The International Cessna 170 Association

Something different about this airplane.

I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this modification with regard to legality (major or minor alteration) as well as practicality/benefit.

Struts?

The seals around the exhaust pipes, the extended exhaust pipes, the backwards cut on the exhaust pipes, the later style spinner, the one piece windshield, the later paint scheme or the louvers?

This is a '52 with the short cowl lip. It probably ran hot. I'll bet the louvers act like NACA scoop and suck hot air out of the cool in an effort to draw more cooling air through the engine. And they do it with a minimal drag penalty.

I like to think things are minor alterations cause most don't fit the definition.

Perhaps the polished prop? In the past, on the Forum, there has been lots of discussion on polished props.

I see an absolutely BEAUTIFUL airplane. One of the nicest polish/paint jobs I have seen in awhile. I'm amazed we are 6 post in and nobody and started the DER/NEERG discussion.

In the '70s those louvers were standard on 182s and 210s. Maybe others, too. They probably do help the cooling. On my 210 and 182 the louvers always collected black dust or oil mist from air flowing out of the cowl.

But, wow, what a great looking airplane.

The gill louvers, Arash nailed it. I have a very liberal definition of "minor alteration", but since that does clearly affect the cooling system, by definition, it's a major alteration. I emailed the owner to ask more, but have not yet heard a response. If nothing else, they look really cool.

I believe the louvres in that position do less for engine cooling and more for muffler heat dissipation and to save the rubber engine mounts in those other models. (Those models control engine heat with cowl flaps...not louvres.) The 170 exhaust does not benefit from them as those other airplanes do whose mufflers and ball-joint exhausts pass nearer to that area and tend to blister/darken the paint in that area.

I always enjoy the quick-differences Bruce notices about various airplanes. I hate it when he sees some that I overlooked.

( I suppose no one thought the single-piece windshield sufficiently different to be worth mentioning.)

[quote="gahorn"

( I suppose no one thought the single-piece windshield sufficiently different to be worth mentioning.)[/quote]

I've seen lots of 170s with single-piece windscreens. I had not seen any with gills.

Thanks for the info, Georgie!

I thought I'd stop without mentioning the one piece windshield, the compass on the instrument panel, the extra safety lock on the forward cowl latch clip, the single venturi on the left side, the bracket air filter and the extra set of landing gear legs. And he does have the chain guard on the tail spring bracket for those who only took a cursory look at the plane like I did.

Bruce Fenstermacher wrote:I thought I'd stop without mentioning the one piece windshield, the compass on the instrument panel, the extra safety lock on the forward cowl latch clip, the single venturi on the left side, the bracket air filter and the extra set of landing gear legs. And he does have the chain guard on the tail spring bracket for those who only took a cursory look at the plane like I did.

What size do you think those "Nike Tires" are on the extra set of gear legs?

Bruce,

How did you determine that the gear legs were long? They look like the normal interchangeable legs to me. It looks like the person taking the picture was of not extra tall stature.

johneeb wrote:What size do you think those "Nike Tires" are on the extra set of gear legs?

Those are actually New Balance tires and judging by the shadows are about 9 4E, just what the STC paperwork calls for.

If someone wanted to nit pick, I think the polished prop is the biggest problem of the non-standard mods mentioned. Hamilton Standard is the only prop manufacturer that listed a spec for maintenance of polished props. Every other manufacturer's specs require corrosion protective coatings.

FYI There aint no such animal as a two piece windshield unless you call the plex one part and the strap another, then you'd have to add more for the bolts, nuts and washers, The center strip is there for strengthening the old thinner - - 1/8 or 3/16" plex. The center strap provides positive retention of these thinner windshields at the top of the cabin. Positive retention in channel is necessary because this area operates in a negative pressure environment and could "pop out" if not positively retained. . The thicker plex does not need the strip thus it looks slicker and it also can be had with tinting . Aero Plastics calls their STCd product "strapless" I didn't know that for a while but it sounds sexy.