Aux tanks mod

Redhawk · Post by **Redhawk** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:44 am

Would like to hear from someone who has added aux tanks... either the kit from Maule or scrounging parts...
Iâ€™m curious how involved this mod may be.
Iâ€™m looking at buying a Maule but many of them donâ€™t have the aux tanks which I need.
Cheers

Wyflyer · Post by **Wyflyer** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:12 pm

I live in Brighton Colorado and have a 1993 MX7-180B for sale. My airplane has 40 gallon tanks. A potential buyer of my airplane explored this with Maule Flight and passed on this info to me:
To add tanks to my airplane the pParts were 3850.00
Labor 25 hrs.

He stated the quote included new wing skins to go over the outer tanks, but i'm curious why the existing painted skin couldn't be re used cut a hole in the existing skin to align with the new tank filler opening).

This is second hand information to me so to be safe an actual quote should come from Maule Flight.

Redhawk · Post by **Redhawk** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:37 am

Yikes thatâ€™s expensive...but guess I shouldnâ€™t be surprised!

bobguhr · Post by **bobguhr** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:08 am

Doesn't sound too bad to me. Two new tanks, two new skins, two sending units, two auxiliary transfer pumps, two pump switches and two switches for fuel level indication. That's probably $20K in Cessna $$'s. As a note there's a fair chance that the plumbing, wiring and strapping for the auxiliary tanks is already in place from the factory.

Redhawk · Post by **Redhawk** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:02 am

Good point! Far better than Cessna prices!

MauleWacko · Post by **MauleWacko** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:58 pm

crbnunit · Post by **crbnunit** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:20 pm

Interested. If you do this, take lots of photos. I have the tanks but I don't want to have to open the wings to run the plumbing. That would be cost and time prohibitive. Living here, I could certainly use another 22gal on board.

Wyflyer · Post by **Wyflyer** » Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:34 pm

My 93 MX7-180B has the tank saddles, tubing, and wiring harness already installed in the wings. All it needs is the hardware listed above.
I'm curious how many airplanes came with the airplane already partially rigged for aux tanks?

Chris in Milwaukee · Post by **Chris in Milwaukee** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 5:09 am

Well, now you have me curious...

crbnunit · Post by **crbnunit** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:13 pm

Not my M-4. I've been in those wings. I wondered the same thing though, why not just cut an access and the sump holes, add the reinforcement and run some nut plates for the cover (I think these covers are actually structural?). The problems is adding the plumbing and wiring between the tanks. Has anyone tried this?

I should just buy Kurt's M-4 wings with the tanks installed or make the M-5 switch as he did... I'm guessing this would ultimately be cheaper and less time consuming.

Aux tanks mod

Aux tanks mod

Aux tanks

aux tanks

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