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  #16  
Old January 8th 05, 01:52 AM
Aaron Coolidge
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Chuck wrote:
: At ~70% power, I'm lucky to get it to 110knots. The only way she ever
: gets into the yellow is decending with power still on!!!

Hmmm, my airplane cruises a needle width into the yellow arc at 70%.

: You mentioned the cowl with the big trangular hole in bottom -- well,
: that's what I've got. And to make it worse, there is a lip that stick
: downwards around the front of the opening -- creating even more drag.

That lip actually reduces drag quite a bit. I read a kitplanes article
a while ago about cooling drag, and the "Cherokee 140" design is almost the
worst except for that lip. Remove the lip, and the design is the worst
possible. I wonder sometimes if Piper intended to make the airplane draggy
to ensure that it didn't compete with the Comanche 180.

: I also saw someone else mention a replacement cowl that improved
: airflow, dual exhaust (instead of muffler in front of the firewall),
: and less drag. Is that what you have on your 180???

Yes, the Cherokee 180 got the 2-piece fiberglass cown and a dual
muffler design in 1965 IIRC (the Cherokee "C"). Mine is a 1968 Cherokee "D".
(I think the Comanche 180 was dropped around 1965, as well, so the
artificially high drag would no longer be required to limit speeds.)
The cooling air outlet is lower than the rest of the fuselage, so the
cooling airflow is to the rear and below the fuselage. The bottom of my
cowling has no openings except a small hole for the nose gear leg, and
a faired hole for the exhaust pipes. The nose gear leg hole is filled up
behind the oleo strut with a sheel of aluminum.
--
Aaron C. (N9376J)