Wow looks like my one cracked engine stringer was not such a horror story after all - and I can feel good that we checked these thoroughly - like all these things I'm fixing - going to have one solid airplane that I can feel very confident in for years to come. Thanks for sharing - very educational for sure.

Couple updates of the progress;


New bootcowling on both sides - and reinstalling the air inlets - one of them was jammed shut - and neither one of them were very straight. Now will be same spot on both sides and lined up with the line of the firewall:


Also wanted to switch out the orginal closed loop yoke control wheel for the ram horn yoke control wheel, just a personal preference. I picked up a pair from Skywagon city, had them refurbished by they folks over at Flight Boss (https://www.saircorp.com/) - and then covered in leather. I'm very happy with how they came out. I still need to refurbish the center emblem (if you know a source let me know):

Wow-- when you say it turned into a full plane project, you meant it!
Everything you've been posting looks great.
Curious what year your 180 is, and whether the boot cowl air vents were standard or added.
My 53 doesn't have them, not sure what year Cessna added them.

hotrod180 wrote:Curious what year your 180 is, and whether the boot cowl air vents were standard or added.
My 53 doesn't have them, not sure what year Cessna added them.

My wagon is a 180E 1962 - I'm not sure if the those air vents are standard on my year or not. But they must not have used a template to install them as they were not in the exact same spot on each side (I'm a little OCD in that way and it was something I noticed). The only other 62 180 I have seen in person and paid attention to those vents only had the vent on the right side. Now I'm curious about this, will dig through the parts manual to see what it shows.

I'm pretty sure there was only one vent on the right side of the later ones. Early had the flapper deal on the firewall. Not sure what the purpose of two into that plenum on the backside of the firewall would be for.

180Marty wrote:I'm pretty sure there was only one vent on the right side of the later ones. Early had the flapper deal on the firewall. Not sure what the purpose of two into that plenum on the backside of the firewall would be for.

Might be talking about two different things - the firewall flapper that goes into the plenum on the back side of the firewall was for cabin heat. What I'm talking about is for fresh outside air vent on the side of the boot cowl.

Might be talking about two different things

On the early ones the deal on the firewall is kinda like a carb heat box and both cool and heated air enter the plenum at the same place. Guess the later scoop on the right side for cool fresh was supposed to be simpler. My 54 definitely doesn't have any scoop on the right side of the boot cowl. Speaking of, guess you are fabricating new skins down the side to the lower engine mount bracket. Will be interesting to see how you come out since I think it is just flat metal.

I'm thinking she will be ready to fly home in a few days... if only:

Test fitting:

Wow, would love to stop by and check it out in person.

Wow alright.

Curious, when you are replacing skins that are curved, such as the top of the boot cowl, do you purchase them off Cessna?

And what are you priming them in?

Fantastic result you’ll have.

corefile wrote:….Also wanted to switch out the orginal closed loop yoke control wheel for the ram horn yoke control wheel, just a personal preference. I picked up a pair from Skywagon city, had them refurbished by they folks over at Flight Boss (https://www.saircorp.com/) - and then covered in leather. I'm very happy with how they came out. I still need to refurbish the center emblem (if you know a source let me know):

My 180 had aftermarket rams-horns very similar to those when I bought it.
I really like the look of the original "closed loop" style yokes so I hustled up a set of those.
Looked way cooler IMHO but they were just enough lower so that the RH yoke was in the way of my right hand somehow--
kinda interfered when dumping the flaps after landing, etc.
I don't like the way they look upside down, plus then they were too high.
So just last week I ended up reinstalling the rams horns. Ahh!
Yours are sure a lot spiffier than the well-worn ones I have though!
A suitable badge in the center will definitely set them off nicely.

BTW kudos to you for all the work you're putting into your airplane,
above & beyond the "engine is toast" stuff.
Looks like it's all really coming out great,
gonna be one awesome skywagon when you're done.

