New guy with old project

[Scott]

Hello all
Just signed up and this is my first post. A great site with a wealth of info so my thanks to all that keep it going.

I have a 46 BC12D S/N 8886 that I have owned since 1984. I bought the aircraft over the phone with the intention of rebuilding it as a time filler in the Aircraft Maintenance/FBO business I owned back then. I trailered it home and soon realized it was actually in reasonable shape, so I did a few repairs, put on some new tires and flew it on wheels and skis until 1989, about 150 hours. Probably the most fun for the buck you could hope for.

Anyway in 1989 I started the restoration! Then real life intervened, career changes, kids, moves back and forth across the country (Canada), and moved the dismantled Tcraft several times, and while I've tinkered here and there, the project has been put off until now. Kids are away at school, spars are down from their hiding place in the garage and parts are being pulled out of boxes. Flew my 172 to Oshkosh this year for some inspiration and education too so set to go.

So... very long way to go. My first job is inventory... to get a handle on what I need to fabricate or buy, what can be repaired, and appropriate materials.

One area of concern is the lower cowling. The original exhaust had been replaced with a pair of Aeronca Champ units and the lower cowling replaced. The replacement cowling was apparently fabricated from 2024 T3 040". There is no compound forming and no fairing around the air filter (and no evidence that it ever had one, ie no camloc holes in the nose cowling).

I've searched but questions remain... I'm thinking that the original cowling was 6061 T6 040"? Is there a source for contours clues of the original cowling? I see there is a potential source to purchase a cowling but I'd like to at least try to fabricate my own.

Also I've seen photos of other BC12D's with no air filter fairing, but is this configuration original?

Also need to order adhesive for the spar doublers. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also trying to understand the stock exhaust. I see there is a Univair replacement and a univair muff. Then there is an OEM replacement exhaust but I haven't found a source for the applicable muff or the material used to fabricate it. Any advise here would also be welcome.

So, long road ahead, don't want to put the cart before the horse but these are my unknowns so far and I just have a tough time concentrating with unanswered questions in the background! Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks
S

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: New guy with old project

Welcome to the Tribe! I guess first thing is to find out what kind of restoration you want to do. If you want to do a "like the day she came from the factory" job it will be different than if you want to do a "good looking bird for flying fun". A factory restoration will require some research and some digging to get the details right. A "fun bird" is easier to do, but DON'T fall into the trap of making her right for you in a way that will give you a non-flyable plane if you get hit with a conformity inspection. LOTS of these planes have all sorts of modifications on them, some really great that should have been made by the factory in the first place, some that are really nice to have that a Fed will pull your airworthiness in a heartbeat (assuming he knows what he is looking at) and some that could get you killed. The guys here will eliminate the last group with you. The second group you will need to have the proper paperwork to add, and that paper may not be in the logs anywhere. The first group you "may" already have paper for, but that will require you to do a lot of digging through your papers.

Don't hate me for saying it, but I think the first order of business is to get the original equipment list for your plane and follow the logs and FAA CD through your planes history and see what the "paper" says it's configuration is. It may not be close to what you have in the boxes. Next decide what you want to get rid of (like the 20# radio that isn't even with the plane any more from 1965) and what you want to add, like maybe hydraulic brakes. One thing you should consider if you are doing a complete rebuild is to add teh mods to raise the GW. Do the mods, but DON'T raise the GW!!!! Your plane will be stronger, but if you raise the GW it can NEVER GO BACK and if you are still Light Sport legal YOU DO NOT WANT TO GIVE THAT UP!

You will also want to get hold of WAG or one of the other suppliers and order your sealed struts. Long story on that, well documented here. You can do an inspection of the struts, but new ones get rid of the requirement and on a ground up, the struts will be worth it.

You should also start a thread here in the "Taylorcraft Airplane Registry" section and start posting your progress and lots of pictures (we LIKE pictures here!) The guys will study every picture and you will be amazed how many little problems they will catch and how many painful problems they will have solutions for. There are no mistakes that someone here hasn't already made. Enjoy the ride!

