New Overhead Vents for Early Archer

[Bob Chilcoat]

As a followup to my earlier post about replacement overhead vents for our
Archer. See what I did with the plastic eyeball vents I found. They look
great. I posted pictures on alt.binaries.aviation.pictures under the same
title.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

[Jay Honeck]

They look great, Bob!

Two questions:

1. Did you try inserting the vents from the BACK-side of the ductwork? (The
eyeball vents look too thick and large for that, but it's hard to tell from
the pix.)
2. What is this "plate" in the tail that you remove in the warmer weather?
Ours has a flapper valve, controllable from in the cabin.

Thanks,
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Bob Chilcoat]

The back of the vents is too big to allow much airflow if they were put in
from the back, assuming that you could get them in there. Furthermore, they
would not then cover the edges of the holes. This way, the square flange of
the vents serves as a bezel, and the assembly is moved far enough out that
there is plenty of room for air to get in from behind. Looking at the
Grimes louvers, I think the open surface area of these is only slightly less
than that of the Grimes, which have a multi-slotted shutoff valve behind the
louvers. The real test will be to see if we get adequate airflow. The only
other disadvantage of these is that they stick down about an inch farther
than the originals. We may find that the bow of our headsets hit them when
you lean forward. I don't think it will be a problem, but we'll see. Glad
that none of us is real tall.

We don't have a flapper valve on our plane ('74 Archer). There is a blower
switch, but no control for airflow other than the vent outlets themselves.
We screw a shaped plate over the opening on the vertical stabilizer leading
edge in the winter. This works very well to keep the cabin warm, although
you need to remember to do it before you take your first long trip in the
winter. We forgot when we went to Montreal for Thanksgiving and froze our
butts off on the trip up. Borrowed a stepladder and put it on at St Hubert
before we headed home. Much cozier coming back.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:3kL0c.16390$PR3.415911@attbi_s03...
> They look great, Bob!
>
> Two questions:
>
> 1. Did you try inserting the vents from the BACK-side of the ductwork?
(The
> eyeball vents look too thick and large for that, but it's hard to tell
from
> the pix.)
> 2. What is this "plate" in the tail that you remove in the warmer weather?
> Ours has a flapper valve, controllable from in the cabin.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[Jay Honeck]

> We don't have a flapper valve on our plane ('74 Archer). There is a
blower
> switch, but no control for airflow other than the vent outlets themselves.

Wow, what's up with '74 model Pipers? That's EXACTLY what some dim-wit had
done to OUR plane -- a '74 Pathfinder.

In short, at some point in the distant past they had removed the blower
motor (probably to save weight?) but didn't install the proper duct and
controls in its place. They just connected the ductwork straight through --
which leaves you with a very, very cold airplane in winter. Of course,
there is nothing mentioned in the log-books about this. (Vot else is new?)

Your plate is an innovative solution, but...it sure sounds like a kludge to
me.

Luckily we were able to obtain the missing parts from Wentworth salvage, and
reinstall them. This fix allows you to shut the outside air completely off
from inside the plane, using the ceiling controls.

Your plane is missing:

1. The duct/valve thingy. This hangs where the blower motor used to go, and
is nothing more than a round furnace duct with a flapper inside.

2. The control cable that extends from the ceiling to the back of the plane,
where the control duct/valve thingy lives. (Ours appeared to be present,
but when we took the ceiling apart we found that the dimwits had CUT the
cable with a wire cutter!) We got the cable from Wentworth, but you could
buy a truck choke-control cable at an auto parts store, and have the
identical part for less than ten bucks.

The duct work itself is nothing special -- it's just round, flexible duct.
(6 inch, I think, but you'd be wise to measure the opening of the flapper
dohickey.)

The real bitch is finding someone small enough to lay in the tailcone and
install it. Mary was the only one able to do it, and it was even tough for
her. (For a case of Sprecher Beer, I'll bet she'd do it again. Maybe.)
It goes in with two bolts and a couple of phillips screws -- nothing
difficult at all.

It's really worth doing, though, Bob. It makes a huge difference in comfort
and utility.

Anyway, the vents look great!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"