Ok well here is the big reveal of something I have known was going to be controversial - one of the big changes with this new rebuild was that I was going to go all glass on the panel. And as part of that I looked at everything, including the shape of the panel. While I know there are tons of people putting in glass in the old traditional shaped panel - I just didn't like how you had to make adjustments (that I didn't like) to make it work. Most noticeable is with the new 10" glass panels not being able to get them centered over the yoke - they are always just off a bit towards the middle to make up for the curve of the panel. So when I redid my panel - I also wanted a panel that was made from scratch to be a glass panel.... ok anyway - I feel like I already have to defend it

I'm pretty excited about how its coming out - did a single aluminum billeted frame - much thicker and stronger than the original crap frame that is in there, and changed the round corner just a bit, it looks alot more drastic than it actually is - when you lay over the original panel its less the a inch on those corners.. Anywho here it is:

Just got it back from the fabricator and temp put it in to test fit it.

This angle really makes the shape look drastically different, but in reality its not, you can see the top is still in the same spot as the vbrace is expecting:

Love looking at the project coming along!!!

Wow, stunning! Nice work!

Kurt

corefile wrote:

Just thought I'd let you know that Kyle Fosso posted this exact same photo on the Cessna 180/185 Facebook group yesterday,
along with a comment starting off with "oh yes we did! " and ending up with "can't wait to finish this up!".
Is he involved with your rebuild?

hotrod180 wrote:Just thought I'd let you know that Kyle Fosso posted this exact same photo on the Cessna 180/185 Facebook group yesterday,
along with a comment starting off with "oh yes we did! " and ending up with "can't wait to finish this up!".
Is he involved with your rebuild?

Yep - my plane is up ARC (they are the ones doing the Bushliner). I know by the other thread on here that there are some that are not fans. But I have had a very good experience working with that crew up there. Kyle and I spent a ton of time discussing that panel design, going through many iterations (still finalizing location of a few panel items). We had a few conference calls together with Dynon to get all my questions answered about the Skyview HDX STC. I've been very happy with the work that has been completed, I've gone up to the shop a few times to check on the work as its progressed. I've been really happy with the communication as we discuss the different options of the rebuild, as some of the unexpected issues have popped up (what are the options, cost, improvements, etc) - we communicate daily about the plane - and its been there since October.

So while I know some have their opinions - my experience has be A+

corefile wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:Just thought I'd let you know that Kyle Fosso posted this exact same photo on the Cessna 180/185 Facebook group yesterday,
along with a comment starting off with "oh yes we did! " and ending up with "can't wait to finish this up!".
Is he involved with your rebuild?

Yep - my plane is up ARC (they are the ones doing the Bushliner). I know by the other thread on here that there are some that are not fans. But I have had a very good experience working with that crew up there. Kyle and I spent a ton of time discussing that panel design, going through many iterations (still finalizing location of a few panel items). We had a few conference calls together with Dynon to get all my questions answered about the Skyview HDX STC. I've been very happy with the work that has been completed, I've gone up to the shop a few times to check on the work as its progressed. I've been really happy with the communication as we discuss the different options of the rebuild, as some of the unexpected issues have popped up (what are the options, cost, improvements, etc) - we communicate daily about the plane - and its been there since October.

So while I know some have their opinions - my experience has be A+

I for one think your panel upgrade as well as all the other stuff you are working on is fantastic! Keep up the good work and keep “thinking” things thru, its amazing when a project is done how you discover something that would have been simple to do differently and you think to yourself “why didn't I think of that”.

Keep the pictures coming!

Kurt

Here's a mod I thought of today Modify the firewall so you can get the starter drive adapter off like later models

180Marty wrote:Here's a mod I thought of today Modify the firewall so you can get the starter drive adapter off like later models

Yep... I'll have some pics in a few weeks - it was suppose to have been shipped already but its running a bit late.

corefile wrote: Yep - my plane is up ARC (they are the ones doing the Bushliner)…... But I have had a very good experience working with that crew up there.....I've been very happy with the work that has been completed, I've gone up to the shop a few times to check on the work as its progressed. I've been really happy with the communication as we discuss the different options of the rebuild, as some of the unexpected issues have popped up (what are the options, cost, improvements, etc) - we communicate daily about the plane - and its been there since October. So while I know some have their opinions - my experience has be A+

So all the work in the photos has been done at ARC?
It does look like they're doing a fine job.