So I'm new to the site. Fly a Cessna 182A that has been converted to a taildragger back in 1996 before we owned it. We bought the plane about 10 years ago now, and I got my license about 6 years ago, did my training and testing in this plane and it is basically the only plane I've flown. It has been a great plane, it is a blast to fly (not that I know any other planes really, but all the Instructors really enjoyed flying it during my training, although they are used to sitting in 172's all day) BUT it is a little rough around the edges and its age is starting to show. We have figured it is finally time that we clean it up a bit, giving it a fresh paint job, and redoing the interior.

It gets used as a pickup truck for us alot, often flying for parts for our farm or spray operation, or just bombing around the country side. Don't do alot of big cross countries in it, so it usually lives fairly close to home. Unless we have something to pick up out of province.

So as I said, it is a 1957 Cessna 182A that was converted using the Baer Tailwheel Conversion back in 1996. It also has a Sportsman STOL kit on it, along with an extended baggage, EI EGT/CHT Monitor, Bubble windows. If I remember correctly it is sitting on 185 gear, and I always thought it had a PPonk beef up kit, but when I was going through paperwork today I saw something about a Kenmore landing gear upgrade, but I don't see an STC for that on their website. Unless the STC had changed hands at some point.

I've been scouring this site reading about all the great projects going on here, and gathering ideas on what else we should be doing while it is getting painted. This won't be a full on rebuild like some of these projects here, but will likely be done in a few phases over the winter when it doesn't fly much anyways.

One of the big ones is the cowling, which like most 1957 180/182's I'm sure, is in bad shape. Been looking at the Selkirk cowling, read great things about it, and have talked to them several times on the phone and they are quite helpful and seem great to deal with.

I'm debating between the Category 1 cowling, which would be a replacement for my existing 182A cowling, or their Category 4 cowling, which would be more like a later model 180 cowling, but they have it STCed for 182A's with an adapter for the airbox. It would be nice to go with a 180 style cowling to make it look the part a bit better, but it is quite a bit more money, and would have to add in cowl flaps (not a big deal, but also have to remember to use them). Also, we still have the nose gear casting attached to the underside of the plane, which from what I can tell is normal in the Baer conversion, but I'm going to have to look into if we can remove that somehow. It would be nice to not have that thing dragging in the wind underneath.

Anyways here is a picture of the plane currently. Probably won't start on the paint job until end of Novemberish, but still lots of planning to do before then. Feedback and ideas always welcome! I plan on posting a bit more about my plans as I start narrowing down some of the things I am looking at doing to it while painting.

Following along!

I'd get the standard replacement cowling-- "if it aint broke, don't fix it".
I'm assuming you don't have any engine over-heating or -cooling issues.
Plus cowl flaps can be a PITA, if you don't have them, they can't break or get out of rig.

I would remove any stock nosewheel or MLG attach parts that are no longer in use,
but that might be a grey area legally if doing so is not part of the STC.

I just drove out to Selkirk and picked up my new Cat 4 cowl for my "54" 180. I want to update firewall forward to be like my 180K and have most of what is needed----just need to get motivated to do it. I haven't tried fitting anything yet but have a friend that just put the original style on his 182A and it fits great he said. Here are a few pic's of my cowl, the firewall and mould used to make the Cat 4. I am keeping the original screw holes but will need to change to floating nut instead of the original tinnerman's at the firewall.

hotrod180 wrote:I'd get the standard replacement cowling-- "if it aint broke, don't fix it".
I'm assuming you don't have any engine over-heating or -cooling issues.
Plus cowl flaps can be a PITA, if you don't have them, they can't break or get out of rig.

I would remove any stock nosewheel or MLG attach parts that are no longer in use,
but that might be a grey area legally if doing so is not part of the STC.

Yes, that is basically my concerns of cowl flaps. I never have issues with over heating. Cold can be an issue, but honestly I don't fly on the really cold days, and most of my "to cold" issues are in the cabin anyways. The beauty of only being a PPL is I really don't have to fly if I don't want to.

Basically it would be nice to complete the change and look completely like a 180, but most likely isn't worth it. Even using the same cowling but just removing the nose gear attach would do 80% of it.

