Well my Super Cub is gone. The Super Cub was a fun project and a great Alaska airplane. There were sooooo many things i loved about that plane. The problem with the super cub is it only has two seats and i now have a four place family.
When i purchased the Cub i was in the market for a 180 but ended up with the Super Cub. With the cub gone i was in the market for a 180 or Maule and ended up with a 182. The cool thing about a 182 is the price. They are about half as much as a similar 180 and do about 90% of my mission. At least thats what i am telling everyone. And by telling i mean changing my parking spot, and lying that the parts are for a customers 182. After flying this beast of a 182 i LOVE IT! Finally i can take the whole family.

Now for the work.
1. The instrument panel is a mess. Needs re organized.
2. Even with more air the tiny tires are still tiny. BIGGER TIRES!
3. Extended baggage.
4. Firewall battery.
5. The seats upholstery are falling apart.
6. Every inch of the interior is either dirty, torn, smelly, and old. It was the smelly that sold my on this thing by the way.

First flight. I made it around the pattern!



All this logo is missing is a gun!



Engine gauges on the left and on the right, some giant gps mount, electrical tape over original gauges, altimeter is about 200ft off. What was i thinking.



These seats are sooo comfortable or maybe its the last few hundred hours driving a cub around that will make any Cessna seat seem like a lazy boy.

Awesome!! When are you going to start the repairs/upgrades?

Seems like everyone's getting a new to them plane these days!

Congrats!

Those are great airplanes. I got my instrument rating in a '56 a little while back, 1979. So many of the older 182's were turned into jump planes and spend their life doing that . That one looks like it could tell a few stories.

Congrats! I hear you on the seats being so cushy and comfortable. The new 180s seats are original, but so cushy compared to the Citabrias seats. Great looking plane!

Congrats! Looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to upgrade!! Another great platform to build on.

I think that airplane looks just fine. Don't change a thing, you'll just mess up the "Mystique"

I agree, res the patina, too cool to change! Save pesos for fuel/maint/tires (and maybe upholstery...

Looks like a 1959 ( cowl flaps ) - good idea would to be progressively add things to keep the bird flying. First I'd change out the cowl flaps for Horisman fixed cowl flap. I'd get the SPORTSMAN STOL, add the extended baggage and firewall mounted battery. If motor is near time for any heavy duty maintance I'd suggest a Norland Engine STC or. A P. ponk . When you decide to do the hodge pod panel get center stack radios of more recent vintage . I'd do the glareshield and change windshield to single piece 1/4 inch. Lightweight backseat(s) and interior. Paint would be about the last thing except for bigger wheels and clevland double puck brakes .

I'm going to disagree with Bills comment above.

I would get the big tires first, then spend about $10,000 in Blue gas, fly the rubber off of them, and get to know know your new girl; She is not a Supercub.

After two years I am sneaking up on 300 hours in my '59 182 and feel like I am just getting it. I have more then 1500 hours in a tripacer and a smattering of the usual alaskan birds; most of this is on floats. So, 300 hours X 14 gallons an hour X $8.50 a gallon...all this in two years.

I did all new flap and aileron cables and an AMU in exhaust parts at the last annual and will do the rudder next year, elevators next, wing flaps,...

I just think spending a ton of cash for paint and perfume you can brag about is silly. I wish the guys who are gold plating their 180 or other planes on this forum would pick some obscure aircraft to restore that needs it. Nothing special about a museum quality, better then new, spam can and they will look just as ugly on their back as my 28K beater Bigwheel would.



Anyway, welcome to the 182 club!

Rocket

BAS shoulder harness first! This is a MUST if it doesn't already have them. I bet MTV would agree with me, right Mike?

Congrats on the new airplane! Very cool, and she is yours! 182's are great airplanes.

G44

Nice 57! I swear I bought the tailwheel version of this plane. Looks basic and stock, a perfect platform to personalize it just the way you want it.

My advice (not that you're asking) is to put BAS shoulder harnesses in and fly the heck out of it.

rocket wrote:I'm going to disagree with Bills comment above.

I would get the big tires first, then spend about $10,000 in Blue gas, fly the rubber off of them, and get to know know your new girl; She is not a Supercub.

After two years I am sneaking up on 300 hours in my '59 182 and feel like I am just getting it. I have more then 1500 hours in a tripacer and a smattering of the usual alaskan birds; most of this is on floats. So, 300 hours X 14 gallons an hour X $8.50 a gallon...all this in two years.

I did all new flap and aileron cables and an AMU in exhaust parts at the last annual and will do the rudder next year, elevators next, wing flaps,...

I just think spending a ton of cash for paint and perfume you can brag about is silly. I wish the guys who are gold plating their 180 or other planes on this forum would pick some obscure aircraft to restore that needs it. Nothing special about a museum quality, better then new, spam can and they will look just as ugly on their back as my 28K beater Bigwheel would.



Anyway, welcome to the 182 club!

Rocket

Holy crap!14gph x $8.50 a gallon X 300 hours equals $35,700. I can fly my 170 300 hours for $12,375 (7.5gph x $5.50 a gallon x 300). That leaves a lot left over for "paint and perfume"


Nice 182 PAMR MX, fly the crap out of it and slowly upgrade things over time.

