I thought I would stop in and introduce myself. My name is Streeter Clow and I am from North Central Ohio. This past Sunday I brought home a Pacer project that I have been working a deal on for some time now. I have spent the past 2 years researching and dreaming of what aircraft I wanted to purchase or build next. I currently own a 172 and it suits me well but like most I have spent countless hours watching videos and reading blogs in regards to back country aircraft. I sat down and wanted to really figure out what my mission profile was and what I wanted out of the platform I chose. 90 percent of my flying is either alone or with a friend hitting small grass strips and friends private fields. I do quite a bit of cross country also. I looked at all types of kits from the Rans S7 to all the different Super Cub style kits. I wanted to be able to haul gear when needed and in the event I took my kids along I wanted to be able to throw in a back seat. I am at the point that I want to pay cash for whatever I purchase and carry zero debt on the project. I also like the idea of a project due to the fact that I want to know every nut and bolt, every pulley and every other aspect of the plane which I fly. I have a ton of free time and can basically work this project like a fulltime job. I also have a very close friend and business partner that is an A&P IA that I apprentice under. The project that I found had started life as a Tri Pacer but had been converted to conventional gear and stretched using the Blanton conversion back in the early 90's. I knew the airplane back then and knew that the work was done well but that the airplane never quite got finished. When I came across it for sale I could not wait to jump on it. It still had the Ford V6 motor hanging on it when I went to look at it but I could look past that! The wings were each stretched 18 inches with the ailerons pushed out to the hornier style tips. The flaps are a nice 87 inches. It came with a ton of extras including a brand new interior, lots of instruments and avionics and many new parts still packed away in the original boxes. The price was beyond a good deal. The biggest drawback is that while it is currently covered through silver the fuselage just was not finished off quite to my liking prior to covering. The fabric will all come off this week It needs to come off anyways as I hate the way that Blanton did the gear and plan a more traditional Super Cub style gear with a Cabine Vee set up. It will have dual gullwing all glass doors and dual baggage doors on the right side. I have an friend that is building an experimental super cub style aircraft right now and has an engineering background so he is assisting with all the changes. The engine of choice so far is an O-360... but that could change. I look forward to sharing the journey and getting advice from those who have been there and done it before. I have pretty thick skin and can take criticism and just want to have a SAFE, good performing aircraft.

I will get some better pics now that it is out of the dark warehouse where I picked it up!

Streeter,
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a great project going. I've got a soft spot for Pacers as many around here know

I hope to build an experimental Pacer at some point and it sounds like you are planning a lot of great mods!

Thanks for the welcome! I was in love with this airplane when my friend briefly owned it and my father helped work on it back in the 90's.

A couple of the mods I have planed for the build:

- 60 inch sky light.
- Elongated and squared off rear windows.
- Super Cub style gear, hopefully with AOSS.
- Second smaller baggage door above the stock one for the top baggage area.
- Second light set up in the right wing with LED lighting.
- ACS billet yokes.
- Gullwing patroller doors on both sides.
- Squared off PA-18 sized tail.

The list will grow for sure and is always open to change.

Welcome Streeter! Look forward to following your project.

Congrats and welcome! Excited to follow along...

Welcome! I'm looking forward to your build!

Got a lot done last yesterday evening. The firewall and everything forward is now off and being prepared to attempt to sell. I took the time to take all the wiring off and label it. All the ignition system was left bolted to the firewall and wired if possibly. I also got the instrument panel out. The tail feathers came off and got hung up on the wall. This morning after cleaning up the shop from last night I will hopefully start stripping the old fabric away. I am seeing a lot of things that I will do way different as I go along as I take it apart. Sitting for the past 10 years has taken it's toll on all the cheap hardware they used to mock it up. It will only get better from here! I will snap some pics today as I go along.

SClow303 wrote:....I hate the way that Blanton did the gear and plan a more traditional Super Cub style gear with a Cabine Vee set up. ....

I never understood why they went to the trouble to build that raked-forward gear, instead of just installing a new forward gear attach fitting as do all other PA-22 t/w conversions.
Sounds like it has some good mods already, and that you will be adding more. You might check in at supercub.org, there's a couple guys doing similar projects. One of them, DA, started a thread recently about his "back burner bushmaster project", lotsa good stuff there that might be useful to you.
Good luck with it!

I would never try to understand the forward raked gear as I have met Dave Blanton. He only heard his own music. He spoke as a guest speaker at an EAA meeting I attended in the late '70's and the subject was aircraft design among other topics. He went on at length about how the Pitts Special was a dangerous design due to the aircraft only having one set of flying and landing wires. He designed a "fix" with additional wires, thoroughly irritating Curtis Pitts. I was building a Pitts at the time and he didn't sway me. He had many ideas and not all were wonky but he definitely was a different cat.

Productive day in the shop today. Got all the fabric stripped away and I am very pleased with the condition of the tubing underneath. I started to remove the old floor also. So far so good!

Sweet, you ought to post a build thread in the modifications forum! Buddy of mine will likely end up building a Pacer.