Can't wait to see the payoff Greg!

Barnstormer wrote:As soon as you start flying her you'll forget all about whether she's 40 lbs lighter or 140 lbs lighter.

+1

Besides, you'll soon have it stuffed with extra goodies you want - those flying appurtenances (we all have them!). By comparison to most other (long since unweighed) Skywagons, you will still be somewhat lighter.
It's the least of your worries right now. Go get flying!

Not that it's quite over but thanks for a great thread that has kept many of us interested in a long journey. As you rightly know, your airplane is exceptional. To put the weight thing in perspective, with your useful you could put my C150 in your 180 and fly away legally. Not too bad. My buddy and I fly out of 0NY0 and 4B7 in the Adirondacks. Some neat strips in our area, love to have you come out for a visit. Barring that I guess I'll have to man up and fly into class B to come see for myself. Congratulations on a truly spectacular airplane. Hope to see it this summer.

Frank

You should be very proud of yourself Greg, you put more time and dedication into your 180 than most of us even dream about. It's not the numbers that count, but the memories that are made. You sir will need more baggage room to put all those soon to be memories in. You'll have a plane that will last another 50 years! I applaud and thank you for all your efforts and sharing it with the rest of us. A few of us have been bit (hard) and we all come out better on the other side, regardless of the weight and cost.

As light as possible and as heavy as necessary.

PS, it just occurred to me that your 180H could carry your 170B. That my friend, is awesome!

You know you're going to change the GW when you 'ponk it, anyway...

Thank you for sharing each step of this process through your excellent photography and detailed write-ups. It's likely been one of the most informative threads in the history of BCP.

-DP

Thanks all.... But I aint finished yet. Still a bunch of miles to march before I fly.

DP: Unfortunately no more increase on the GW for me Ponk or not. The Kenmore Air 3190 (with the big vert stab) is the end of the line unless I want to swap out for a 185!

denalipilot wrote:You know you're going to change the GW when you 'ponk it, anyway...

Thank you for sharing each step of this process through your excellent photography and detailed write-ups. It's likely been one of the most informative threads in the history of BCP.

-DP

No doubt on the all time thread here! Over 45,000 views is insane!

Have you been flying anything since you started this refurb? That first flight may give you sweaty palms...

bigrenna wrote:DP: Unfortunately no more increase on the GW for me Ponk or not. The Kenmore Air 3190 (with the big vert stab) is the end of the line unless I want to swap out for a 185!

Sorry- I meant empty weight increase. Knowing how you roll, I figured you'd go for the 520 bumpy-back case.

Go big or go home?

Lol

aktahoe1 wrote:
No doubt on the all time thread here! Over 45,000 views is insane!

I think a 1,000 of those views belong to me

Awesome work Bigrenna!!

denalipilot wrote:Knowing how you roll, I figured you'd go for the 520 bumpy-back case.

No doubt... Undoubtedly will be in the future. MT + PPonk. Trouble is I have a low time fact engine now, so I will have to fly the piss out of her in the short term.

bigrenna wrote:Trouble is I have a low time fact engine now, so I will have to fly the piss out of her in the short term.

I think I'd like to have your "troubles"!!

Awesome! Now hurry up and fly it, now that you got all the hard work done. I've already put 100 hr on my super cub. Sense January. Haha

Where the thread title "Madness" came from... This is the binder containing the STC's, 337's, etc... It's about 80% complete so far.

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." JFK-

Bravo. I thought I was insane but you have me well beat.

Excellent work Bigrenna!

Sharing the findings of your research and the photos of your progress has been very inspirational for many of us. You have the sweetest Cessna 180 in the world now. It would be difficult to work that hard on anything and not experience some feeling of disappointment along the way, for perfection in the imperfect world can be a highly emotional pursuit. I am certain that pride will overwhelm disappointment ten thousand times in the future for you as you are out adventuring in your exceptional flying machine. Does she have a name?

Bigrenna-

It's been a heck of a ride following your build! You've set the bar pretty high... can't wait to see her fly! Are you join to Oshkosh this year?

gunny

Took about 2hrs of prep and noodling about making sure I was gonna get oil pressure, but I started her up on the ramp today... Let her idle there for a while and soaked it all in. Def a ton of small bugs to work out, but its starting to feel real.

Thanks for all the nice comments. Probably a bit too strong, but sounds nice.

Gunny: Yep, gonna be at Osh. Jury is out on if the Skywagon will be ready, but its on the list if possible.

BigRenna-

I hope it makes it.... I'd love to see it. Maybe we should see about setting a BCP gig up so we can meet and have pizza... or something?

gunny

It's been a fun week down at the hanger... Finally pulled her out, gave her a prime, and w/ 1/3 of a turn she came to life. Was exhilarating to be behind the yoke and feel the engine go. Sure is damn quiet with all that Selkirk foam. Way quieter than before.

So far it's only ground runs to check eng performance, avionics, and the MVP-50. Talked about it a bit on another thread, but that MVP-50 is the cat's ass. It's gonna take me a bit to really get used to the information at my fingertips, but the combo is sure a mind-blower.

430 talks to the MVP, MVP takes the course/flight data and adds magic then sends info back to the 430. 430 talks to the 796 and populates all course data on the big screen. 796 sends touch screen freq data to the SL30 and populates automagically. 330 sends traffic info to the 430. Nutty!

(still more polishing to do...)