Hello All, I've just bought an Avcon converted 172M and will install the Airglas fork and 8.5-6 tyres.
Does anyone know if there are options to strengthen the firewall / nose strut attach area.
Cessna have a kit MK172-53-02-01 but I have not been able to establish the purpose of this kit.
Thank you.
Rich

I've heard of 182's having firewall issues, but not 172's.
Doesn't the172 nosegear attach to the engine mount?
I'd ask Airglas what (if anything) they recommend.

hotrod180 wrote:I've heard of 182's having firewall issues, but not 172's.
Doesn't the172 nosegear attach to the engine mount?
I'd ask Airglas what (if anything) they recommend.

172 nose gear attaches to firewall, and they are a bit fragile. I've gone to fly one that had control movement restrictions because of a hard landing on nose gear.

I'm not familiar with any firewall reinforcement, but there may be something out there......BUT, if you're installing the Landes Airglass nose fork kit, do NOT install same size tires on all three. If you install 8.50 x 6.00 on the mains, install an 8.00 x 600 on the nose. This retains the relative stance of the original airplane. Put same size tires on all three, and you'll be landing nosewheel first if you're not really careful.

Get the plane in the proper stance, and use proper pilot technique and you shouldn't have any issues with firewall damage. Learn to slow it down, and land mains first, nose relatively high, and hold the nose off as long as practical.

If you went to 8.50 x 10 mains, an 8.50 x 6.00 nose tire would be fine.....again, maintaining the stock relationship between mains and nose gear. But, I think you'll find that 8.50 x 6.00 mains and 8.00 x 6.00 nose gear tire will work fine most places. I ran a 206 rigged like that, with a fair amount of off airport work, and never wanted more tire.

MTV

Curious why someone hasn’t developed a firewall beef-up kit for the 172 along the lines of the Seaplanes West 182 one.

My son just put the Airglas on his 172A, nothing mentioned or done to the firewall. There is some work needed to the strut, but I think it was just shortened a bit. He has the afore mentioned tires the MTV recommends, 8.50 mains and an 8.00 on the nose.
The bigger tires and the Sportsman's cuff made a different airplane out of it! Oh a repitch to (snail speed cruise) an awesome climb prop. The old O-300 sure likes it.

Can you share which make prop, diameter and pitch you found worked well with the O-300?

And, another point I should have made earlier: Install an extended baggage kit in that 172, then install a substantial amount of survival gear all the way in the back of it, well secured. If you're going into or over the pucker brush with this airplane, you'll definitely want to carry a decent survival kit. Doesn't have to be huge, mind you, but putting it as far aft as possible really helps in keeping that nose gear protected.

PilotPeat wrote:Can you share which make prop, diameter and pitch you found worked well with the O-300?

I put an 80 x42 on my O-300 and it was a dramatic improvement in take off. Lost a fair bit in cruise though, I don’t remember exactly but I think it was 6 knots.

daedaluscan wrote:

PilotPeat wrote:Can you share which make prop, diameter and pitch you found worked well with the O-300?

I put an 80 x42 on my O-300 and it was a dramatic improvement in take off. Lost a fair bit in cruise though, I don’t remember exactly but I think it was 6 knots.

Like Daedaluscan I ran an 80x42 prop on my old 0-300 and it was a game change for float and ski ops. For me its all about getting of the Earth, I don't give a Tinker's Fart about cruise speed.