She's Back

 After 49 days of upgrade, the plane is back home.  It was delayed due to COVID and some parts that came defective and had to be re-ordered.  

Pick up went well with only one small issue to address before departing. After filling the tanks I took off on runway 17 and then turned to 140 for an almost straight line home.  I landed runway 14 and was soon back in the hangar.  Shout out to my friend for the 5 hour detour to drop me off.

Performance is not changed.  The plane zipped along at 191 knots on 25 gph.  What changed is that I have 3 massive overhead vents up front.  Plenty of airflow.

The controller hides behind the throttle quadrant and looked like it would be a problem but in cruise there is plenty of access and even with everything forward its easy to adjust as the needed controls are on the outside.  It is like an automotive system in that you set a temperature and either choose auto fan or set it it as desired.  There are 10 speeds so you can really tweak it.

There are a few new vents on the side of the plane but the biggest difference is a slight bump on the front left of the left engine.  The compressor hides under their.  Before and after pictures below.

The plane also lost 25 pounds.  The old system that had 1/4 the cooling weighed a lot more.  I now have 1625 pounds useful load which is pretty good for a De Iced 58 with AC.  Full fuel, CC and onboard and we still have 350 pounds for luggage.  If we want to carry another couple, I can drop the gas to 5 hours and have 510 pounds for that theoretical couple and our luggage.  More than enough for our needs.

There are a few cosmetic projects and other tweaks I want to make but will be focusing on training, 7 weeks of rust is not good.  The flight home was perfect with easy weather but need to sharpen my skills again.