1956 Cessna 182

[Bacho]

When I was in GA we never did a seam that didn't have something in it, not even for aluminim to aluminum. We used some variant of CorrosionX.

But we only had to climb high enough to put the windshield above the treetops to see the ocean, so that might have had a lot to do with it.

Following the SRM I only saw a call out for sealing the fire wall with a fillet seal after the fact.

As I said I’m learning this process if everything needs to come apart and be sealed then I will do it. Time for more research.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Just to clarify, we never put back together something without some sort of anti-corrosion product on it. We didn't take shit apart just to do that though. I didn't have any serious interest in paints and coatings and corrosion back then so I didn't ask questions.

I would follow the manual where they do specify something and use your judgement when they don't.

 

[Donk]

Following the SRM I only saw a call out for sealing the fire wall with a fillet seal after the fact.

As I said I’m learning this process if everything needs to come apart and be sealed then I will do it. Time for more research.

Most other stuff goes together dry and If that's all the SRM states then technically that's all that's needed but given it's position in terms of airflow trying to lift it up and potential fume ingress I'd be tempted to wet assemble with JC5A at least or even better PRC. If you don't want to disassemble it I'd be tempted to backfill the lap with AV8 at the minimum especially if you're operating in what cessna refer to as a moderate or high corrosion environment.

 

[Donk]

Wet assembly with PRC absolutely sucks though

 

[Bacho]

Wet assembly with PRC absolutely sucks though

Oh I know, everything on the CRJ gets wet installed.

I can’t see any downside to wet installing the next side. If it fits better with a roller used I might take apart the other side and redo it anyways.

I feel that the anti-corrosion steps I’ve taken so far are superior to what this thing left the factory with. Only needs to last another 70 years!

 

[Donk]

Can you lay your hands on screw/bolt down skin pins? I've found the quick release ones don't pull down hard enough when you're trying to match curves. Starting mid point on the side and then working up/down with screw down pins should compress it all nicely and prevent it puckering up as much when you hit it with the gun.

 

[Bacho]

Can you lay your hands on screw/bolt down skin pins? I've found the quick release ones don't pull down hard enough when you're trying to match curves. Starting mid point on the side and then working up/down with screw down pins should compress it all nicely and prevent it puckering up as much when you hit it with the gun.

I ordered 50 from ebay. Never have enough clecos.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Thanks for taking the time to post. I have never messed with planes, but enjoy watching you re-work this one.

Question on the alodine, from the 30 seconds I spent on google looking at some info, it looks like it is a chemical process that etches the aluminum and creates a corrosion resistant base. Could that product be used on aluminum off road parts? Think 3/16 6061 corners that will get painted. Would you give em an alodine treatment first to protect from oxidation in the future? Very possibly a question.

 

[Bacho]

certainly a valid question.

Thanks for taking the time to post. I have never messed with planes, but enjoy watching you re-work this one.

Question on the alodine, from the 30 seconds I spent on google looking at some info, it looks like it is a chemical process that etches the aluminum and creates a corrosion resistant base. Could that product be used on aluminum off road parts? Think 3/16 6061 corners that will get painted. Would you give em an alodine treatment first to protect from oxidation in the future? Very possibly a question.

Valid question.

There is no reason you couldn't do it. I probably wouldn't go through the hassle for parts that large.

The 2025 and 7075 used in aviation are a little less corrosion resistant compared to 6061. You need to keep the parts wet with Alodine for 3-5 minutes. I am using very large freezer bags to coat parts. For large parts you would need to keep brushing it on. Its nasty stuff, you want to keep it off your skin.

 

[Wisconsinite]

How do you prep large aluminum parts for painting if you don't alodine? Then I will stop derailing your thread.

 

[Bacho]

How do you prep large aluminum parts for painting if you don't alodine? Then I will stop derailing your thread.

I did not Alodine the new sheet metal parts. They got scuffed and then primed.

The sheet metal is clad with 1100 aluminum. This is quite corrosion resistant.

For your boat sides I would probably scuff, clean and then use a self etching primer. I am not an authority on this though.

 

[Bacho]

Finally got a day back on the project and got the LH side apart and cleaned up. Removing rivets from the firewall, it occured to me that there were many more cherry rivets installs in the LH side. Cherry rivets are a blind rivet that do not need bucked, so a rivet can be easily replaced. They are a pain they are to remove though. The rivet has a steel stem that gets locked into a collar. The collar is the red in the illustration below. To remove these you grind the collar out and then you can punch the stem back out. Sounds great until your working with .020 material and cant really do much punching without deforming.

This one is typical of what I was dealing with. Ground the head completely off, stem happy to stay put. I would up grinding both sides nearly flush and punching the remaining disk out.

Anyways, more cherries installed meant there had been more issues on this side along the way. This is one of the firewall doublers after blasting. I will have to investigate possibly remaking this part.

Another surprise was in the tunnel. There was an ugly bolted on doubler at the master cylinder attachment. This was found under it. Something like this would be unthinkable at work. I must admit working on this with the tunnel still installed would suck majorly.

I got the area all cleaned up from 70 years worth of grime.

I am still debating this bottom skin. It has a big dent from something. Maybe a tire blow out. The angle inside was broken out of position. I kinda want to replace this skin as well.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I am still debating this bottom skin. It has a big dent from something. Maybe a tire blow out. The angle inside was broken out of position. I kinda want to replace this skin as well.

That shit is character. Leave it. Tell people a story about one time you landed on a deer.

 

[Mr. Mindless]

I wonder if that bolted on doubler over the cracked material at the MC was someones good idea of a fix, or their own poorly executed version of an approved repair for a common failure point.

 

[Bacho]

I wonder if that bolted on doubler over the cracked material at the MC was someones good idea of a fix, or their own poorly executed version of an approved repair for a common failure point.

I wouldn’t be surprised if its a common failure point. This material is .040”. It seems pretty light for what its tasked for. That said I was unable to find a reference online for this being common damage. I am guessing the bolts loosened up and caused this. There is common cracking for the rudder bar mounts which is right above this area. Mine seems to be fine.

The mount for the other cylinder is .050”. No issues noted on that one.

This morning I cut out the damage and made a doubler. I barely found a way to keep edge distance. Not much I can do about the elongated bolt hole. As luck would have it, someone has all of this structure advertised on ebay. Its slightly newer and has provisions for rudder trim I think. if I determine it’s in better shape and can use it I’ll probably buy it.

 

[Bacho]

Snuck over to the shop to and got the cowl trim piece made. Visiting the project and making some progress every day available is my goal.

3d printed roller dies still working great!

 

[Clastic]

As crazy as the market is now, you'll be able to get your money back when its done. GA is nuts.

Makes me want to go ahead and order a Zenith kit. But I don't feel like moving tools back and forth between hangar and the house.

 

[Mr. Mindless]

you know the solution: a hangar at the house...

 

[Bacho]

My replacement doubler turned out to be new old stock, quite a pleasant surprise! I get to drill most of my own holes in it. If the weather today allows for it everything that’s been blasted will get painted again and prep for going back together.

 

[Clemson13]

Any more updates?

 

[Bacho]

Any more updates?

Its been a tough couple weeks for progress. Yesterday I got all of the removed small parts primed. Next is to machine a new engine mount bracket for the LH side.

 

[WaterH]

Cool project. I’ll be watching.

 

[Bacho]

My priming job did not come out so well on the LH side. I had to touch up several areas yesterday. I also managed to machine the new engine mount fitting for the LH side. Next step is to drill the new skin on that side.

 

[Bacho]

Sometimes the simple things bite you. The bracket I made last week went sideways doing the easy part. I put it in the mill to finish drilling from the backside to see how bad it got.

So spent half the day re-making this bracket and getting it installed in the stringer.

Only had a little time left to work on the tunnel. This is what my patch looks like compared to what was there. I am well aware a handful of these rivets are crap, they will be replaced. Some of them also made need to be flush rivets.

That’s the progress for a week. Dad life is putting a killing on my shop time.

 

[Bacho]

Blew a countersink on the previous repair and started over. The flush rivets allow room for the feet of the MC mount. The top row were countersunk on the back side so I did not need to drill a bunch of holes in the bracket behind it. This tunnel is now complete and ready to go in.

Started drilling the new skin. Thanks for the suggestions on the wingnut clecos, I am now wondering what I did without them. They draw the skin way tighter. You can see the evidence in the bulge they are creating as I work my way down.

The more I look at this bottom skin, the more I need it should just get replaced.

 

[WaterH]

All the clecoing I’ve done, never used those wingnut ones. I saw em once. Is there no spring?

 

[Bacho]

All the clecoing I’ve done, never used those wingnut ones. I saw em once. Is there no spring?

No spring,

The ends are drawn up by a threaded rod. I need to cut a socket up to turn them with a drill.

 

[Bacho]

Been doing a lot of traveling. Purchased a 5x10 plasma table yesterday on impluse. That meant it was time to get the shaper out of the way of the door. I spent most of the day moving the mill and putting the shaper where I thought I wanted it. Anyways, turns out its bigger than I realized. I probably just need to get rid of it.

Back to the Cessna. Before I can close out the tunnel, I had to address a hole in the firewall. The hole is pictured in my previous post of the bottom skin. I purchased some .025” 1/2 hard stainless and made an angle.

The angle lives here, I cleaned up the AL strap and it hit with alodine. This is kinda an experiment to see if I can apply sealant with the wingnut clecos holding it. Normally I would want to rivet this while wet. This whole project is a mess of partial parts that can be riveted and I appear to be working slow!

 

[arse_sidewards]

shaper

You got a indexing head to go with that?

I might have a job for you.

 

[Bacho]

A days worth of work doesn’t look like much on this project.

I decided to wet seal everything touching the stainless on this side and I’ll probably go back and do it on the other side. Probably twice as much work by the time you add sealant and clean it off when you’re done or at least try to clean it. I’m thinking the skin on the other side might fit a little better with less wrinkles if I add a layer of sealant there.

I decided to go ahead and install nutplates in these mountain holes here for the rudder bar brackets and the brake master cylinders. These will get very difficult to reach later. Had to order some single side nut plates for one of them.

Also didn’t bother to put back on the nose gear attachment stuff.