For my first airplane I wanted a 180 or a Bonanza. Ended up with the Bonanza... actually three of them, a C-172, C-150, 2 T-6's, an Extra, a Stearman and finally a 180. Of course I've still got the Stearman. I'll admit to a refurb affliction similar to alcoholism.... the first step to reform is to admit you have a problem right? The first question my wife asks now is how much does an engine cost and when....

Anyway, as I said I always wanted a 180 and when I bought this 180A I swore that it was going to be a utility airplane and I wasn't going to go overboard on it. And then I found this forum.... and Kevin Quinn's airplane, and BigRenna's, and Barnstormer's, and MountainMatt's. Jeez... never say never, right?

I did start this airplane as a flying project, intending on fixing only what was wrong, minimum downtime..... you know the drill. 748 started life as an Alaskan Fish&Game bird, factory float kit, stuff like that. Some nice mods along the way and a rough time in Alaska. Let's just say that some shortcuts were taken, but fortunately not repairing the inevitable ground loop. I'll warn you that the paint is a 50 footer, and will be the last thing I do. Maybe I should call it Patches in the interim.

I'll show you what I've done so far and then delve into the present 'project'.

gunny

This is the airplane:

Extended Baggage:

The airplane had a serious aft CG problem and I wanted to walk it forward. So one of the things I did was pull out all the strobe power supplies and replace every light with LED's. Cut a lot of weight and current draw as well. The battery was a biggie, so I settled on the Atlee Dodge Firewall battery/SB-16 and Airglass EB... nice piece of kit as the Brits say.

I put a new Selkirk interior and the aerodot floor in right after I bought it, plus a few other changes. The first pic is the Extended Baggage it came to me with (still have it if someone wants it;)). The second is the battery and aft compartment... good thing to fix a few old spills, nasty floor... lots of cleaning. And finally the new EB.

gunny

old


ugly


new

Relocated battery to the firewall.

New Gear

As I said it had been in a good groundloop and sat a little crooked... tracked pretty straight, but I knew there might be a problem. So, I waited in line for Tom Anderson to solve all the issues with the new Ti gear STC/PMA... a year plus I waited. Finally got 'em and put 'em on.

Pulling the old gear


Old and New


Shiny new Leeeaaggs (as Forrest would say)

YEAH THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT BABY! Let the games begin! Thanks Gunny for getting your project in print.

Tip replacement

Ok, ok. So here I'll admit that the airplane has been down for almost 5 months as I write this. Started with the gear, then I bit the bullet on an avionics upgrade. As long as I was doing that I should tear out all that old wire, and as long as I was doing that I should completely redo the panel and make it right, and as long as I was there I should strip out all the old crap, clean up the airframe and paint it to prevent corrosion (it was a float kitted airplane and in remarkable shape inside for its rough life), and as long as I was there, rewiring etc, I should go ahead an put RMD tips on with cool LED lights.

So, old and new


Test fit on the new tip

Barnstormer-

Thanks.... and thanks for your inspiration..... I think!

gunny

The interior

Every time I pulled a panel I would cringe at the nasty old glue and fiberglass insulation. So, as long as I'm here right? I pulled the rats nest of wire out and all the 'factory' insulation... by the way I did find a rats nest in the wingtip, fortunately no rat pee induced corrosion in the wing itself. I'm betting I pulled out 20b of glue and crap out of the airplane, not to mention orphaned wire. The airplane is pushing 60, I think she'll feel much better now!

Rear Fuselage compare and contrast


same shot ready to strip and clean


Overhead


My worst nightmare, this glue mess took almost 10 days to get off


Keep chipping away at it and it finally gets clean


And then painted it starts to look fairly good


The rear of the fuselage looks pretty good to. I don't plan on winning Oshkosh anytime soon but it is clean and serviceable

Panel

Alright this is the reason I started this portion of the project and it still has a bit to run. I wanted to have a simple IFR panel, compliant with the ADS-B stuff and the more that I thought about flying IFR or for long distances I determined I had to put in an autopilot. I'll admit to being a wuss in IFR in small airplanes. It is SOOO much easier to fly IFR in big airplanes, shooting an approach to mins at night with a big crosswind, in the rain. In a small airplane it scares the bejeezus out of me... I want help. Although, if I'm shooting that kind of approach in my 180 I'm in trouble in the first place.

Plus I wanted to get rid of the vacuum system and a few other things. So, I'm putting in an Aspen 1000 (which will feed the autopilot GPSS, Heading bug, stuff like that), a GTN-650, a GDL-88, a GTX-327 and a ei CGR-30P. I already had a MidCont 4300 electric AI (with battery backup) and an Aerospace Logic digital fuel level gauge. The STEC-30 replaces the T&B and fits in with the analog gauges. I've got an iFly GPS that fits on a swivel mount just below the truncated radio stack (with charts and plates and wx). If you take on a project like this I warn you there is a lot of stuff behind the 180 panel that interferes... it took 10 iterations to get everything right (I worked with Darin from UT who is a BCP'er). Here starts the panel saga;

the panel as I started (already had changed the radios, etc, started all over again)


The panel with everything out


Test fit revision 6


Test fit the freshly cut panel, nice and clean

Looking great Gunny. Anxious to see your panel painted with all your avionics installed. Nice work!

Looks great!

Awesome! We needed another Cessna project around here. That shot of the flap tunnel brings back bad memories . Keep up the good work!

Wow that's looking great! That must have been fun getting all the gunk off under the panel and around the pedals. Want to come do mine next?
Was there any options besides an s Tec ? I hate their rate based auto pilots and their customer support leaves allot to be desired.

Nice! Your "before" panel looked really good, so I can't wait to see the "after!"

Man, Gunny! Not you too? Ha!

OMH... just had flash backs reading the thread.

Congrats man! Looking great. Think you will have it up at the Airmans show? I cant wait to check it out.

Greg-

Greg-

I'm struggling just as fast as I can. I had knee surgery two weeks ago and some things I just can't do right now. You and your project are a big inspiration for me! I'm not totally sure if thats a good thing;)

gunny

Looks good, but what about the floats?

Gunny wrote:Greg-

I'm struggling just as fast as I can.

gunny

For sure... I think folks tend to underestimate these kinds of projects. As has said before, they are not for the faint of heart and take WAY longer than originally thought. Its easy to remove a panel and get going... just really tough to stick it thru and finish. Im almost over 3000 man hours on my wagon and im still not done.

Keep your head down and stay focused. It is going to be awesome!

Totally refurbishing an old airplane, even one in good shape, is a huge undertaking. Most people just don't realize how much work it is. I don't have the stick-to-itness to take on something like that, so my airplanes have all been do it as you go projects. My 180 needed some parts replaced, but a lot of the stuff I've been doing is just to get it set up the way I want it. Relocating the com radio, moving some switches, that sort of thing. Just ordered a set of Door Stewards today, as well as a set of refueling steps & handles.