Another call out to all,

Given the excellent response to the discussion on seat upgrades I like to extended this discussion further and solicit intel on diet plans for the overall airframe, NOT the flight crew !!!

Which components did you upgrade or modify; give the starting, if known and end weight or at least the savings realized.

Kind regards,

Mapleflt

Firewall mounted oddysey battery on my C180. Saved me 30 lbs in battery and cable.
Currently building a 206. Used to be a jump plane so it was pretty stripped out. It'll get a utility interior and reupholstered seats. As much glass in the panel as I can afford. Hoping to end up around 1850 lbs.

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This should give you some ideas. https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/project-cessna-170b-back-in-the-air-14063

I started out at 1398 on bushwheels and got it down to 1315 on 8.00s, 1293 with the rear atlee dodge seats out, and 1285 when I put in an odyssey battery. Putting it back on the 26” bushwheels and baby bushwheel added 30lbs.

Big weight savings for my 1956 182 was a firewall mounted battery and LakeVue jump seats in the back. I like the LakeVue cus they are lighter than the Atlee Dodge and you can remove them and put in the original back seat very easily if you need a back seat for a long trip

Mine lost about 14 lbs. when one of the Narco navcoms was replaced with a Garmin 430W and the King audio panel was replaced with a PS Engineering audio panel. Part of that weight loss was pulling the now unnecessary glideslope receiver out of the tail and the wiring between it and the panel. Modern avionics don't weigh nearly what old ones do.

Mine lost another 3+ pounds when I replaced the AI with a Quattro--electronic gyros weigh next to nothing by comparison to "real" gyros.

Cary

Do you still have a relic cabin speaker above the headliner? Easy couple pounds of deadweight if you do.

Bet your paint job weighs 30 lbs or more.

-DP

Its very early days in the diet program for my 170 but some success was found by tossing out the 30 lbs prop for a 12 lbs Catto

Mapleflt wrote:Its very early days in the diet program for my 170 but some success was found by tossing out the 30 lbs prop for a 12 lbs Catto

Probably didnt add any weight to the paperwork with that mod either.

Great topic. I held back posting at first because I thought maybe the OP only wanted to hear about C180 topics.

As we said when I built models "sweat the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves".

For my Citabria I am going on a quest for weight savings. As many (most) of you are aware, probably the biggest shortcoming of the Citabria is useful load. My plane is starting out with 492 lb to work with and is a great place to demonstrate how even 50-100 lbs can be a game changer.

I'm already sporting a lightweight starter but can do a lightweight alternator on top of it. I can do a lightweight battery and move it to the firewall. When I re-cover the plane in the next who-knows-how-long I'll be doing Rainbow Ron spruce spars. Why? Because the Millman aluminum spars will cost me another 20 lbs and I can spend the money on other things to take even more weight off.

Expensive items from the factory are carbon floor boards instead of plywood (8 lbs) and ditch the carpet (4 lbs) and swap steel legs for aluminum ( I can't find the delta on that right now but it's significant).

Next up will be pursuit of the lightest covering I can come up with. With models I found out covering was way heavier than most of us account for and not to be ignored.

Thanks for the contribution, these concepts are in no way limited to any specific make or model of ride, mine is a 1952 170B

aftCG wrote:..... Next up will be pursuit of the lightest covering I can come up with. With models I found out covering was way heavier than most of us account for and not to be ignored.

There can be a substantial weight difference just between a light and heavy paint job.

aftCG wrote:Next up will be pursuit of the lightest covering I can come up with. With models I found out covering was way heavier than most of us account for and not to be ignored.

Oratex? They now have STC approvals for Huskys, Maules, a bunch of Piper models, and a few Aeroncas as well.

JP256 wrote:

aftCG wrote:Next up will be pursuit of the lightest covering I can come up with. With models I found out covering was way heavier than most of us account for and not to be ignored.

Oratex? They now have STC approvals for Huskys, Maules, a bunch of Piper models, and a few Aeroncas as well.

I'm willing to be an early adopter of Oratex but the STC has to show 7ECA before I order any materials.

aftCG wrote:

JP256 wrote:

aftCG wrote:Next up will be pursuit of the lightest covering I can come up with. With models I found out covering was way heavier than most of us account for and not to be ignored.

Oratex? They now have STC approvals for Huskys, Maules, a bunch of Piper models, and a few Aeroncas as well.

I'm willing to be an early adopter of Oratex but the STC has to show 7ECA before I order any materials.

I'm in the exact same boat with my '65 7ECA... Still has most of the original factory fabric. Punch tests are still OK, but it looks like... Well, let's just say there's a reason my wife calls the plane "Rags"...

The approval is pending for the ACA products. Shouldn't be long...