Hey folks, it's looking like I'll be the newest member of the super cub club here in a few days! Plane is a late 50's PA-18A model in decent shape with a lot of useful things having been done to it already, it's just a little bit of a beefcake for an O-320 at 1240 lbs. The owner before the last one added a lot to the panel - full six pack with vacuum system, think it was even IFR certified at one time. It also has the belly pod fuel pump still installed, though no pod. So, how do I go about getting the weight down? Especially important as I'll be adding back onto the weight with most likely a borer prop (maybe composite but open to opinions), big o' tires, etc. Seems that the ag version was a little heavier from the start with the hopper door and reinforcements, but it shouldn't have been this heavy. I'd like to keep the starter and electrical for sure.
So, here are my ideas for where to pull weight out, I'd appreciate opinions on which are most worth doing.
* Remove vacuum pump, attitude indicator, DG => Around 15 lbs
* Remove the belly pod fuel pump system => 5lbs maybe
* Lightweight starter, lightweight under-seat battery, rear baffle oil cooler => 20 - 30 lbs
* Seats are really nice but seems heavy, maybe there's 5 lbs there
That's optimistically around 50 pounds for not a ton of money, which gets me towards 1190 or so.
Any ideas out there for further weight savings? It already has Univair sealed struts, so no dice on the airframes aluminum ones.
So, here are my ideas for where to pull weight out, I'd appreciate opinions on which are most worth doing.
* Remove vacuum pump, attitude indicator, DG => Around 15 lbs
* Remove the belly pod fuel pump system => 5lbs maybe
* Lightweight starter, lightweight under-seat battery, rear baffle oil cooler => 20 - 30 lbs
* Seats are really nice but seems heavy, maybe there's 5 lbs there
That's optimistically around 50 pounds for not a ton of money, which gets me towards 1190 or so.
Any ideas out there for further weight savings? It already has Univair sealed struts, so no dice on the airframes aluminum ones.