8KCAB While the engine is off ...

If you recover the elevators, you will need to check the balance. Not that hard, the procedure is outlined in the maintenance manual. As a first timer, I spent about 12 hours removing the wings and tail. Then another eleven months adding to the list of things to work on.
 
Bruce said:
Make your life simpler tag and bag every part as you remove them I would also suggest a note book for parts you want to replace with new, like wing bolts pulleys and so on.
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I agree, something from HERE will help things go very smoothly and a legal pad with a list of things to follow up on or replace as you're doing the disassembly will keep everything organized and reduce your anxiety as your attention is pulled in different directions throughout the process.
 
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How about if I don't recover the tailfeathers?

Here are the facts as I see them:
  1. My engine is off for at least 3-4 months according to the engine shop. Everyone else says expect longer.
  2. Right now I am hanging a $40K FWF package on an airplane with 44 year old fabric and 44 year old frame paint.
  3. Metal wing upgrade can be done at any time without regard to engine status, and resolves the wing fabric age.
  4. Fuselage recover is much harder with engine on, and impossible with wings and tail on.
  5. Right now the engine and boot cowl are removed, and I plan to remove the interior.
  6. I cannot do a full resto during that time frame, given my personal time limitations.
  7. I MIGHT be able to do a limited resto, IF I resist the urge to do anything beyond what is absolutely necessary.
If I ruthlessly limit my project to those tasks that can only be accomplished with the engine off, I might be able to avoid pulling the engine again in a year or two. Those items would be:
  • Remove fabric on FUSELAGE ONLY.
  • Clean up, IRAN, and spot paint frame.
  • Modify frame for later conversion to aluminum gear.
  • Replace formers, stringers, pulleys, and cables.
  • Replace headliner.
  • Recover fuselage and repaint.
Anything that could be deferred to a later date probably would be, especially if it would add significant time or have the potential for delays due to to parts availability, etc. So I would avoid doing any of these items if possible:
  • Recovering tailfeathers
  • Flight controls and interior
  • Panel upgrades
  • Electrical or plumbing mods
The big decision would be the tailfeathers. Obviously from a project perspective, covering and painting them along with the fuselage makes sense, at least for the rudder. However, the H-stab and elevator really are not dependent upon the engine, fuselage, cover, etc. I can pull those, strip, recover, and paint to match just as easily at a later date.

So, if I just pull the v-stab and elevator off and set them aside, how much work will it be to reinstall at the end?
 
Mark your flying wires left and right. A few hours to reinstall the tail. Compared to the fuselage the control surfaces will not be that time consuming to recover. If you are filing a 337 for the fuselage recover it would make since to do the control surfaces on the same 337.
 
Every decision you make is going to depend on who you are making decisions for. Is it you as the future owner or is it a future buyer that is going to want to know what you did and why you made the decisions you're making?

Tailfeathers can be pulled at any time and done relatively quickly. The only problem with that is that the paint work might have some variation.
 
Suggest doing tail feathers at same time as fuselage to color match properly.
Also makes great practice material to re-familiarize the coating system you are using.
Mistakes are easier corrected on small parts.
 
I did a 7KCAB set through white in a weekend, including disassembly and reassembly. Do those first.
 
Talked to my IA and he agrees it would be dumb to not take advantage of the engine being off. Plus he thinks the engine shop timeline is unrealistic. So, I think I'm leaning towards a fuselage recover.

Next question is which covering system/paint to use. I would like to get factory metal wings in the next year or two. So, I would like a system that closely matches the factory appearance and colors. Any insight which that might be?
 
🍺🍿😳

Again, using my Walmart crystal ball, I see a fellow in Florida, three months from now, in his hangar, surrounded by airplane parts...wings in a rack; carefully preserved. A bare airframe glistening in the glow of the LED worklights, almost ready for the new formers, stringers and woodwork that sits nearby. Boxes of new stainless steel cables and attaching hardware sit on the shelf, ready to be threaded around the pulleys and fairleads...
Cans of paint, primer, fillers and thinner are stacked high, the rolls of Ceconite right beside 'em.
Tomorrow he muses, the "fun part" can start...


Then the engine shop calls and says his engine is ready to be picked up...

Optimists invented the airplane.
Pessimists invented the parachute.