Hank

[adrozell]

Re: New guy with old project

Well do not know about the cowling stuff, but if you doing new exaust it may be worth looking at Tarry's paperworks for putting on Luscombe exaust. Saves a lot of trouble with pulling the muff at annual and you can pull the exaust without pulling the engine. If you are doing both cowl and exaust that is the way to go. I did mine a year and a half ago works grate. http://dc65stc.blogspot.com/2010/09/...onversion.html

[Scott]

Re: New guy with old project

Thanks Guys
My plan is to restore it to original subject to common sense and necessary upgrades. I am an AME so the aircraft will remain in the certified category with a CofA.
The logs prior to 85 are short on details on modifications and repairs but I do have the original equipment list. Typical basic BC12D A65 no electrics, aux fuel in right wing. Someone installed a mickey mouse cargo compartment but fortunately didn't make and permanent changes. the aircraft was groundlooped at some point and the repairs done look to be adaquate but I plan to replace the spars and leading edges anyway. Decision on the lift struts to follow.

[cvavon]

Re: New guy with old project

The exhaust do the luscomb and don't look back terry bowden has paper work also do the mods to the wings for STC 210 c85 up grade from Terry.Did this to my plane a year ago.

[TimHicks]

Re: New guy with old project

For what it's worth, I did a bunch of repairs to my lower cowl (original) recently and I'm convinced that the original material is not 6061. It is 0.040", but it seemed to be much softer than 6061. Easier to bend, easier to drill than 6061.

[Scott]

Re: New guy with old project

Thanks Tim
Wow! that may explain why these cowlings seem to all end up in such bad shape (or maybe it's just because they're 60-70 years old!). 6061 is pretty soft as aircraft aluminiums go. It does seem to loose it temper after years in the vicinity of hot exhausts though so is it possible that's what you experienced? Anyway thanks for confirming the thickness. I won't go any softer than 6061 T6, for one thing there's not too much forming needed so I expect I could even use 2024T3.

[TimHicks]

Re: New guy with old project

I'm no sheetmetal guy. But I had decided to add a 0.040" 6061 doubler on parts of the cowl. So I was working with both materials (original cowl and a 6061 doubler) side by side. When I match-drilled the two materials, I could feel a difference as the drill cut through each. See the sketch below that I made when I was trying to figure out how long to cut the rivets. You can see that the total thickness of both pieces is 0.080". The dimension that is hard to read says "1.5 * D".

I also added a 0.016" thick additional stainless steel doubler in a couple of key spots.

In one of the blurry pictures, you can see where, to my horror, the flush rivet set slipped off of the rivet and put a substantial divot in the original cowl. I didn't think that it had even hit very hard. But that divot tapped out very easily with a hammer. It looks fine now.

But these are the clues that led me to think that the original cowl was made from some aluminum that is much softer than 6061.

[Scott]

Re: New guy with old project

Nice job

Switching gears, going through boxes of parts and came across the shinn brakes. The back plates (more soft aluminium) i have, I don't think are salvageable. I have not been able to find a source for these. Any ideas?

[cvavon]

Re: New guy with old project

See other thread that is going on the site for grove conversion. I did this two years ago my 337 is posted in the teck section here or you can get DAR paper from Terry Bowden.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: New guy with old project

Before you put time into making a new lower cowl you need to know which type you are supposed to have. There are at least two shapes (one compound curved and one flat) and MANY opening types depending on which exhaust you use and the type of fasteners to hold it all together. As I said before, do the paperwork FIRST and figure out what configuration you will end up with. That will drive which cowl you end up making/repairing.
Hank

[VASWIFT]

Re: New guy with old project

Skybound has replacement Shinn parts. I have been satisfied with their products, although I have not seen their backing plates. Conract Skybound in Doraville, GA at (770) 446-6797

I have Shinn brakes and they are sufficient for a T-Craft. Bit difficult to adjust, but once adjusted they din't need to be touched for a long time.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: New guy with old project

I believe the cowlings and nose bowl are 3003 H14. They don't seem to be tempered, so 6061 is not likely. 3003 is very formable and weldable and really works well for cowl repairs.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: New guy with old project

I'm using Skybound backing plates and they are just fine.

[Scott]

Re: New guy with old project

Thanks for this, I'll give Skybound a call. Never had a problem with the brakes but as you suggest you don't need much for the Tcraft. I have new linings already, if I can get the back plates I'll be set.