7GCAA restoration

M

Mark Paszkiewicz

New member
I purchased a wrecked 1968 7ECA in hopes of rebuilding it. After a trip to the ACA factory jig for a repair estimate, I was close to the cost of a new frame, taking into account the upgrades I wanted. So I sold the old frame and launched into the ground up project.

Just a few things that I have found so far. The blueprints for the frame were changed in the early 90's. I have had a few difficulties when buying PMA parts from other that ACA. For example, the new greenhouse wood frame is approximately 1/4 inch lower on the ACA parts/frame than what is supplied by the PMA folks out there. This will become very apparent when trying to mate a set of new ACA metal spar wings to an old airframe. The wings were made to fit ACA's frame, so if the existing older greenhouse's are not reduced/shaved in height, your wing root fairings will slant upwards toward the fuselage.

Another area I had problems with was with the bulkheads, specifically the first one behind the baggage compartment. I have the baggage compartment door mod, and there are 4 attachment holes for the bulkhead, 1 of which is 1/2 too high using a PMA part.

Simple fix was to buy the parts from ACA. I don't fault ACA in changing thier design as necessary. I just wanted to pass along what it took me a lot of head scratching to figure out.

For what it's worth I have nothing but praise for the folks at ACA.
They have always been were accominidating to my requests, and have been very helpful in resolving my issues.

FYI: I have told my family that if they every want an gift idea for me (xmas-bday), I want a gift certificate to ACA. Leslie and the great office staff have been very accomidating in developing just such a thing, so call.

I will post additional "findings" as I progress with my project.

Regards,
Mark Paszkiewicz
 
Mark, Im currently restoring a 1969 7ECA and adding the greenhouse. Did your ECA already have the greenhouse installed? I purchased the "kit" from ACA and will be using the old non-greenhouse frame for patterns for the new installation. Do you have any further information that may be usefull for my project?

Regards
Jim
 
Jim,
Yes the 1968 7ECA I purchased did have the greenhouse already installed. I saved the old wood to use as a pattern and to guide me as to what went where.

In addition to the wooden members being "too" high if bought from the PMA folks, for a "new style" frame, the aluminum "hold down" members that secure the greenhouse glass were also "off sized".

In the case of the "older" styles installation, there was more of a perminent securing of the glass in place by the use of fabric and paint. If you wanted to remove the glass at a latter date, you had to do some careful removal of the fabric to get the glass out. This has been limited somewhat in the newer style.

You mentioned that you are getting the "greenhouse" kit from ACA, did you let Mike in parts know for what model year it was for ?

Mike is very helpful, and he worked with me in finding out why things would not line up. I took alot of digital photos and between the two of us, we discovered that there was a change in the frame that ACA offered.

I think that I probably was one of the few already replacing the greenhouse on such a new model of frame.

My solution was to buy the "new" style parts from them, as I did not want my "restoration to have a "shaved" greenhouse. In other words, I felt more comfortable in getting what was made to fit as opposed to what I made fit. It's a personal preference.

When I spoke to the parts people at Safe Air Repair, they weren't aware of this particular change. I talked to Joe in parts there, and I think he understands why this can pose a problem.

Between the two parts suppliers, there was not a big difference in price.

Again, I can not say enough about the help ACA has offered me.
Mike and Maddy in parts have gone out of their way to help.

I even made a few trips to the factory (my business takes me to MKE) and they let me look at the areas I was puzzled with. It's a short 20 minute drive down from the airport if your ever in the area, just let them know your coming.


I hope this helps, if you need more information email me direct at wlpmap@aol.com.

Regards,
Mark
 
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