69 7KCAB New Member

[Rayg]

Hi All! New member to the forum. I have a 1969 7KCAB I'm rebuilding. I was wondering if anyone has installed the metal belly panel mod from ACA on their Citabria? I'm looking into the mod for my 7KCAB. Any info on the process of installing the kit and pictures would be helpful. Thanks and I look forward to the responses.

Ray

 

[Bob Turner]

Adds weight. Only advantage for normal ops is - makes it easier to retrieve ball point pens and bobby pins. Put inspection rings (or rectangles) at strategic points.
Disregard my advice if your plan is to land in bushes and cornfields.

 

[Bartman]

Rayg, welcome to the site! During the rebuild would be the prefect time to do it since, as I understand it, there are tabs to add and existing fabric needs to be modified when the change is made to a functioning plane. But I might be completely wrong. I think @LaraIsaac was doing the metal belly mod to her Scout, maybe she'll chime in and share some photos.

Welcome!

 

[Bartman]

Adds weight. Only advantage for normal ops is - makes it easier to retrieve ball point pens and bobby pins. Put inspection rings (or rectangles) at strategic points.
Disregard my advice if your plan is to land in bushes and cornfields.

you're a joker

 

[Bob Turner]

We have a Super Cub with metal pans. It has a 400 lb useful load. My J3 has 475. It used to be 502. Every time you add something you kill just a little bit of your performance.

I am the only guy who has used the belly pan feature - I keep dropping the brake cylinder caps. I have learned to stuff rags in all holes when I service the brakes.

I just pulled the floorboards out of my 8KCAB. There was a lot of dirt down there, but pulling the floorboards is no longer a big deal, since I am using #8 sheet metal screws, instead of those awful clips. No need to go in there all that often.

 

[Goodyear]

You may be able to see from these 3 photos of an 8gcbc, the pan, what it attaches to on the frame and the attach points on the cross bars below the extended baggage installed inside the frame.