02-20-2004 Ask Mike! Archive
Nose baskets

Mike,

I enjoyed your website and I was pleased to see the photos of the "S" Bonanza repairs you did to the front "basket" and cowling as I am currently doing pretty much the same thing to my '61 "N". I am considering an upgrade from the 470 to a 520 or 550, but it will be down the road a bit so I can recover from this round of repairs! I'm wondering if I could go ahead and install the late style nose bowl skin now, and then re-install and continue to fly the 470 for a few more years. I'm thinking that the bulge in the nose bowl might not align with the spinner on my now straight-mounted 470 and McCauley prop.

Also, any "gotcha's" on re-installing the basket to pass along?

Thanks!
Mark

Mark;

There is approximately a 3/4 inch cant (at the spinner) to the 520 installation, therefore, if you do install the later nosebug without making the rest of the "change", you will indeed have an off set to the prop from the bug. From my independent research, and I'll bet someone like D'Shannon or Hammock could shed additional light on this, but I think the major change to go to the canted mounting was just the mount pads that bolt to the nose structure.

I can appreciate the desire to go with the later nose bug; much more aesthetically pleasing. If you have a new one you're fitting, as opposed to one that is already trimmed, you may get by, by shifting it around to center it; I don't know for a fact, just suggesting it. Don't drill it, but see if it can be done, and come out with the correct dimension to center and from the datum. If it looks like it will work, decide if you really want it there; once it's trimmed and installed, you'll have to settle for the straight 520 / 550 installation; not too bad on a 520, but could be a problem with the 550.

As far as "gotcha's", there are as many of those as holes to fill with rivets. If you pulled your basket off another airplane, don't be surprised to find not all the holes line up. If you built it up from your old parts and some new ones, you may have reasonable success with line up. Hopefully, you haven't thrown anything away that can keep you from going back and measuring bulkhead placement, etc. These airplanes were all hand assembled; of course, fixtures were used, but I don't believe Walter and Olive Ann were acquainted with Eli Whitney, if you know what I mean.

Pass along a photo of your completed job when you have an opportunity. E-mail it direct to avstarair@att.net.

Gear Green,
Mike