Many of you have followed my decision to swap out the center section of my Ercoupe after the FAA issued the ASC following the Sebring crash. Some of you thought I was over-reacting, some thought it was premature, and others were very supportive. Even those who questioned my judgment initially were a bit taken aback when they realized that we weren't talking about a few holes, properly drilled and documented as part of an approved installation, but a series of 12 random holes across the rear edge of the main spar cap that impinged into the extrusion. Well, once I started down this path, I was committed to see it through, and now we are almost finished with riveting the last of the new skins into place.
While this started out as a "repair and replace", it turned into a major restoration. We're talking doublers in critical areas, new upper and lower wing skins, new center fuselage and lower wing fillet skins, new wiring, new pitot-static lines, new brake lines, new center section inspection ports, and new floorboards. That's just the stuff around the center section. While we had the airplane apart, we decided to replace the lower cowling, RH cowling, landing gear fairings, fill and smooth the nose bowl, build new baffles, restore the original brake system with a new Skyport master cylinder, replace the control yoke tubes, service the main landing gear oleos and perform the oleo seal STC, replace the brake pads, and service the nose gear. Then there is the engine. I hoped we would not have to do anything fro 3-4 years, but the condition of the cylinders, rings, and pistons would have required a complete top overhaul. Since I was eventually going to do the C-85/O-200 STC in a few years, I decided that there was no point in going through all that twice, so I sent the engine to Don's Dream Machines in exchange for a rebuild using the O-200 rotating assembly. The project just seems to keep going, but we're finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Between things we found that were just not done the way we liked in the past, things that were close to wearing out, and upgrades we found we could make more easily now than in the future, this has been a classic case of "Might as well fix it now while we have it all apart." Over time, over budget, but definitely going to be one nice airplane when it's finished. Basically we will have restored everything but the fuselage and tail section, which both appear to be in good shape and free of corrosion. Hopefully it will last another 63 years. Thanks to all for the advice and moral support everyone has provided so far; and especially to Hartmut Beil, Ed Burkhead, Alan Fairclough Tommy Terry, John Cooper, Linda Abrams, Lynn Nelsen, and Bill Bayne; who originally seemed to be an adversary, but who turned out to provide invaluable tech support and advice on the background history for many of the mods and STC's we eventually incorporated. We're not there yet, but it's starting to look like an airplane again! Best, Dave
