Thought I'd see if anyone here knows of a good solution for the leaky rear vents in my club's '79 182RG.

Working replacement parts do not seem to be available at any cost. A search shows one thread on Cessnaflyer.org that implies that someone else figured out how to replace with an eyeball vent, but I couldn't find another thread or pictures.

The best solution I can think of is to make a fabricate a new escutcheon that screws into the existing mounts, but has a flat surface so a ball vent could be mounted. Seems like 3D printing is made for exactly this kind of thing.

Here's a picture of what the vents look like:

Eric

You might try posting the inquiry over on CPS. A lot of folks there have gotten creative with the rear vent problems on 182s.

RAS

I replaced them with eyeballs in my ‘79 182Q. The other problem with the vents is the CAT ducting that runs from the inboard leading edge inlet to the vent gaspers. The CAT duct was rotted, so I replaced it with SCAT duct. It was not a fun job fishing the new SCAT duct through the wing/fuselage gap. You can tell that half the duct is installed in the wing, half in the fuselage and joined in the middle when the wing is mated to the fuselage. The duct to the eyeballs follows the same path as the original, ie. it enters the gasper from the aft side.

I fabricated a plate that replaces the existing gasper to mount the eyeball on. I removed the the two factory brackets that supported the stock gasper and used them as a pattern to pickup the existing fastener holes in the under structure and provide flanges to mount the eyeball plate to.

The photo below shows the installation of the eyeball vents.

Try skywagon city, they might have some.

Looks to me like we have a 3D printing project.

David, that looks great. You didn't happen to get a picture before you put the plate on, did you? I'd like to see where the bracket is that it mounts to.

I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of that part of the installation. The stock installation picks up fastener holes in the stringers attached to the skin. I can take the eyeball plate off and see what pictures would show. It may take a couple of days to get pictures.

I got the eyeball gaspers from Wentworth Salvage at OSH couple of years ago. I have no idea what they came out of.

The gaspers have a cap on the back with a 1 1/4” nipple which I made a reducer to get it to 1” for the ducting.

Another option:

https://www.saircorp.com/product.php?pr ... 256&page=1

Steinair sells really nice eyeball vents. We have used them for 20 years in 5 of our Airbus AS350 helicopters. They are a very high quality product. They are available in a couple of sizes and finishes.

https://www.steinair.com/product-catego ... air-vents/

There are lots of good eyeball vent options. The challenge is finding a way to mount one. I think the simplest process is to make an aluminum bracket that attaches where the old box does, and then make a plate that attaches to it, like David did.

OK, here are pictures of the installation. Hopefully, this clears up some questions. When you take the interior panel off it should make more sense how to get to the screws that attach the original brackets. The LH brackets are an exact mirror image of the RH brackets.

David, that's incredible. Thanks so much! Super helpful.

Now, to convince the club to go ahead and do the project. Wheels turn slowly...

Those are nice looking eyeball gaspers. For the 182 the plenum inlet will have to be parallel to the mounting flange to hookup to the existing duct routing. There’s not much space between the interior panel and the skin structure to install a straight plenum.