A firewall-forward beef up par excellence

BY THOMAS A. HORNE

Jast month, our 2011 Crossover Classic sweep-stakes saga left off with the airplane's arrival at

JAir Plains Services-a conversion shop basedat the Wellington, Kansas, airport. Chief Photogra-pher Mike Fizer and I flew our newly purchased 1974Cessna 182P from Middletown, Ohio, to Welling-ton-where the airplane's original, 230-horsepowerTeledyne Continental Motors 0-470 engine would

be swapped out for a factory remanufactured,300-horsepower Continental I0-550D powerplant.

The engine replacement would be a big job, butadditional work would keep Air Plains' 10 employeesbusy for the following four weeks. As daunting as thework may seem, Air Plains has been specializing inthese sorts of conversions since it was established inJanuary 1977. It holds supplemental type certificates

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZER

AOPA PILOT .93 • DECEMBER 2010

The Air Plains crew, standing, from left: CraigBrown, Jerry Putter, Carolyn Kelley, Mike Kelley,and David Pierce. Seated in the top row: HeatherPingry, Katie Clark, and Tony Stringer. Seatedbottom row: Lonna Henry and Rafael Soldan. Onleash: Lady. At right, a line drawing of our trustynew 300-horsepower Continental 10 .550D.

Nothing beats afactory fresh engine!Here, the 10-550 ison its buildup stand,having just received itsnew Airforms baffling(far left). Air Plains'Mike Kelley shows offone of the Flint Aerowing tip fuel tanks(left).

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(STCs) that allow it to install severalengine and auxiliary fuel tank upgradesto Cessna 172s (1961 to 1986 models),Cessna 180s (1953 to 1981 models) andCessna 182s like ours (covering the 1965to 1986 model years).

Under its STCs, Air Plains installs180-horsepower Lycoming 0-360engines on Cessna 172s. The Cessna180s and 182s can have either Conti-nental 's 285-horsepower 10-520 enginesor-our choice-Continental's IO-550D.

"We used to just do the I0-520s underour earlier STC," said Air Plains VicePresident Carolyn Kelley. But in 1994a doctor in Montana brought his 182here-and he wanted the bigger 10-550.So we picked up the STC to do that con-version, and now that has taken over inpopularity with the 180s and 182s.

"The 10-550 is a great choice," saidKelley. "It gives customers extra power,and the engine fits nicely. We don't haveto do any modifications to the cowling."

The 10-550 lends itself to the precisefuel measurement provided by GeneralAviation Modifications Inc.'s GAMIjec-tor system, which was installed on ourengine. GAMljectors are fuel injectorsdesigned to replace standard fuel injec-tors, and they're precisely tuned for eachcylinder. This keeps fuel flows and cyl-inder head temperatures balanced andallows a near-perfect fuel/air mixtureratio. Using GAMljectors, lean-of-peakcruise operations are possible-withthe help of all six of our new electronicengine analyzer 's cylinder head tem-perature probes.

Most Air Plains customers don't stopwith the engine conversion. The com-pany does a brisk business bundlingFlint Aero's 12-gallon-per-side tip tanksand JP Instruments electronic engineanalyzers into the deal; ElectronicsInternational's engine analyzers can alsobe ordered. We chose the IP InstrumentsEDM-930 single-screen engine and sys-tem analyzer for the Crossover Classic.We liked its large screen and crisp colordisplay. The EDM-930 has the additionaladvantage of serving as legal replace-ment fuel gauges. This meant that wecould toss the original Cessna gaugesand use the 930 instead. Fine by me.

Air Plains has a large share of theCessna-single upgrade market. To date,it has performed 1,700 Cessna 172conversions, 100 Cessna 180 engineupgrades, and some 500 Cessna 182 con-versions like the one we're having done.The price of the 182/I0-550D upgradeis $66,000-which includes a factory-

remanufactured engine. The Flint Aerotip tanks are $7,700. These make goodbargains for owners of those thousandsof older Skyhawks and Skylanes whowant to pick up as many as 20 knots incruise speed as well as two or morehours of endurance.

Essential extrasWhen AOPA refurbishes sweepstakes air-planes-especially one that's 36 yearsold-we won't go halfway. It makesno sense to simply replace an engine,for example, and then neglect engineaccessories. Who wants a 30-year-oldalternator? Exhaust system? Baffling?Propeller? Propeller governor? Not us!

Fortunately, our generous projectpartners came through with an impres-sive array of components. The newbaffling from Airforms Inc. of Big Lake,Alaska , is a work of art. All black, withnice, flexible new seals, the metal onthese baffles is even powder coated!And, of course, they beat the originalbaffling hands down.

Hartzell's three-blade propeller andMcCauley's new propeller governorare proven ideal matches with the IO-550D, which explains why Air Plainsprefers them. We'll soon see if our newengine/propeller combination canpush the Classic's cruise speeds to the160-knot mark.

Plane-Power Ltd.'s lightweight alter-nator will replace the original, and it'sa welcome addition. It puts out morepower at low rpm, puts out less heat,keeps on producing its rated power athigh altitudes, and weighs four poundsless than the stock alternator. All theseattributes will become very important ina very short time. Why? The Classic willhave an all-electronic cockpit, centeredaround its Garmin G500 avionics andL-3 Trilogy standby instrument system.

The Skylane's fuel caps will be head-ing for the trash can. Back in the early1970s, when the Crossover Classic-to-be was manufactured, the fuel caps ofmany Cessna singles did not sit flushwith the wing when secured. The result:Water could pond on top of the caps.Opening the caps would inevitably allowcollected rainwater to fall into the fuelcells, and if the cap seals weren't tightwater could leak through them. Eitherway, it meant water in the fuel. A servicebulletin was issued urging the replace-ment of the caps, but compliance wasnot universal.

To remedy our fuel-cap situation,Hartwig Aircraft Fuel Cell Repair is

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providing its Monarch fuel caps. These

caps have an umbrella-style design thatratchets closed. Water can't get in thefuel tanks. Hartwig has sold more than5,000 sets of its Monarch caps since1987.

ACM

E-mail the author at torn.horne@aopa.org.

Stay in touch with future developmentsin the Crossover Classic's transforma-tion. Stop by the website (wwwaopa.org/sweeps/2011) for photos and blogs, andstand by for the next step: a complete over-haul of the Classic's instrument panel.With each stage in its completion, thisproject gets more and more ambitious.

Our contributors

Airforms Inc.(www.enginebaffles.com)Engine baffling

Alr Plains Services(www.airplains.com)Engine, tip tank conversion

General Aviation Modifications Inc.(www.gami.com)GAMljectors

Hartwig Aircraft Fuel Cell Repair(www.hartwlg-fuelcell.com )Monarch fuel caps

Hartzell Propeller Inc.(www.hartzellprop.com )Three-blade propeller

McCauley(www. mccauley-textron.com)Propeller governor

JP Instruments(www j pinstru ments.com )EDM-930 engine monitor

Plane Power Ltd.(www.plane-power.com )Lightweight alternator

RAM Aircraft, LP(www.ramaircraft.com )Exhaust system, aircraft hoses

Teledyne Continental Motors(www.genuinecontinental.aero)300-horsepower 10-550D engine

Flint Aero Inc.(www.flintaero.com)Lightweight alternator

The Goodyear Tire &Rubber Company(www.goodyearaviation.com.com )Aircraft tires

AOPA PILOT . 96 • DECE\1BER 2010

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