Somebody needs to school Rocket on what a mixture cable does….
Congrats on your new machine.
Although, I would have looked or a '60, '61 version
I'm sure you'll enjoy taking more than a Granolla Bar and a 12OZ bottle of water camping
Keep us posted on the project. Especially the ones with the kids enjoying the ride!


237

Sky truck,
Is that the round knob or the square one :/

Actually I flight plan for 15 just to keep it easy but burn anywhere between 10.5 and 14.5.

There is not a lot of steady state climb up and lean kind of flying out here in western AK. Well I guess there is but I get dizzy at anything higher then 300 feet AGL and its hard to follow the river from up there.

Sadly I was not kidding about the $8.90 a gallon of blue gas and as much as I hate to admit it I recently went to the dark side and started burning the dreaded mo-gas. It's only 6.88 a gallon. My flying buddies have been roasting me for changing my ways after years of refusing to touch the clear colored crap :/

My 182 came with the BRS shoulder restraints and I think it would be a wise early investment. I still think the big fork and something soft and wide on the mains to be your best bang for your buck on the straight tail 182. With them you will be much less likely to need those BRSs in the kind of places you will be going up here in AK.

Get her geared up and fly out to the Bristol Bay and have some fun with us!

Rocket

Big tires will not save your face/head from the dash in an impact from engine failure or other reason for sudden stoppage. The big nose wheel fork and all the other goodies can come after the BAS shoulder harness. Get the seaplane version shoulder harness, makes egress easier if needed in emergency.


G44

Here is mine in front of the mogas pump. Works fine no problem.


My takeoff procedure is lean for altitude, full power full rpm. At 1000 agl I turn prop doiwn to 2200 rpm and power back to 20 inches. Unless necessary I climb out at 300 to 400 fpm and I lean the heck out of it. Unless necessary I stay below 65% power.

I filled up at Huntington in Utah and flew this way to Morgan County Utah. Two days later I took off from Morgan County and landed at Elko, NV for fuel. 29.6 gallons for a total of 3 hrs and 6 minutes. If I push the piss out of it I would have used way more fuel and done it 15 minutes faster. I always average just under 10 gph per trip. Having a 12 point engine analyzer and fuel flow meter will pay for itself in fuel savings.

Tim

Thanks for all the advice! I hope to keep the plane mostly a beater with a heater. It has a newer prop and the engine is low to mid time and should be trouble free for many years. A o520 would be bad A but the whole idea of this airplane was to stay within a budget. I would love to paint it but that is for sure on the bottom of my list. I vowed to never paint another airplane so i hope i can keep that promise to my body. I agree a shoulder harness is a must. It has some sort of inirtial reel mounted up there but not a BAS. The PAX gets a fixed shoulder harness that will probably get changed. Im told its hard to breast feed with that harness on but i would not know.

Camtom- I just finished the panel, and tires last week. Currently working on the extended baggage and battery mod.

182 STOL- It is a 1957 that got modified with cowl flaps. Not sure what use they are as i have never opened them. It runs pretty cold as it. Maybe if i see hotter then 60 F on my flying days this year i will need them. Do most folks just close them all the time?

Rocket- Hope to hit Dillingham up on the 4th and King fish. Were super excited about getting out that way now that its not a 5 hour haul.


The goal of the panel project was to get all the engine instruments in one spot, remove the unused engine instrument cluster and make room for an IPAD.



After an hour of drawing i had this rough cad drawing ready to go.



After getting the panel programmed into my router software i cut out a test panel from masonite. Allot of adjustments were required...



Pretty scary back there. Lots of old rubber hose and nasty insulation.

Been slow at updating this but here are some more photos.
The old battery box and wiring was soo worn out. The G35 was new but barely cranked over the engine. The new tiny battery you could almost fly on with just the starter. Its amazing! I think the old wire had some major voltage loss going on.


The Burls aircraft battery box was a pretty simple install. The hardest part is getting the old wire under the floorboards removed. I did get the seaplane version just in case some crazy person wants to put this thing on floats one day.



The main reason i moved the battery was for the extended baggage. I got the Selkirk extended baggage. It seriously took me an hour to install. Two bolts, two nutplates, two screws and done!

\

The panel turned out ok. I need to move the I pad due to the charge port contacting the control yoke tube. I thought a 90* connector would make this work but the only 90* connector i found turned out to be even longer the the stock strait connector. I also need to swap the DG and VSI to have a more standard configuration.

Wow, fast work, and it looks nice. With the need for a larger load you will not regret it. I have a 65 182 over by Jayhawk (across street next to hangers for rent sign). The BAS seat belt is a must, as well as ensuring seat track stops are available and used, and/or install the free cessna kit. I run 29 mains and 8.5 front on the Landis and they give a good degree of comfort for beach and off-airport work. I do not do a lot of that, but these tires definitely help out. STC is at seaplanes north.

VGs, some STOL kit as well. These planes are good performers for sure. And you can lean the hell out of them.

good luck. and have fun

Sean

you cant change the fabric! that pattern is hot!