Would love to get the nose gear attach point off the belly, but my understanding is leaving it on is a part of the STC. I'll need to figure out who the current STC holder is though and see if they have a way to remove it.

Still in the research phase so glad to hear some feedback. Painter said they could get started end of November, so I'm sure we'll start moving on it alot more in the next month or so. I plan on making another post before then about some of the tentative plans, which I'm sure will completely change once we actually tear into it.

180Marty wrote:I just drove out to Selkirk and picked up my new Cat 4 cowl for my "54" 180. I want to update firewall forward to be like my 180K and have most of what is needed----just need to get motivated to do it. I haven't tried fitting anything yet but have a friend that just put the original style on his 182A and it fits great he said. Here are a few pic's of my cowl, the firewall and mould used to make the Cat 4. I am keeping the original screw holes but will need to change to floating nut instead of the original tinnerman's at the firewall.

Marty do you still have the dual exhaust on your 54?
I see the cat 4 cowl is later model stuff, so is set up for single (RH tailpipe) exhaust as well as the narrower cowl flaps.
Personally I'd prefer the early (cat 2) cowl, I like the shark-mouth induction air opening.
I think the early cowls are sleeker looking in profile too.
I notice that the Selkirk cat 2 nosebowls don't have the upper-to-lower connecting ring behind the spinner,
which is good cuz it's a PITA,
but it doesn't seem to have the sort of squared-off inlet which I like (see pic).

Marty do you still have the dual exhaust on your 54?

I'm going to use the newer style exhaust too. Still have the dual Knisley and my original cowl is still pretty good so will keep for if I ever want to convert back. I believe Selkirk told me the top of the cowl is the same for all the different styles. When Stilllearning was down here last spring, his fiberglass cowl looked like the original early ones. I remember getting a brochure from PoorMan Aviation at Big Fork MT making a replacement and think his was that one.

Exhaust location was a concern for me, as the Cat 4 shows setup for the later style Right Rear exhaust pipe.

My exhaust is still the early style front left.

But they said they'll just drill the hole wherever I wanted the exhaust to come out for my cowl. Also would need an adapter to convert the later style intake opening to my early style airbox.

The talk about having a cold engine previous reminded me, I should check in with them on a winter front for their cowling. If the opening matches the same with my current cowling I could just transfer my current one to the new cowling. I don't really see it come up much in regards to these cowlings, so not sure what other people do for a winter front.

Exhaust location was a concern for me, as the Cat 4 shows setup for the later style Right Rear exhaust pipe.

My friend in Virginia has left exhaust too. He told Selkirk not to make an opening so he and his mechanic could do it.

I'm the friend in Va. I have an Acorn new style exhaust, but its lefthand output. I asked Selkirk to not cut the exhaust and front vent holes, and they didnt, but left them nicely marked in pencil for me to cutout. Part of the reasoning behind this is I knew from my old cowling that the exhaust was rotated slightly to the rear of the airplane and not exactly stock. Cutting the exhaust hole was a bit nerve racking but came out fine.

I stayed with the Cat 1 cowling, adding cowl flaps seemed like adding alot of unnecessary complication to things. It bolted right up the first time once i got the exhaust hole cut, but did take awhile to finetune the fit and add the baffling to the air intake tunnel.

Cool project, good to put some effort into keeping the old girl going.

Is there such a thing as too cold for an air cooled engine? I’ve always assumed there’s no such thing. As long as you can keep the oil temp up where it’s flowing nicely it seems like the rest of the engine can only benefit from lower temps, am I wrong?

We ditched our cowl flaps a few years back with the Horsham stc to no ill affect that I can see. One less thing to forget.

Halestorm wrote:....We ditched our cowl flaps a few years back with the Horsham stc to no ill affect that I can see.
One less thing to forget.

I assume this is the stc?

https://horshamaviation.com.au/stcs-horsham-aviation/

Makes sense.

Oh wow, have I done a bad job of keeping this thread updated. It has been a busy winter though, so figured I'd share some progress, and can update later on more info on what we have done with it. Just need some extra free time!



We are debating the seat colours right now. Thinking about doing either a contrasting stitch or contrasting welt. Anyone have any pictures of either of these? Particularly contrasting welt, as it would stand out more but wondering if it would be to much.

Looking nice!