Backcountry Pilot • Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Have you modified your aircraft? STC? STOL Kit? Major rebuild from just a data plate?
Post a reply
30 posts • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Thu Jul 31, 2025 7:43 am

Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

This thread’s for your before-and-after aircraft mod photos, big or small.

Whether you reworked the panel, added bush gear, or just swapped a flap handle, let’s see how your airplane’s changed.

Drop in a few details to help other pilots:

What’s your aircraft?

What changed?

What did you learn (or wish you’d known) before starting?

This is an open, ongoing thread. Add to it anytime you wrap up a mod or help someone else with theirs.
Class E offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2025 1:24 pm
Location: Great Lakes
top
Thu Jul 31, 2025 9:12 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Before:
Image

After:
Image

Conclusion:
Pros: lighter. Lost a lot of weight, recovered some useful. Left side door is nice.

Cons:
Many. Slightly slower cruise, less resilient over rough surface. Less comfortable on my back overall. 1/10 would not perform this mod again.
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
top
Thu Jul 31, 2025 9:16 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Image


Is your Pacer still apart, and (I assume) down at Steve's?
The before pic looks like it was a pretty darn nice airplane,
what prompted you to tear into it?
hotrod180 offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 10534
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:47 pm
Location: Port Townsend, WA
Cessna Skywagon -- accept no substitute!
top
Fri Aug 01, 2025 8:46 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

hotrod180 wrote:Image


Is your Pacer still apart, and (I assume) down at Steve's?
The before pic looks like it was a pretty darn nice airplane,
what prompted you to tear into it?


Logistically it was getting harder and harder for Z to fly out here commercial for a week or so once a year to get anything really accomplished on the project. So the decision was made to move it to Minnesota.

Modifications to the airframe included extending the skylight to our long version, weld on float fittings and installing both left and right seaplane doors. With as much fabric that was removed to do those mods it became apparent that re-covering the entire airframe was just as easy as patching what little fabric was left on it. Besides, the fabric was well over 30 years old and it sat outside for years. Once the fabric was off we discovered some corrosion in the window frames that needed replacing and a few other minor issues that were best fixed with the fabric off.

Anyways, that all I can say about it. Z is still keeping me in the loop as far as advice and general BS chat. :D

--Brian
Brian-StevesAircraft offline
KB and Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 759
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:13 pm
Location: Beagle (White City) Oregon
Pavement scares me..........

Dad's SPOT page
top
Fri Aug 01, 2025 1:40 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Sick of lying upside down dropping things on my face. Love experimental.
Image

And note one of my favourite features of my Cub, the roadsign aluminium on the far side of the bootcowl.
daedaluscan offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 1269
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:06 pm
Location: Texada BC
top
Fri Aug 01, 2025 2:05 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

I've come a long way with the Cessna 205 I picked up in 205!
IMG_4797 - Copy.JPG
Cessna N8332Z when picked up Jan 2018
IMG_E4634.JPG
Panel 2018
IMG_4949.JPG
Interior 2018
IMG_9057.JPG
First panel overhaul left side done July 2018
IMG_8214.jpg
Rainier in the back, big tires & VG's
IMG_8214.jpg (778.27 KiB) Viewed 1469 times
IMG_7747.JPG
Interior post 2018
piperpainter offline
User avatar
Posts: 968
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:57 pm
Location: Auburn, WA
Aircraft: C-205
Was Backcountry Mooney M20C
top
Fri Aug 01, 2025 2:39 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

In 2020 I had a prop strike due to sinking into the sand. I rebuilt the engine and redid all the electric along with adding a JPI EDM 900.
in 2024 I added a sportman STOL cuff
in 2025 a rim fell off a shelf and damaged my elevator. I ended up down a rabbit hole and discovered some issues with the stab, so I ended up rebuilding it entirely. That was fun..... Then....I wanted to increase my pain. So I stripped the plane down to bare metal.
Panel 2021.jpeg
Panel 2021
IMG_0780.jpeg
in 2024 I installed the sportsman
stab rebuild 2025.jpeg
stab rebuild
stripped.jpeg
stripped down mostly
piperpainter offline
User avatar
Posts: 968
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:57 pm
Location: Auburn, WA
Aircraft: C-205
Was Backcountry Mooney M20C
top
Fri Aug 01, 2025 2:43 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Does this scream Mooney 2.0 ?? haha "Moonboy!" She's red and black! And I love it. New larger N numbers coming when I get the N number change completed!
IMG_0332.JPG
Painted!
IMG_2738.jpeg
July 2025
piperpainter offline
User avatar
Posts: 968
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:57 pm
Location: Auburn, WA
Aircraft: C-205
Was Backcountry Mooney M20C
top
Sat Aug 02, 2025 1:18 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

…
skyward II offline
User avatar
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:42 pm
Location: Upland, CA/Etna, Wy
top
Sun Aug 03, 2025 4:36 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

skyward II wrote:…

I saw the Bearhawk Patrol photos you posted then deleted. It looked great.

