Greg,

The project is looking great!

Joel

Greg,

Looks like your in the middle of the pain part. I understand why you may not want to put a headliner in. I'm doing mine at this moment and not loving it at all. I put it off for over a month. A normal 185/180 is enough pain, but fitting it around the skylites is a real pain. I just got the rear part in today and have clamped the front portion to let it relax a bit. Tomorrow I warm the cabin for an hour to let it soften up a bit in place and start cutting and stuffing it around the peripheral grabbers. Getting it all to fit around the skylites, belts, vents and the center light controls is challenging. I did put sound dampening material on the ceiling and it helps, but it is louder without the headliner, regardless. I did find one annoying aspect to not having the headliner installed. The floodlights on the ceiling leak an enormous amount of light without the headliner and I had to stuff paper towels all around it on my last night flight to keep it from blinding me.

I def not a headliner type... didnt even think about installing it in my wagon. I love how much more headroom I get, and since Im not working the airplane, Im not that worried about buggering up the foam. I am going to be doing the same exact thing I did in my 170 with the same grey imron and contrasting 1/4" foam. It was way more quiet than the stock 170 w/ headliner and fiberglass insulation. Wasn't that cold either...

Downstream if I change my mind, I can always install it since I am leaving most of the headliner attach points.

RE: the light spill. I put NuLites in the panel on every instrument as well as a light under the glare shield, so I dont really need the overhead for a panel flood. I am running red dimable LEDs up there, so the spill is kind of nice. It floods the cabin with a subtle red light for overall illumination if I want it.

(how the Skwagon will be)

NIce, I like the overhead lights, where did you get them? Did you use the 1/4" foam from Spruce? The black stuff. I used that in back and the EAR in front. I never want to be near the fiberglass again. I also used some black Kydex to make the rear upper portion of the extended baggage a bit more secure than one layer of headliner. That way ski poles don't poke through. I like your grey imron idea, looks way better than my peeling zinc chromate, which oozes ambience. I concur with the headroom, but my head seems to be more interested in colliding with the Rosen sun visors than the headliner, since it dips into the skylites.

I try to get it as quiet as I can. I don't want to loose any more hearing, even with the latest super headsets you still loose some. My flight Surgeon said my hearing was fine, "your just stupid," was his diagnosis.

RE: foam... I have been working with Jonie at Selkirk and using their foam. It is pretty rugged, and I have had great service from Selkirk. I could have used the 1/2" if I was really worried about sound, but the weight is twice as much. I also didn't dig the aesthetic. Too puffy IMO. I like the simple utilitarian look of the 1/4. Plus it fits nice and flush with the interior. The Skywagon will of course be a bit different, but on the 170 it was totally fine and quiet. I flew the wagon for a month w/out any interior or insulation at all and that was acceptable with the ANR headsets. Will be just perfect and cozy w/ the 1/4 foam.

RE: Imron... the stuff is the bomb and is really tough. Its an industrial paint and can take the abuse. I have been using 3.5 HG for interiors.

Imron is great stuff. I don't spray it anymore. There where certain health aspects to it that were disturbing. They have since changed the formula, but I am set up for for alumagrip. Once you buy the part B, which is almost as expensive as printer ink, your kind of set.

Where did you get the overhead light? I like it, besides mine is showing its age.

The Spruce foam is fine, but not tough. The Ear foam is both, but the aluminum facing gets dented easily.

Funny thing about ANR headsets. Mine, David Clarks, likes the 185 and turbines, didn't work for poop on the Birddog's frequency. I tried some Lightspeeds, and they absolutely suck on turbines. Might as well not been wearing any on the Caravan whilst doing the skydiving training. Swapped back to the David Clarks and quiet as an Egyptian Tomb. They all have their niches.

dogpilot wrote:Funny thing about ANR headsets. Mine, David Clarks, likes the 185 and turbines, didn't work for poop on the Birddog's frequency. I tried some Lightspeeds, and they absolutely suck on turbines. Might as well not been wearing any on the Caravan whilst doing the skydiving training. Swapped back to the David Clarks and quiet as an Egyptian Tomb. They all have their niches.

I have a low-end pair of Lightspeeds. They work fine in a 172 and 182, but in the 162 at takeoff power they oscillate so badly that It's almost impossible to hear the radio. You're better off turning them off. I almost missed a command from Salem tower because of this.

Well I have officially rounded the bend and are now on the upswing.... Long two days, but the interior painting is FINISHED!

Looks great!

Looks GREAT!

Now the fun part begins, putting all the cool stuff in.

Looks badass Greg. I'm jealous.

I have been away for a little while, man you got so much done in that time it looks great. I think this is going to wind up being one of the nicest 185's around.

Greg,

Not intending to hijack your thread.... just thought I would share some pics of my 180 which is going through a similar transformation as yours. We have similar tastes but unfortunately I don't have the wallet to support all the panel upgrades right now like you are doing as all that money went into a Super Eagle conversion this winter.

This is my '57 180 I have been working on for about 1 1/2 years now and am doing many things very similar to what Greg is doing. I am slightly ahead of him but I don't get much time to work on it so he will pass me up real soon if he hasn't already. Here is a pic of what the 1/4" Selkirk foam looks like. In this pic you can also see a door post cover I made from textured black Kydes plastic to cover the flap and aileron cables. Turned out much better than I had expected but was a bit of the PIA.

I order bulk foam and made templates for each section.... That was a bit of a PIA also but the precut foam was not a good enough fit for me being that I will not have a headliner or panels.

I am using Aerofloor Dot flooring and glued 1/8" Aerolite foam underlayment from Skandia that looks top notch as well. I am getting really excited to get it done and flying for the fall season.

Darin,

Did you say you glued that foam down to the floor? How will you accommodate inspections--with removable sections, or??

MTV

mtv wrote:Darin,

Did you say you glued that foam down to the floor? How will you accommodate inspections--with removable sections, or??

MTV

MTV,

No, the foam is not glued to the floor. It is glued to underside of the Aerofloor Dot vinyl flooring material which simply lays in the cabin and is held in place by the heel plates up front and the rear seat bolt. It also tucks under the foam on the sides. Gluing foam to the floor wouldn't be a real smart idea in my book.Many guys use the vinyl floor without any underlayment foam but I like how it hides seams and other irregularities in the floor and it feels much better than simply having the vinyl sit right on the aluminum floor, IMO.

Humming right along... All side and skylights are in! I went with tinted plexi which is pretty cool. Looks even cooler with the powdercoated window surrounds. (the pic above only has the rear in.)

Wow that thing looks like its going to be 10 times better than new! Nice work.

Still plodding along on this thing... although its tough to keep spending the time in the hanger with the WX so nice along with reading about all the flying you guys are doing....

Finally finished all the painting (interior anyway.) Feels good to be over that hump. Now Im on to installing the closed cell foam.



All the avionics are finished and are wired. The avionics are set it up to take advantage of all the new Garmin capabilities. 330, SL30, and 430w all talk to each other and the 796 as well as the MVP-50. I also upgraded the STEC 30 with GPSS so it should be a pretty cool ride.



Also finally got the panels finished and back from Trevor at Avion. Was a long process, but in the end they really do look nice and do an amazing job. We finished wiring the sub and installed it the other day.

I was starting to get worried, Greg. It's been a long time since an update. Your 180 is looking absolutely fantastic!

Absolutely stunning Greg!

To parrot Dogpilot whose overhead light are you using?

Awesome work! Keep the updates coming.