The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Well it's annual time time for me and it's the first since I bought the aircraft a month ago. I want to change the mixture control, whats in there now is a square nonlocking red knob., I would like a locking red knob but I dont want to put a vernier knob cause I dont want to drill the panel to enlarge the hole. I ordered the control out of the ipc from yingling for the 48 and I got a black non locking knob. So does anyone know of or have a part # of a approved locking type mixture like the early 172, what does the later 170's have? because I can see myself oneday pulling the carb heat but instead pulling the mixture.
Now you folks with the jasco alternators, what are you using for a ammeter? My ship still has the internally shunted 30 amp 2 1/4" gauge, shouldn't it reflect the higher capacity of the system say a 60 amp meter?
If so who makes a internally shunted 60 amp meter or am I going to install a externally shunted setup. I called jasco the person I spoke to was not too helpfull, I ask them what they recomend and they said "dont really know maby ask someone who put one in and see what they used" I said " well being you folks own the stc and manufacture the kit shouldn't you specify what componants of satisfactory capacity should be used?" they said "uuhhh". So I'm confused now Anybody have any thoughts on this mater?
Thanks

I just used the 30 amp ameter and have had no problems. The alternator solved some of my electrical problems tat I was experiencing due to low voltage. Bill

I have the 50 amp Jasco Alternator and I made no changes with the amp meter. Best modification I made going with the alternator.

Vic, Aircraft Spruce sells a 60-0-60 ammeter with internal shunt that will directly replace your 30 amp gauge. 877-477-7823 or http://www.aircraftspruce.com/ online catalog allows you to view products.
Their A-740 "ratchet" control cable is an excellent choice for a mixture control. The ratchet action is quite positive in keeping the mixture at the set position. (Also good for cabin heat and cabin air shut off.) RED knob is available in several different lengths from 6 to 10 feet.
Yes, the correct thing to do is to install a 60 amp or greater capacity shunt/gauge.

I have the rachet-type mixture control on my ragwing. It has detents on the knob shaft & a spring-loaded ball bearing in the cable housing,that provides the rachet action. It works well,not as good for fine-tuning as a vernier but pretty close. I usually lean to rough,then richen about 3 clicks. I don't know if the stock hole in the panel needs to be enlarged,it was in the plane when I bought it.

Eric

Just picked up a ammeter from spruce, as for the mixture I was thinking of the a 740 I dont' want the veriner cause of the larger hole I have to drill in the panel I would feel bad to drill the panel after the aircraft surviving 55 years of multiple ownership and have some first time owner
(me) start hoggin out holes.

Among other neat stuff at AOPA Expo, I saw a new line of engine instruments by...I think Aero Logic. Don't have the material in front of me now. Among their offerings are a 2.25" instrument with two vertical LED scales showing voltage as well as amperage load, and a digital readout at the lower section that can be set to read the exact voltage or amperage load at any given time. Internally lighted. I've got this on my Christmas list, as well as the 6 cylinder EGT gage. Yes, George I know, but the EGT gage can save a lot of time in pinpointing the cylinder with problems...no more decowling and applying crayon to pinpoint the cold cylinder. And the Aero Logic EGT is MUCH cheaper that the JP or EI units.

Putting my Mr. Scrooge hat on again....
John, have you ever flown an airplane on a dark night and tried to keep your night vision amongst flickering LEDs? (And they look so period-style correct in a 170!)
Heh-heh. Just joking. Personal preferences are allowed in one's own airplane.

The above post reminds me of what a friend of mine, who flew along with us to Reklaw in his Kitfox, said about digital gauges. He said if he ever a built another plane it definitely would NOT have digital gauges. (This is from a mid 50 year old retired Air Force U-2 pilot.) His complaint is that while the readouts are most likely very accurate, the constant changing (and blinking) of the readouts is a definite distraction.

Glad to see George's comment on the subject. Just wonder if others have experienced the same that George did in daylight or dark?

AHA! A very good concern here. It would indeed be distracting to have an overbright flickering LED bargraph. The instrument does connect to the dimmable bus to reduce the intensity for night operations. The idea of flickering is another potential problem. If the units are designed correctly, there would be a buffer in place to "average out" the fluctuations so that the bargraphs would move in a slow fluid movement and would not flicker up and down. All that being said, I would rather have the flickering LED bargraphs getting my attention as opposed to the analog ampmeter slowly sliding over to the negative side at night in a poorly lit panel. Hey George, you also have a point, but I've already blown that concept with my KX-155 NAVCOM and KLN-88 LORAN. You do have one of those modern KLN-88 units in your panel...DON'T YOU?

Well the annual is almost done, I'm going up to my buddys hanger next weekend to finish it up, going to stay with the 30 amp meter also went with the a740 cable for the mixture. Got the p ponks installed last week, nice setup and the hooker harnesses, all thats left is to replace a flap hinge and cable and install the new exhaust system coming from knisely.
Then put her back together and finish getting my tailwheel endorsement and getting her down to jersey and start going to some fly in's.
Next is to start long range planing for a paint job. figured on painting silver with red trim, I'm working on finding a good silver to mimick a bare aluminum finish. Oh and as far as digital displays I think there cool, but I see them everyday at work on 737, 57, 67 and 777's don't want em in my 48' 170 because the panel is almost original, except for a digital navcom, the're cool.

wa4jr wrote:AHA! A very good concern here. It would indeed be distracting to have an overbright flickering LED bargraph. The instrument does connect to the dimmable bus to reduce the intensity for night operations. The idea of flickering is another potential problem. If the units are designed correctly, there would be a buffer in place to "average out" the fluctuations so that the bargraphs would move in a slow fluid movement and would not flicker up and down. All that being said, I would rather have the flickering LED bargraphs getting my attention as opposed to the analog ampmeter slowly sliding over to the negative side at night in a poorly lit panel. Hey George, you also have a point, but I've already blown that concept with my KX-155 NAVCOM and KLN-88 LORAN. You do have one of those modern KLN-88 units in your panel...DON'T YOU?

This is a personal-preference thing of course. So what have you accomplished if you spent the money for the accuracy of "digital" ....then countermanded it with a buffer that defeats that digital accuracy? I had a digital EGT in my 206 and I took it out and gave it away because I got tired of seeing an EGT readout of 1434, ...no 1436, ...no wait...it's 1436, or WAS. Now it's 1433....no 1434 again..... It was just a distraction when all I really wanted to know is how far out to pull the mixture to reach maximum temp and then shove it back in a bit.
It was also useless for diagnosing any but the most severe engine problems as has been suggested in other posts because of it's dance. A hand on a cold cylinder will tell you a valve is stuck and even if it could be determined in flight which cylinder it is...what are you going to do about it? You're going to land and fix it just like you would if you'd diagnosed it any other way.
Re: the KLN 88: Yep. It isn't vacuum tube. But at least it's down on the lower panel where it's not too obvious, and not amongst a crowd of flickering LED's, brilliantly-colored modern gyros or worse,... center-stacked!

The purpose of the buffer is not to defeat the accuracy, but to smooth out the instrument. Instead of sampling data every second for example, the sampling rate may be five seconds. I'm sure they have buffers in all the EFIS stuff, or else one would go crazy inside of an hour with all the digital readouts dancing around...but you still get accurate, yet smooth information delivery. I'll try one of their instruments and if I find it is not suitable and does indeed jump around too much, I'll just send it back and put me only "steam gage" back in the panel