Is this your version of disappearing messages so “they” don’t find you in witness protection after all these years?
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
top
Mon Aug 04, 2025 12:54 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Brian-StevesAircraft wrote:[
Logistically it was getting harder and harder for Z to fly out here commercial for a week or so once a year to get anything really accomplished on the project. So the decision was made to move it to Minnesota.

...
Z is still keeping me in the loop as far as advice and general BS chat. :D

--Brian


Brian will always be my primary mechanic no matter where I am in the world 8) But sometimes traveling home to work on stuff stretches the timeline out to an unacceptable length. It's nice to have the project in my own hangar where I can crack the whip on my own back.
Zzz offline
Janitorial Staff
User avatar
Posts: 2854
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:09 pm
Location: northern
Aircraft: Swiveling desk chair
Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
top
Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:26 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Totally off topic... but every time I see a 205 or P206 I think Cessna would do well to re-introduce that airframe, especially now that all the 135s and missionary groups have moved on to bigger and better things. I seriously doubt many commercial operators are buying the H.
CParker offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 8:21 am
Location: TWF / SMN
Aircraft: 1979 TU206G
top
Wed Sep 10, 2025 6:34 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

No before pic, but I'm pretty sure everyone know's a cessna cowl looks like. Making progress on fitting this panel to finalize my oil cooler relocation. I'm really excited to see what it does for #5 and #3 CHT. I need to do a little bit of fiberglass work where a couple of the holes had to be elongated, then I'll hit it with paint. Going to paint new Stene strut fairings while the paint is mixed.

That and finally got the Airglass fork and 8.00 installed. Now 18.5" of clearance between the floor and prop tip with the factory recommended 80PSI in the strut at full extension, which comes out to 3" of exposed strut at rest. The plane is definitely more raked, but that may be a good thing for takeoff roll.
IMG_2977.jpeg
IMG_2977.jpeg (324.75 KiB) Viewed 1034 times
CParker offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 8:21 am
Location: TWF / SMN
Aircraft: 1979 TU206G
top
Thu Sep 11, 2025 6:40 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Do you have the cowl flap extenders on there ?
low rider offline
User avatar
Posts: 778
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:43 pm
Location: Tahoe
vail
top
Thu Sep 11, 2025 8:32 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

Yeah this plane spent some time in PNG as a missionary bird so it’s got extended cowl flaps, flap switch relocate, flap dump switch, and a couple of other nifty STCs.
CParker offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 8:21 am
Location: TWF / SMN
Aircraft: 1979 TU206G
top
Thu Sep 11, 2025 9:37 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

CParker wrote:Yeah this plane spent some time in PNG as a missionary bird so it’s got extended cowl flaps, flap switch relocate, flap dump switch, and a couple of other nifty STCs.


On the 185 at least, with the factory cargo pod, the cowl flap extensions were part of the kit, and required.
mtv offline
Knowledge Base Author
User avatar
Posts: 10514
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:47 am
Location: Bozeman
top
Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:12 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

CParker wrote:Yeah this plane spent some time in PNG as a missionary bird so it’s got extended cowl flaps, flap switch relocate, flap dump switch, and a couple of other nifty STCs.

I'd love to see the flap dump switch setup.
A1Skinner offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 5186
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:38 am
Location: Eaglesham
FindMeSpot URL: [url:1vzmrq4a]http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0az97SSJm2Ky58iEMJLqgaAQvVxMnGp6G[/url:1vzmrq4a]
Aircraft: Cessna P206A, AT402/502/602
top
Thu Sep 18, 2025 6:16 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

It's a push button on the left grip of the yoke, gotta zoom in a little bit it's the only pic I have with it in view.
IMG_2586.jpeg
IMG_2586.jpeg (331.01 KiB) Viewed 737 times
CParker offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 487
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 8:21 am
Location: TWF / SMN
Aircraft: 1979 TU206G
top
Fri Sep 19, 2025 6:05 am

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

you can wire a trim controller on the RH ride of the yoke to be your flaps. not sure the legality. but ive seen it before
Cameron96 offline
User avatar
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Jul 02, 2024 9:59 am
Location: sudbury
Aircraft: C206 Turbine
top
Sat Sep 20, 2025 6:52 pm

Re: Show Us Your Before-and-After Mod Pics

That is such a great idea for the oil cooler. How are you getting that approved? I’m excited to hear how it works out.

Your center console looks nice also!
AZ Flyer offline
Supporter
User avatar
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:01 pm
Location: Flagstaff
Aircraft: Cessna 206
top

DISPLAY OPTIONS

Next
Post a reply
30 posts • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Return to Modifications

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

Latest Features

Latest Knowledge Base