Chris 🙃
 
Hiperbiper said:
🍺🍿😳

Again, using my Walmart crystal ball, I see a fellow in Florida, three months from now, in his hangar, surrounded by airplane parts...wings in a rack; carefully preserved. A bare airframe glistening in the glow of the LED worklights, almost ready for the new formers, stringers and woodwork that sits nearby. Boxes of new stainless steel cables and attaching hardware sit on the shelf, ready to be threaded around the pulleys and fairleads...
Cans of paint, primer, fillers and thinner are stacked high, the rolls of Ceconite right beside 'em.
Tomorrow he muses, the "fun part" can start...


Then the engine shop calls and says his engine is ready to be picked up...

Optimists invented the airplane.
Pessimists invented the parachute.

Chris 🙃
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Oh yeah, that is totally what is going to happen. You forget, I am retired military and therefore a certified expert on Murphy.

OTOH, when I dropped the engine off, the employee helping me unload rolled his eyes and muttered "not another one, who is going to do all this?" The big constraint is new cylinders. The shop has 8 engines ahead of me, all waiting on a shipment of Millennium cylinders due in July. Murphy could very easily visit the engine shop and delay that shipment.

I'm going to wait for the engine shop to finish the initial tear down before I do anything irreversible.

I pulled the windshield yesterday. Wow, the access to the panel is amazing now.
 
Big Ed said:
So tell me about wing racks.
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i've got a set in the hangar, i'll post a pic when it get there in a little while.

regarding the covering system, i'm using the factory system on my fuselage so my new wings will match. if you ask the factory, they'll send you everything you need including their basic specification and it'll be enough to get you going. also, drawings are available that show the finer details if you want/need that. they start with the water based 3M fabric glue then it's all solvent based from there.
 
Bartman said:
i've got a set in the hangar, i'll post a pic when it get there in a little while.

regarding the covering system, i'm using the factory system on my fuselage so my new wings will match. if you ask the factory, they'll send you everything you need including their basic specification and it'll be enough to get you going. also, drawings are available that show the finer details if you want/need that. they start with the water based 3M fabric glue then it's all solvent based from there.
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Thanks, that would be very helpful! I assume I can make from 2x4's?

Factory system is totally the way to go. Where do you buy the products? I assume the topcoat is urethane?
 
call ACA and talk to Dale, he'll be happy to explain it.

here's the set of wing racks I have. the material is a heavy cotton of some sort but people also use carpeting. someone gave me the racks when i was working on the Citabria wings.

20220520_142313.jpg
 
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I too am interested in the factory process. As I understand it, whatever they do is approved as a major repair. If you do anything else (Stitts, Ceconite) it is a major alteration.

My manual says Dacron, attached with Pliobond (ugh) and finished with dope. I go with Ceconite and attach with super seam cement.

Ed - if you just uncover and recover you will probably have a beautiful airplane. That wood does not deteriorate unless you let it stay damp. Ditto the steel tubes. And control cables do not have to be replaced unless they are worn or frayed. When that happens you can replace them without recovering.
 
Bob Turner said:
I too am interested in the factory process. As I understand it, whatever they do is approved as a major repair. If you do anything else (Stitts, Ceconite) it is a major alteration.

My manual says Dacron, attached with Pliobond (ugh) and finished with dope. I go with Ceconite and attach with super seam cement.

Ed - if you just uncover and recover you will probably have a beautiful airplane. That wood does not deteriorate unless you let it stay damp. Ditto the steel tubes. And control cables do not have to be replaced unless they are worn or frayed. When that happens you can replace them without recovering.
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I found an FB post by Dale G saying the ACA factory process uses Ceconite fabric. I asked about silver when I visited the factory and he said there was a UV blocker in the primer. Pretty sure the topcoat is polyurethane. I don't think think they use Super Seam, which is too bad because that is some good stuff!

The wood in my airplane definitely needs to be replaced. The formers are warped badly; apparently they used pretty thin plywood back in the day. The steel tubes look ok, but there are a few spots where the primer has flaked off, exposing bare steel, so it definitely needs spot painting.

ACA service bulletin recommends replacement of cables at 1000 hours. I think it is a no brainer to do the cables and pulleys while I am there.
 
Big Ed said:
Seriously? Wow, that would be great!
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Chris sent it to me freight prepaid and told me it would be my job to send it to the next guy in the group. People from Louisiana are just friendly that way. I am done with urethane for the moment, and it looks like you are going to need it. When you are done with it you will need to get with Chris and see where to send it next.
 
Joe said:
Chris sent it to me freight prepaid and told me it would be my job to send it to the next guy in the group. People from Louisiana are just friendly that way. I am done with urethane for the moment, and it looks like you are going to need it. When you are done with it you will need to get with Chris and see where to send it next.
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i am likely going to paint my fuselage in the hangar sometime this fall 🤓
 
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