though we had lost a cylinder or something. We slowed the plane way down and flew in a slipped configuration and got the flapping to stop and got to an airport to get it duct taped. Luckily we were only 15 miles from home.

scottf wrote:

denalipilot wrote:

scottf wrote:Nice work. I was in a 170 a few years ago working on my T/W endorsement when the front cowling latch broke and that thing started flapping around and got all dinged up...

Within the last couple of years, the same flapping cowl door situation resulted in a very unfortunate 170 crash departing lake Hood strip. Gentleman survived, but was pretty banged up IIRC. Airplane most likely a write off...

What caused the crash, distracted pilot or did it actually do some damage to something on the engine? When it happened to us it started with a loud bang and at first we though we had lost a cylinder or something. We slowed the plane way down and flew in a slipped configuration and got the flapping to stop and got to an airport to get it duct taped. Luckily we were only 15 miles from home.

Scott- I'm glad you and the TW instructor were able to land yours uneventfully. In the case I mentioned I didn't know the pilot and only read the paper headlines. The plane went down in some black spruce muskeg right off the departure end, before the start of a neighborhood. It's quite possible the pilot was faced with an alarming, unidentified noise from the engine compartment on takeoff, and was trying to minimize the consequences on the ground. I have no direct knowledge of it though, other than the flapping cowl door was determined to be the precipitating factor.
-DP

DP, I changed out the Cessna cowl latches on my '52 for Dip Davis latches using the #2 Philips fasteners. My old latches had safety clips on them and the Davis latches are actually faster to open with no loose parts to lose.

BeeMan wrote:DP, I changed out the Cessna cowl latches on my '52 for Dip Davis latches using the #2 Philips fasteners. My old latches had safety clips on them and the Davis latches are actually faster to open with no loose parts to lose.

Thanks for mentioning those- they look like a great mod. Not sure if they'll be helpful on the 170 or not, but they'd sure be a nice upgrade on the bird dog.
-DP

As I recall, Mark really liked the cowl latches on my airplane, and was going to do something similar. They had a cam lock fastener in the latch....very positive latching.

I'd bet Mark has figured out how to improve them.

MTV

It's starting to look kind of like a flying machine again...!

Oh Buddy,
I am on the edge of my seat!!!
That is going to be a fantastic plane right there.
Can't wait for the first flight report. And the second, third.......
If I live long enough to overhaul my engine again, it may just lose the carburetor!
NICE NICE WORK!
Tom

The cowl bumps are getting added. I'm thinking it would look cool to paint the bumps white and the rest of the cowl red. Maybe carry that white line a little ways onto the cowl and let it die short of the bump. Paint the spinner white, or just leave it the factory fiberglas white color. I like the MT chrome color spinner, but apparently it isn't available in this style.
-DP

oh god its just so beautiful, i want it so much

wish my wife was that sexy!

The cowl doors will get spring-loaded quarter-turn fasteners around the edges where the clecos are right now. We're using machine screws on the seam with the boot cowl due to space constraints next to the firewall. I opted for philips-head hardware for both.

Is the paint coded to match like in autobody paint? Or is it a best-match kinda operation?

I do have old Imron codes from the last time it was painted, but we talked about having the paint shop come over with their fancy camera and matching to that as closely as possible.

My old 180 had some work done and the shop (right there on chena marina) used the coded Imron to paint them. They ended up not being all that close. I'd recommend having the paint folks color match. I've heard the paint store on Van Horn will come out with there camera doohickey.

Coming along very nice.

Brett

DP,

How is this coming along? We're all on the edge of our proverbial seats waiting for an update.

Brett