Single Piece Rear Window Mod

[Bryan G]

Adding to the list of mods, this one doesn’t show any increase in TAS but it looks faster on the ground. Starting to look more like a J…

Top Gun in Stockton installed them at my last annual, very happy with the outcome. 8 hours labor, $1500 for the four new windows.

I went with dark gray single piece back windows, and to keep the colors similar I went with UV solar gray for the front and added a couple pilot window vent. Noticeably cooler and the rear window view is fantastic. Highly recommend the dark gray tint and UV gray.

 

[carusoam]

Really nice details Bryan!

Thanks for sharing them…

Best regards,

-a-

[PT20J]

Looks great. The sheepskin seats are nice, too. Who did those?

Skip

[carusoam]

People often go with a single piece windshield mod to go with the other fancy windows…

Best regards,

-a-

[Bryan G]

On 6/5/2022 at 1:28 PM, PT20J said:

Looks great. The sheepskin seats are nice, too. Who did those?

Skip

Those were done about 12 years ago, I’m not sure who did it but they have held up great. The headrests and back seats were redone recently with Airtex materials and a local upholstery shop. Keeping the sheep though, they are great year round.

[Bryan G]

On 6/5/2022 at 1:33 PM, carusoam said:

People often go with a single piece windshield mod to go with the other fancy windows…

Best regards,

-a-

Thanks! That will have to wait, I didn’t want to rush it because I would really like the LASAR 201 retrofit but I have other plans for the panel first. Maybe in a year or two, she’s turning into a J model pretty quick!

[201er]

Wow, looks a few knots faster already!

Was there a steel structural tube between the windows previously or just aluminum skin?

[Bryan G]

6 minutes ago, 201er said:

Wow, looks a few knots faster already!

Was there a steel structural tube between the windows previously or just aluminum skin?

A three way speed check confirmed 0 knots faster  Just aluminum skin between the old windows.

[Ragsf15e]

On 6/5/2022 at 12:27 PM, Bryan G said:

Adding to the list of mods, this one doesn’t show any increase in TAS but it looks faster on the ground. Starting to look more like a J…

Top Gun in Stockton installed them at my last annual, very happy with the outcome. 8 hours labor, $1500 for the four new windows.

I went with dark gray single piece back windows, and to keep the colors similar I went with UV solar gray for the front and added a couple pilot window vent. Noticeably cooler and the rear window view is fantastic. Highly recommend the dark gray tint and UV gray.

 

The windows look awesome.  Please bolt 2 2x4s into the hangar floor to stop your rear tires at the parking spot and paint the tire lines if they aren’t already, you’re scaring me!

[Navy79]

Wow, same plane, same flag!

[DCarlton]

Looks good.  My F has the window mod too.  It takes a lot of work to get the two window trim pieces to look like one after the vertical sections are removed.  I spent a lot of time on mine this last year reworking the previous patch and upholstery job.  If you ever want new trim, Plane Plastics has them but they're not shown on their web site; you have to call in and they can find them.  Figured that out after I spent hours repairing mine.  

Who's cowl mod did you go with?  I have the old SWTA mod but the Laser Mods always looked fine to me and they're less extensive.  

Edited June 10, 2022 by DCarlton

[Ragsf15e]

15 minutes ago, DCarlton said:

Looks good.  My F has the window mod too.  It takes a lot of work to get the two window trim pieces to look like one after the vertical sections are removed.  I spent a lot of time on mine this last year reworking the previous patch and upholstery job.  If you ever want new trim, Plane Plastics has them but they're not shown on their web site; you have to call in and they can find them.  Figured that out after I spent hours repairing mine.  

Who's cowl mod did you go with?  I have the old SWTA mod but the Laser Mods always looked fine to me and they're less extensive.  

Is it the ARI one?  I have the Lasar one and his is more square.  I would have thought swta mod like yours?

[Bryan G]

12 hours ago, DCarlton said:

Looks good.  My F has the window mod too.  It takes a lot of work to get the two window trim pieces to look like one after the vertical sections are removed.  I spent a lot of time on mine this last year reworking the previous patch and upholstery job.  If you ever want new trim, Plane Plastics has them but they're not shown on their web site; you have to call in and they can find them.  Figured that out after I spent hours repairing mine.  

Who's cowl mod did you go with?  I have the old SWTA mod but the Laser Mods always looked fine to me and they're less extensive.  

I called Vantage and had no luck with new pieces, but I was able to use Bruce Jaeger’s techniques in fixing plastics to fab the old ones together. They came out pretty good, helps having their rubber trim to hide the aluminum edge repairs.

[Bryan G]

12 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

Is it the ARI one?  I have the Lasar one and his is more square.  I would have thought swta mod like yours?

ARI sandwich version, Mark up at Top Gun in Sacramento CA installed and did a great job finishing and painting it. My 148 knot airplane is now 153!

[DCarlton]

1 hour ago, Bryan G said:

I called Vantage and had no luck with new pieces, but I was able to use Bruce Jaeger’s techniques in fixing plastics to fab the old ones together. They came out pretty good, helps having their rubber trim to hide the aluminum edge repairs.

Vantage has the parts but they’re not fully approved.  They can sell them if your willing to send in your original parts to match them.  Apparently theres a process that allows this.  I have the part numbers buried in an email.  Yours looks good though.  About like mine.  
 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by DCarlton

[jamesm]

The one piece back window looks so much better.