upgrades

[slam555]

I'm looking into buying this taylorcraft plane in Lincon MO so far the plane is EXACTLY what the owner presents it to be, being a new pilot and this would be my first purchase, I took 2 of my friends with me for the prebuy inspection, right now I'm waiting for the weather to clear up for a test flight, everyone I've spoken with on this plane or this model of plane has had good things to say about it and how nice they are to fly
there are several things I would like to have after I buy it though first would be the disc brake conversion, they say the drum brakes are tempormental, the second is and intercom and radio system, due to the fact that theres no electrical system on this plane its not required, but I would like to comunicate with a tower, if needed, 3rd would be a transponder for adsb out, since I am new would like to have flight following while I finish my solos. the electrical supply shouldn't be a issue, there are wind generators and 12 volt supply systems that are light and cheap. its the other stuff and I'm sure there's others that have these systems rigged in there planes already, any way I have found affordable insurance, and hopefully have a place closer to me to hanger it any help is appreciated

[3Dreaming]

I have a 1000 plus hour of Taylorcraft time, and unless you are trying to be a bush pilot with big tires the original brakes are fine. We use a Garmin 225 in ours mounted in a removable console on the floor ahead of the seat. It has a built in intercom that we use. It is powered by a small Earth X battery. Having some kind of radio is not a bad thing.

Instead of buying a transponder and ADSB I think I would get something like this, https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...YaAslVEALw_wcB .Then have someone local track you on your ventures.

Please don't try to turn the Taylorcraft into something it is not. They are wonderful little airplanes, that are capable of going somewhere. The lighter they are the nicer they fly. If you want disk brakes and updated avionics you should look for an airplane that is better suited for your desired mission.

[Hank Jarrett]

Hand held radio and stock brakes are all you need. ADSB adds lots of weight and complexity. I have a wind generator for both my planes and never put them on, rather use teh weight for fuel. A sealed 12V battery will last just fine for lights and recharging the hand held radio and a hand held GPS if their batteries run out. Just recharge it after you use it. I have also never flown with the battery since flying at night isn't that much fun anyway and I have never run out of battery in flight. Most flying is local and honestly I never look at a GPS either. Wrist watch and Sectional are fine, just keep an eye out for the nut case in a Bonanza on autopilot who is reading a book instead of looking outside! YES! There are a LOT of them and ADSB doesn't seem to help much with them, besides, they seem to like to go high and a Taylorcraft is FUN below 5,000'.

[Mark Bowden]

Sam, welcome and glad you are finding a Taylorcraft. Walnut Grove is a little bit from Kansas City but our Vintage Chapter 16 would welcome you to become a member. There are a number of Tcraft owners and a mountain of Vintage knowledge. https://chapters.eaa.org/vin16

I have ~850 hours Tcraft time and have had her to all the lower 48 states, including mountain flying at 10-11,000 ft. As we are kinda local, I'll be happy to help you.

++ to Mr. Baker and Jarrett's comments above.

To your questions, do not put disc brakes on, it is a waste of time an money. Well tuned Shinn brakes are almost too much brake for the aircraft. If you put new linings in, your kids will still be using them after you are gone. See Rob's brake tips here: https://www.taylorcraft.org.uk/Brake-issues.pdf
As well as his top 10 Maintainence tips: https://www.taylorcraft.org.uk/

For power do NOT put a wind generator on unless you like: wasting money, reducing payload, noise, poor performance, flying slower and risk having a blade come into the cabin.

For communications, get a Sporty's PJ400 and an external wire antenna from Aircraft Spruce. You will recieve over 100 miles away and have no issues with transmitt distance & power when you actually need to announce. A Sigtronics 2 place intercom will work perfect. Battery packs in both of these will last 20 flights or more.

For avionics, use your Ipad mini and Foreflight, get a Stratus2 or 3 or a Stratus Sentry. Mount with velcro on the dash. Get a double ball Ram Mount and suction cup and mount the Ipad mini on the dash in front of the control wheel to the left of the ASI. That gives you ADSB in plus AHARS. If you don't want to pay for Foreflight use Stratus InSight, 1/2 the price https://stratusinsight.app/

Unless you are flying into Class B or C you do not need to waste the huge amount of money on certificed avionics and the certification on the aircraft output as well. Plus you will be so low most of the time there will be NO radar contact.

Also, with no electrical systeem you are exempt from transponder requirement in the Mode C ring and don't need it under class B. If you have to go to a class C airport just radio them and ask them, they will likely say yes. Class D towers do not care.

You will need noise canceling headsets. There are a ton of used, like new, Bose Model 20's and Lightspeed Zulu's on Ebay. Same for hand held radios.

Add shoulder harness's to the top tube behind the baggage compartment, it is only a simple log book entry and may be MORE value than anything else you spend your money on.

if you want some one to track you get a Garmin InReach mini2. You can turn on and off the subscription. AND, AND if you do go down, your 121.5 ELT probably won't be any help. So if you want some one to find you, you should have an InReach.

Remember, no matter how perfect the ship is on your pre-buy once you get her home you WILL find things to fix and you need to budget for this.


Another excellent source of info is Scott's EAA Grand Champion blog, this site is priceless. https://c-fclr.blogspot.com/


Good luck and let us know how it goes. Some interesting panel pics to show the mini and stratus.
Mark