Installing a Baggage Door in my 170A

Ron Williams · Post by **Ron Williams** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:22 pm

I've located a salvage yard with some older CE172s from which I can get him to cut the area of the fuselage, so I might install a baggage door on my "A". I have two friends in Wichita that have accomplished this with their 170Bs, but it occurred to me there might be differences in the fuselage in that area between the "A" and the "B" which might cause problems in contour, etc.
Is anyone aware of whether this will work on the 170A as well as the "B"?
ron williams.

Post by **GAHorn** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:34 pm

The baggage door has been successfully installed in both the A and B. TIC170A headquarters has 337's available for this mod.
(I like the utility of a baggage door, but I'm just not convinced you can cut a hole that big and not lose some fuselage strength unless the underlying structure is beefed up. I'm not worried about stresses caused inflight. I'm concerned about those suffered under landing/ground ops on a conventional gear airplane, later causing inflight problems. It's only been anecdotes, but it seems there's always someone who heard of an airplane somewhere that bent in-half at the add-on baggage door during landing.) The 180 door has been approved for both A's and B's but I don't know if there's any additional structure for that particular installation or not.)

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:42 am

There is additional structure on the 180 baggage door area.
The key is probably to get the whole shootin' match off of a
donor airplane and then graft all of the details onto your 170.

Early C-182 baggage doors will be the same animal (someone
told me they're the same part number(s) if you compare early
C-180 and 182 IP books). Best bet is either to careully drill out
all the parts off of a donor airplane, or if time doesn't allow that
(wrecking yard, etc.) have them saws-all the whole section off
of the donor aircraft and drag the parts home, where you can
take your time drilling out / dis-assembling the details.

Been seriously thinking about doing this mod (via 337) myself....
(I'm getting tired of loading and unloading a full-size cooler full
of beer over the back seat!).

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:51 am

So pack the beer cooler in the back seat instead of the baggage bay,Bela! That way,it's easy to reach back & grab a li'l "inflight refreshment". Didn't them 180 buddies of yours teach you anything?
Never mind the looks you get from the ramp rats when you kick a few of them dead soldiers out while deplaning after a long hot leg--an enthusiastic "what the hell you lookin' at?" will put an end to that!

Eric

Joe Moilanen · Post by **Joe Moilanen** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 7:18 am

Wow Eric, that just gave me an idea for my new camera port that I installed.When I through the empties out the window I always wind up with sticky residue on the horizontal. And on those long legs I could trim nose down, crawl into the back (next to the cooler) and WOOLAH! a relief hole...

JM

Joe Moilanen · Post by **Joe Moilanen** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 7:20 am

Does anybody know if there is an STC for a toilet seat in one of those folding jump seats?

JM

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:22 pm

Joe,now you're catchin' on! I don't have a camera port/relief hole,but I too crawl in back on them long legs,to curl up for a little nap! I think they call that "crew rest".
The 170 Book has an article written by Johnny Williams,in which he mentions adding a baggage door to a 170 (along with an O-360,STOL kit,and IFR 172 panel). ""Next came the baggage door out of the 172. Just cut a hole and installed the complete door and frame. A pretty good job requiring about 30 man hours."

Eric

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:42 pm

zero.one.victor wrote:So pack the beer cooler in the back seat instead of the baggage bay,Bela! That way,it's easy to reach back & grab a li'l "inflight refreshment". Didn't them 180 buddies of yours teach you anything?
Never mind the looks you get from the ramp rats when you kick a few of them dead soldiers out while deplaning after a long hot leg--an enthusiastic "what the hell you lookin' at?" will put an end to that!

Eric

I've done just that when I'm by myself (or with 1 pass.)
When we saddle up and go to a fly-in, I sometimes have
at least 1 person (sometimes 2) in the back seat though,
so can't do that....

In-flight refreshment - You put the water & soda pop on top in
the cooler. Beer goes on the bottom (keeps ya outta trouble
that way!).

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

lcranton · Post by **lcranton** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 2:45 am

Maybe someone has mentioned this before but DEL-AIR has a baggage door STC for the C170A and B. STC # SA3547NM. I have installed a baggage door in my C170B using this STC and a donor C172 baggage door assembly. You will need the door and the surrounding structure (door seal frame, upper header, bottom header hinges, latch, striker, etc.). The installation procedure is fairly well documented in the STC but talk to Harry Delicker and he will give you some pointers and things to watch out for. It will take about 40 hours to install and is the typical measure four times and cut once. You will want to cut the hole in the side of the fuselage small and then work out in steps so as to get a good fit. The door mod will add about 2 lbs. to the empty weight. Hope this helps.

Larry

Bill Rusk · Post by **Bill Rusk** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:11 am

My understanding is that the Feds are not approving much from 337's these days. You might want to talk to the FISDO and your rep before you cut metal on the 337 plan. STC's seem to be the only way to go these days. I may be wrong but I'd sure check first.

Bill

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:23 am

Bill Rusk wrote:My understanding is that the Feds are not approving much from 337's these days. You might want to talk to the FISDO and your rep before you cut metal on the 337 plan. STC's seem to be the only way to go these days. I may be wrong but I'd sure check first.

Bill

While I completely agree (by and large, the 337s are harder and harder
to come by), there are FSDOs out there that will accomodate you
(and no, they're not all in Alaska!).

That being said, maybe the quote of the day is "The smoking lamp is lit.
Smoke 'em while ya got 'em...."

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170 N170BP