Mine will cruise at 150 burning 15-17 gallons an hour. It is a Texas Skyways conversion.

Mine won't. Big ass tires

Cessna's aren't built like Beech products. They are lighter, cheaper and wear out quicker. Dad had a S35 for 12 years and was always messing with the engine and prop. I asked him if any airframe parts ever wore out and he replied "brakes"..

As an aside, I maintained a 2004 Citation Excel for some time. We did a Phase 5 @ WestStar a while back and they said our gear door hinges had too much play and needed replacing. I knew they were full of baloney because the plane only had 2300 hours and 1300 landings. A baby in jet terms. Hinges were indeed shot. Basically piano hinges you see on Cessna elevators.

The upside was they were cheap to replace. Thats life in the Cessna world.

I think that if the plane has wheel pants and other speed mods, 150 KTAS is possible with a big-engine 182.

I had 8.00's on my mains and a 6.00 on the nose and top of the green power gave me 135 MPH IAS summer and 140 IAS MPH winter at 5000. A friend has a Pponk and it will indicate 10 MPH more. But due to the carb you have to run 16-17 GPH thru them to go that fast. With a lot of speed mods I could see 150 kts true.

Mine has speedy wheel fairings doing aerodynamic battle with a Horton STOL kit. On a good day it hits144kts. But it can climb like a maniac fully loaded.

There's a guy from Missoula who comes in here occasionally and looks to have the full King Katmai conversion, wings everywhere. Giant tires, probably at least 26 inch mains, don't know which engine. He was in this morning. On the runway I have placed signs at exactly 550 feet from the beginning of the runway to help gauge landing and takeoff performance. This guy didn't lift off until about 200-300 feet past the sign and this seems to be normal for him. I don't know what he weighed but he won't sell any conversions with performance that bad.

Pilot error! Sounds like he needs to learn to fly that thing.

Pilot error! Sounds like he needs to learn to fly that thing.

My 1964 has a big, draggy cowl intake, and I get consistently 138-140 KTAS at 12-12.5 gph (8-10K MSL, peak EGT at 65% power). Did that all morning today, Minneapolis-Eagle CO. Later-model, more streamlined ones may get to 150 KTAS. I do only in a descent. I do have a Horton STOL kit on it; maybe that hurts it a little too - not sure.

I am near the end of a better than new makeover of a 1977 C182Q / N182AP

AirPlains did the IO-550-D conversion plus Hartzell prop, plus EDM 930, plus gap seals, Trule Tone GW STC, reweighed netting an 1,150 pound documented usefuel load - AirPlains was / are World Class to work with

N182AP just left avionics shop last Thursday after a G500 / GTN 750 / GTX345 plus more makeover and is now in for paint.

I have not even gotten to fly the plane yet

Currently has the original Cessna wheel pants ( which are being replaced with 3 new Knots 2 U wheel pants, plus exhaust and cowling fairings, plus Micro VG's during / as a part of paint )

3 mechanics who have state 155+ Knots at 5,000 MSL - again, I haven't seen "this"

After all the mods I'll be happy if I get North of 150 knots, hopefully, North of 155, and have read and heard lore of 160-knot 182's

Only thing I'm basically missing from the Peterson Conversion is the canard

I'm hoping to be flying it before the 4th of July, as it's been a long, expensive, non-sensical journey.....

But did "it" for me, and at age 58, hope to fly N182AP for maybe 20 years

I've handled two firewall claims on a Montana Katmai, don't know if it was this one.

I have a 1974 PPonk with speed mods and I regularly get 145-150 KTAS burning 14.5 gph at 11k.

I have owned over 30 airplanes over the years. Flown a lot more than that as my log book starts when I was eleven years old. Owned a lot of great airplanes including a brand new F-33 Bonanza in '92, a T-Bone, a Queen Air, T-34, a Musketeer, and a Twin Beech..

I bought my "retirement" airplane four years ago, a Skylane, then sold it to a friend and bought a 180 just because I love tail draggers. After all these years and all these airplanes, there was never any doubt as to what I would end my years of flying with.

Kick the tires, light the fires, load to the gills and go. With absolutely no modesty, I will say that I can, at least at this point, land a Skylane or 180 in a McDonald's parking lot and walk away with nothing more than a Big Mac, Been flying the damn things for 57 years and they simply work.

Love Bonanzas and every Beech product I ever owned. Still, simplicity is a virtue in itself.

Fly what you love though, I'm all for you.

Jgreen

Looks like some of us go full circle at a given time in our lives... The 180 is soo easy on maintenance, I actually look forward to keeping it in top shape, in contrast to more sophisticated airplanes I've owned.
I also started at age 11, pirating hours in the ranch 180 (XB-MEN) from the doting company pilot, a Spanish Civil War veteran that flew Russian "Moscas" against the more advanced German Messers. on Generalissimo Franco's side.
We hauled everything from bear traps, to strychnine to kill wolves (!!); dynamite that was collected at the local hardware store (try that today), bulldozer parts, cowboys, their wives in active labor, vaccines, 30-06's. saddles, etc.
I have always had a great deal of affection for the 180, and keep mine for sentimental reasons, but moreso because it still takes me to the ranch and back to oversee 700 mother cows. (A much safer alternative to driving on Mexican mountain roads replete with "bad hombres"). My Baron still gets me to more distant places for now, but I know there'll be a day when its just the 180 and me. Then it will be "full circle".
I'm not into bragging about speed. I see just shy of 150 Kt. down low, at 14 Gph. Attached is a photo of my "speed secret", the factory original teardrop brake fairings. I don't do huge tires because, as F. Atlee Dodge says: 99% are used only for bling.
John Grady Green: With luck, I will someday get to meet you... I will be at Johnson Creek for the Skywagon meet later this year. Perhaps you could join me for a straight Tequila Patrón under my 180's wing.
Best,
TN