Original ASI

[Ryan Smith]

Hello all,

Poring over my airplane's logbooks and seeing the original instruments being pulled out over the years and several instruments replaced over and over, my originality nuttiness is getting the better of me. It didn't help that I saw her younger triplet with an unmolested panel at Oshkosh this year, so I've been hunting for original instruments and scored quite a haul with a Schwien turn and bank (with Schwien script), Kollsman Scout altimeter and VSI, and an original tachometer. All of them need restoration, but the markings are in good enough shape that I can replicate them for screening when they're overhauled. I will be making ultra high resolution scans of the faces to replicate their markings and getting Pantone colors of the tan faces of the three flight instruments so that they can be replicated by Precision Dial, though I will probably not have them re-screened tan when I send them out. I am doing this for my own (in)sanity, but also so that we, as a group, have this artwork available to us in the event that someone wants to restore an airplane to an original condition or just likes the look of the original instruments.

Anyway, the pièce de résistance to these is the US Gage "SupAire" airspeed indicator. I've seen a bunch of these, but it wasn't until Oshkosh this year that I got a really good look at one that hadn't been refaced. It appears as though the original ASIs were 0-160MPH...meaning that the dial terminated at the VNE of 160. I've seen some instruments that are 0-200MPH, but I'd like to keep it as original as possible.

So, having said that, I am looking for a needle in a haystack, and I'm hoping that someone that isn't an originality nut that has either replaced their ASI with a newer one or wouldn't mind replacing theirs because they have no attachment to it. I'm looking for a 0-160MPH US Gage with the SupAire wing logo on the bottom of the instrument and factory speed arc markings (for a B model) that has the face in good enough shape to scan and replicate. If anyone has anything, please send me some pictures and let's talk. My phone number in the directory is no longer valid, but my email address is.

I appreciate any help and any leads.

Best regards,

Ryan

[DaveF]

Pics! Pics! We want to see pictures of all this original stuff!

[Ryan Smith]

Regretting your fancy panel and MT prop, Dave?

I don't have them in yet. Here are the pictures that I have of them. They'll all need work (the T&B was sold as INOP), and the VSI and altimeter have all their parts...the hands are just not installed. I mainly want them to draw the faces up so that they may be replicated by our members should they need instruments overhauled in the future.

It would seem as though Cessna didn't have the same standardization for instruments back then as they do now. These instruments (other than the tach, those seem to have been pretty universal) are original enough for me, and look to be what was in N2257D at Oshkosh. I wish I knew the part numbers that were installed for the block of serial numbers in which my airplane was produced, but nevertheless, these will work. The flight instruments apparently came out of a Cessna 140 and the tach from a 1956 Cessna 170B that received an engine upgrade.

It'll be a while before they make their way into the airplane, but I wanted to jump on them because they don't come up very often.

[DaveF]

Regretting your fancy panel and MT prop, Dave?

Not at all , but I'm really an originality nut at heart. Before I bought my much-modified airplane I spent a year looking for the perfect all-original beauty. I wasn't the only one, because every time I thought I'd found one it was bought sight-unseen before I could arrange to go see it.

[cessna170bdriver]

If you zoom in on the airspeed indicator on this photo of my panel, you'll see what I think is the type that Ryan is looking for. (Sorry Ryan, as long as it's working I'm not interested in giving it up...) Other instruments that I THINK are original include the VSI, oil pressure, and suction gauges.

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[Ryan Smith]

If you zoom in on the airspeed indicator on this photo of my panel, you'll see what I think is the type that Ryan is looking for. (Sorry Ryan, as long as it's working I'm not interested in giving it up...) Other instruments that I THINK are original include the VSI, oil pressure, and suction gauges.

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Of all the things to not get damaged at Creve Cour!

But in all seriousness, Miles has a prime example of what I'm looking for. Thanks for sharing, Miles.

[gfeher]

Ryan,

Here are pics of mine that I acquired about a year and a half ago. Sorry, like the one in Miles' plane, this one's not for sale. Once I have it checked out, it's going in my plane to replace my much later non-original ASI. I think that if you give it time, you can still find them if you search by the mfg part number (AW-2 3/4-16-BF). I believe that the one in these photos came off of a '52 170B, the same year as my plane, but I don't have the paperwork handy to check. I hope these pics help.

Gene

Edit: I forgot to mention that although it may be difficult to see in the pics, the arc from just under 60 to 140 has faded from what appears to have once been green to now yellow with slight traces of the original green. The arc above 140 is yellow until the red line at 160.

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[VFR52170B]

Another photo of what Ryan is seeking, I believe. From a '52 B.

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[hilltop170]

This is the a/s indicator that was in my 170 when I bought it in 1973. The numbers and scale divisions on the dial and the needle have radium on them so I'm thinking it is original. I'm wondering if Cessna used more than one vendor to supply them. Unfortunately the part number and serial number are illegible.

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[n2582d]

I don't know about the 170 but the AW apparently used Pioneer instruments.

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Over the years Cessna used several different part numbers for the airspeed indicators. The straight 170 used p/n 0411086-2 which had a "special dial". The 170A through s/n 19365 used p/n 0411086-4, again with a "special dial". It's interesting that these early aircraft had a "special dial" on the altimeter and the tachometer as well. The 170A's after s/n 19365 used the same -4 p/n but no mention is made of the "special dial". The 170B used p/n 0411086-10. This was later revised to 0411086-15. Again, no mention is made of a "special dial." The "special dial" might have specified range markings except that this wouldn't make sense for an altimeter. I wonder if the special dial specified a Cessna logo? Who wants to buy the Cessna drawings to solve this?

[VFR52170B]

When I looked into it, I pulled a part number from an old catalog, and found this. Go figure. This is p/n 0411086-18 (I believe?)

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[170C]

Miles, is that your DG to the right of your AH? If so, what mfg? I don't recall seeing one just like that. I have seen plenty of the old Sperry horiz. dg's Got on in a box I pulled out of mine many yrs ago.
Frank

[cessna170bdriver]

Miles, is that your DG to the right of your AH? If so, what mfg? I don't recall seeing one just like that. I have seen plenty of the old Sperry horiz. dg's Got on in a box I pulled out of mine many yrs ago.
Frank

Frank, I'm pretty sure the DG and AH are both RC Allen, new in the very early 1990's.