Ragsf15e

I’m still wondering if they meant this year...

That definitely sucks. Sorry to hear. On the other hand, I recently had a Bose A20 start going intermittently on the microphone. Free shipping, free repair, free return within one week. No questions asked. The A20 was purchased in 2015 by a different person.

And while you’re using the soapy water inside the cabin, try not to leave the steel tubes, spar or other expensive things real wet and covered with carpet, tape, etc...

They all leak a little, and usually it’s no biggie. Sometimes is pretty hard to know for sure where it’s coming from because it blows all over the place in there, drains down, and a little looks like a lot. The posts above narrow down the normal places to look. That being said, I’d try to have the mechanic clean and narrow it down. Especially with the recent cylinder work. You’d like to make sure you don’t have an issue with that workmanship. Is this mechanic different than the person that did the cylinders? Hopefully?

I think this kind of workmanship behind the panel is much more common than we realize unfortunately.

Totally agree. Unfortunately that’s the state of aviation. If you can do some of it yourself, you can save a ton of cash. @gsxrpilot built his own panel for about what you’re talking about.

One other common thing to look for... The trim tube can rub on several bulkheads it passes through. There is an sb for this. It will cause friction and actually start cutting through the tube. Theres a limit in the sb for cut depth before needing a new (expensive) tube. There are sacrificial (phenolic) blocks that hold the tube just above the hole through each bulkhead and the sb mentions some tape that can be applied to the tube. Its probably the thing the other guys are saying, I’d just make sure it’s not the tube rubbing because that can definitely happen too.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone said you didn’t need an antenna.

This is not surprising, but does seem high. Taking out and reinstalling a panel with all the associated wiring is big. Can definitely be done cheaper, but many places charge about $3-5k. It’s also why the G5 / EDM route may be much cheaper as the equipment is less and it can possibly fit in the existing panel, thus removing equipment and labor costs as well.

Yeah, from my reading these threads, you can end up pretty close to a factory Rebuilt price if you use new cylinders and overhaul all the accessories.

That does sound worse, but I thought I read some guys talking about fixing them pretty easily. Can you run the tank out and make it easy?

Inspection screw is pretty easy. Probably do it yourself if you wanted. Take screw out, clean, screw back in with proper sealant. There’s a thread around here that had details.

If it’s that close for the 10”g3x including new panel or modified panel, I’d do the g3x. You need the 10” if you want the eis displayed with your pfd. If you do the 7”, you’ll need 2 of them to do pfd and eis.

Fitting 2 G5s and a jpi900 in existing instrument holes may require much less panel modification than adding a 10” g3x which is what you need for eis. Also, I’d hate to have a pretty new g3x with no adsb and keep my vacuum adi as backup. The G5s won’t need the vacuum adi. Keep your adsb on an iPad. Still you’ll be looking at $20k plus.

It does require gps input (either internal or external) for normal operation, but it’s designed to continue to work after losing the signal in case of ship’s electrical failure. Supposedly this mode is slightly degraded, but it still looks perfect. But yes, under normal circumstances, a gps signal is required to keep it perfectly aligned.

You know the one thing I wish I had in total electrical failure? I trust the battery on the G5s to keep me upright, I can navigate and probably shoot an approach with the ipad, but I can’t talk to atc at all. I’d like an “emer” avionics switch that jumps #2 nav/com directly to my battery. The Pa46t I fly essentially has this in case you need to shut down all the electrical, including the master.

I have dual g5s connected to my gns430w. First, I think the G5 only allows you to select one source at a time, meaning that you have to go back through the config menu to switch to internal antenna if it’s configured for external (doesn’t auto switch) which includes restarting it. Second, it works just fine if the gps signal goes off. I have turned off my gns several times and there’s no noticeable change. Finally, I turned off the gns and rebooted the G5 in the config menu, changed it to internal gps and it immediately picked up a signal with no antenna. I had accurate groundspeed and track. So I don’t think you need an antenna to pick up gps, and even if you did, I don’t think you need one to make the G5 reliable.

It might be a little more, but angle valve J cylinders are expensive, so that’s a wash with the 6 cylinders on a K. You’ll get wherever you’re going faster in a K so maybe less hours? Cost difference will be negligible by aircraft ownership standards.

Yeah, if you spend $40k r&r & OHing the engine, you’ll sell for $20-30k more. I know lots of people will buy with a runout engine because they want to control the OH process and make sure it’s done to their specifications and by their shop. You probably need to get the rest of the airplane in annual and flying. Corroded spar or sup leaky gas tanks might make it tougher.

If you see anything that even makes you think twice, shut down and drag it. It’s OSH, you’ll instantly have about 10 people helping move it. Even if you move it another 1/2 mile on grass it won’t be hard with airshow friends! No shame, no worries. Nobody will question you.

You’ll probably be better off with a turbo, but you did say never more than 1 person. You certainly don’t need full fuel either. If you found a great O it would probably work fine lightly loaded.

I hope you get her flying again! Id leave the vac pump alone too. You shouldn’t be anywhere near ifr in this airplane anytime soon and you’ll remove it with decent avionics anyway. Did you ask if the seller has all the logs since new? That’s really important. You want airframe, propeller, and engine logs. This is not what you’re getting from the FAA. These are the ones that document yearly maintenance, like annuals, prop overhaul, etc. The owner should give them to you. You need them. Seriously, you’ll need them. The engine may be 522 smoh, but the TBO is also 7 years. And it sat for like 10. It’s likely toast. You might get lucky and get 100-200 hours, but that would be seriously lucky. Don’t get your hopes up. Id change the oil and fill the fuel tanks first. Do all the inspections and get it started. Come back the next day and see if it’s leaking fuel everywhere before you think of flying it.

Nothing wrong with spending a little on a tailbeacon or wingtip ADSB either. Might not get the money back but might help move it.

Has anyone used Hillsboro Aviation? Their maintenance shop is clean, orderly, and well run. I have not personally tried the avionics side yet, but the overall operation is good. I saw an A-36 in there getting full Garmin gear. Tax adds up in WA. Oregon might save you some $$ with no sales tax.

Just to keep it the same as others... are you doing a new panel cutout as well or cutting up your current one?