Page 1 of 1

Looking for less drag

Posted: Fri May 24, 2002 1:22 am
by frainiea
I would like to seriously consider adding flap gap seals to my '53 170 B. Any input on potential benefits and/or a source for a kit or home made pieces.

I want to squeeze out all the air speed I can and thought this would be a good place to start

FERGIT IT!

Posted: Fri May 24, 2002 1:29 pm
by flyguy
GIT OUT OF BED AND TO THE AIRPORT 15 MINUTES EARLIER AND SAVE YOURSELF LOTS OF MONEY!

Most of the 170's that have had these "speed mods" installed are so little faster that it is not worth the bucks. The one thing that flap gap seals do is make the flaps less effective and that is a "minus" as far as I am concerned.

PS. Joe might need "just a little faster" to compete in the East Texas/West Louisiana Death match! :lol:

Re: FERGIT IT!

Posted: Fri May 24, 2002 1:37 pm
by N1478D
flyguy wrote:GIT OUT OF BED AND TO THE AIRPORT 15 MINUTES EARLIER AND SAVE YOURSELF LOTS OF MONEY!

Most of the 170's that have had these "speed mods" installed are so little faster that it is not worth the bucks. The one thing that flap gap seals do is make the flaps less effective and that is a "minus" as far as I am concerned.

PS. Joe might need "just a little faster" to compete in the East Texas/West Louisiana Death match! :lol:
NO SIR :!: Have all the speed I need to beat the one person I've said that I will beat :wink: Plan on beating that person in the best landing contest also. Heads Up For Cross Country Fliers: Herds of turtles have hatched out all over central Texas Wednesday and the grass strips are hazardous :twisted: Locals know of this already, the turtles hatch on George's birthday every year :P

Posted: Fri May 24, 2002 3:10 pm
by Roesbery
Twenty some years ago an outfit in Thermal California used to install flap gap seals in an hour, painted. ( If your wing was a shade of white ) a bit longer if any other color. I flew in there one morning and made a note of my power settings and indicated airspeed at altitude. They installed the gap seals and I took the plane to the same altitude and power settings and had a 4 MPH indicated increase in airspeed. Never could detect any gain or loss in any other aspect, performance wise.

Re: FERGIT IT!

Posted: Fri May 24, 2002 3:11 pm
by GAHorn
N1478D wrote:
flyguy wrote:GIT OUT OF BED AND TO THE AIRPORT 15 MINUTES EARLIER AND SAVE YOURSELF LOTS OF MONEY!

Most of the 170's that have had these "speed mods" installed are so little faster that it is not worth the bucks. The one thing that flap gap seals do is make the flaps less effective and that is a "minus" as far as I am concerned.

PS. Joe might need "just a little faster" to compete in the East Texas/West Louisiana Death match! :lol:
NO SIR :!: Have all the speed I need to beat the one person I've said that I will beat :wink: Plan on beating that person in the best landing contest also. Heads Up For Cross Country Fliers: Herds of turtles have hatched out all over central Texas Wednesday and the grass strips are hazardous :twisted: Locals know of this already, the turtles hatch on George's birthday every year :P
Most people are aware that B-models have larger flaps than A-models, but what they don't know is that ONE A-model has the biggest flaps of all---N1478D is all flap and no throttle! :lol: