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Welcome to the Website for N5814L The Online Refurbishment Record of 1972 Grumman AA-5 Traveler N5914L Serial Number AA5-0014 |
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Practical modernization without breaking the bank? My partner Darryl needs an instrument rating and I need an airplane that allows me to use mine. That said, I used to do a bunch IFR commuting in a Cessna 150 that had nothing more than a VOR/localizer, ADF, and a transponder. I don't need much, but a few things will have to change on the Traveler. |
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The Escort 110 1 1/2 Nav/Comm is a ""360 bandit" radio; no longer legal for transmitting. Darryl maintains that it's still useful for tuning in ADIS and dialing in radials, and he's right, but I just can reconcile this boat anchor taking up precious avionics stack real estate. It has to go. We also plan to swap the KX-170B Loc/GS radio for a slide-in digital face replacement. Specifics to follow once we decide which one. |
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Our first big purchase was this Narco Nav 121 along with its FAA form
8130-3. A classic Grumman #2 Nav. This, combined with a modern 720 comm will get us a lot more utility and reliability than the Escort 110 could have provided. |
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Everybody out! The KMA-20 audio panel, KX170B Nav/Com, and KT-78
transponder have been removed for safe keeping. After the better part
of a day of off and on struggle, the Narco Escort 110 was finally wrested
from the stack along with its tray. From the looks of its serviceable
tag, this might be the first time it's been out since 1977. It will
not be returning. Also removed were the 2 1/4in vacuum gauge (with the aim of replacing it with 1in model) and a completely un identifiable combo EGT/CHT along with its badly deteriorated sender leads. It might get replaced with 2 1/4in Westach K31X that could occupy the space vacated by the old vacuum gauge. We'll see how the budget hold up after crankshaft and case go in for inspection. Closer inspection of the tunnel revealed an "aftermarket" power receptacle that looks a lot like what one I recently saw hanging on a rack at the local auto supply center. Where are those diagonal cutters...? |
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The first test fit of the radio stack as revised for the new century. The original Narco Escort 110 which, after dropping the KX-170B down, created room at the top of the stack for the relocated KMA-20 audio panel, even with the addition of the IFR approach-certified KLN-90B GPS and KY-97A comm. The empty instrument holes to the left of the stack will eventually serve as homes for the Nav 121 and a Mid-continent CDI/Annunciator for the GPS A new intercom and ZAON MRX A-A Collision Avoidance System will occupy the space left behind by the KMA-20. |
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Still getting there... All the "nav heads are mechanically installed (nothing is wired in yet). The Narco Nav 121 occupies the formerly blank space next to the KI-214 glideslope indicator. The 2 1/4-inch Mid-continent CDI/Annunciator now sits where the old EGT/CHT had been. The new intercom has been mounted into an plug made from two layers of .040in 2024-T3 Alclad that I fabricated to repurpose the space vacated by the KMA-20 audio panel. As mentioned above, a ZAON collision avoidance system will sit next to the PS Engineering PM1000II intercom. Finally, a new 1-inch suction gauge sits just above and to the right of the vacuum instruments. This replaces the 2 1/4-inch gauge that was removed to make way for the new EGT/CHT that now sits in the right subpanel. Our thanks to Dave Wheeler at Northwest Aviation Center for unblocking this work by providing us with a few AN365-6 fiber loc nuts that, for the life of me, I couldn't find in my own scrounge. |
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| Things are really taking shape now. We gave up on the crumbling Royalite panel overlays and now here we are with fresh texture paint over new alumnimum panel overlays. |
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This page last updated on 08/06/2018