philiplane

The quality of the steel inside the engine also matters. I would be less concerned about a low time engine overhauled 30-40 years ago, than a low time engine overhauled 10-20 years ago. We see much more pitting corrosion in newer builds than old ones. I am monitoring an IO-540 that was a Lycoming factory reman in 1972. It now has 1800 hours on it. Spent half its' life in Southern California, the rest in Pennsylvania and now Florida. Zero internal corrosion. Excellent compressions. All the external rubber hoses, accessories, etc, have been replaced in the past 10 years. The engine looks and performs like new. It's had 25 hour or 6 month oil changes its' whole life. And it's been on Camguard since that came out about 20 years ago. 30 years worth of oil analysis records show no issues. I expect this engine to keep going until the cylinders start to show wear or the exhaust guides get loose and burn a valve. Which so far is well into the future. On the other hand, I've had many problems with much newer engines (all built new after 1996) having pitted cams, rusted cylinders, and valve problems. Continentals are especially prone to internal rust. During the recent crankshaft counterweight AD, one shop found pitted lifters on a 2023 Cirrus with less than 50 hours on the engine.

Fresh grease leakage today, YAY MT! All three blades. Good thing is that there is no way to lubricate the hub, so it'll stop leaking when it's empty...

The grease leaks on some have slowed, if they have the later style seals after 2019 or so. They last a bit longer before leaking again. I've got two MT's, one new in 2016, and one new in 2018, that have been repeatedly re-sealed, with the revised seals. They still leak. Many prop shops won't work on them since they don't want the hassle of continuous leaks. Filler still chips off, the paint wears prematurely. Want to see how sorry a 2023 MT prop on a DA40 with less than 300 hours looks like? I'll get some fresh photos. You're lucky yours doesn't leak, but if you start putting over 300 hours a year on it, it will.

The M20R & S composite Hartzell prop has been available for 8 years now.

MT's sure look good the moment they're bolted on, but the love affair is short. You'll get tired of cleaning grease from your windshield, and paying your mechanic to constantly replace lost filler around the leading edges, sanding and painting the blades, and resealing a few times before it reaches TBO. If you want sexy without the hassles, you want a Hartzell composite prop. They are a work of art, and highly durable.

Lapping is worthwhile on engines with less than 1500 hours because you're generally just removing junk from the seat to restore the seal, and the guide has minimal wear. But with high time engines, the valve guide wears enough that the valve no longer seats on center, leading to the hot spot on the weakest contact area. This is not fixable by lapping. If you're on oil analysis, you will see a rise in nickel if the guide is wearing. Or, you can pull the rocker cover and check the valve stem wobble directly. If it wobbles, lapping is a waste of time. So if you're at 2000 hours, the odds of lapping being successful are slim.

Please file a Service Difficulty Report with the FAA so this will be on file. Nothing will change until they have several SDR's in the system, and then a fix will occur. Electroair needs to figure out why this happens and design a fix. With a few SDR's on file, the FAA will ensure that happens. But so far, you are just one more owner who's had a problem with the six cylinder MTH teeth failing.

not only is it violent, it can shear the bolts on the large gear attached to the crank. Which involves removing the engine to split the case for repair. $$$$$

they come with specific instructions and an allen wrench. Those instructions are also on the EI web site. People over-torque the set screws, setting up wire breakage in short order, they don't strip the wires correctly, leading to poor contact with the set screws, they also use cheap strippers that leave cuts in the wires, also setting up near term failures. And they don't support the connections properly with zip ties or clamps, so vibration exacerbates all the baked-in problems from Not Reading The Instructions.

raw speed isn't everything. Be careful.

by the looks of the thread color, this drain is sitting too high in the port. Which can happen if someone used a tap on the port and drove it to the end of the taper. Normally, the threads on the quick drain will never reach the end (the top) of the port in the pan.

erratic readings are nearly always caused by poor connections. The only time they are caused by the probe itself, is when the outer tip starts to burn through and torches the thermocouple inside. The EI barrel style set-screw connectors are noted for intermittent connections, because virtually no one installs them correctly.

what is the failure mode? Is the tip burning, or does the probe go offline? EGT probes are often replaced due to connection issues, and not a fault of the probe itself.

Sand erosion of the MT is a huge problem since the blade coatings are less durable than others. I maintain a lot of planes that go to the Bahamas on a regular basis. And those runways are full of sand, loose bits of gravel, etc. The MT's don't do well. And the leading edges dent more easily than an aluminum blade. You file out a small ding in an aluminum blade. But the MT leading edge requires replacement. $$$$ MT's used to be less expensive to buy. Not anymore. And they are more expensive to maintain.

the condition of the faces of the lifters are more important than the cam lobe. A perfect cam lobe will be ruined quickly if it's running against a severely pitted lifter, but a good lifter running against a few pits on the cam generally will not be any problem.

a good 2 blade will always yield the greatest speed on a 180 HP engine. Every blade you add, adds weight, and also adds some drag. That said, you might gain some climb with a 3 blade prop, and it would probably be equal in cruise speed to the original 2 blade. The new Hartzell composite 2 blade props are very efficient, giving the best of both world. They are also a true composite, using advanced materials to achieve better performance than an aluminum prop, while still being just as durable. You can ask around about MT propellers and get many different opinions. MT uses a wood core for the blades, with a fiberglass jacket and a glued on stainless or nickel leading edge. They are prone to cracks, erosion, and grease leaks. And there is substantial data on engine case cracks appearing on engines equipped with MT propellers. On the Cirrus Pilots forum, you would find extensive discussion of this problem. While lightweight sounds good, it can cause other problems because you lose quite a bit of the flywheel effect you get from a standard prop. MT's need more maintenance like repaints, filler around the leading edges, and sometimes, early removal to fix grease leaks. The Hartzell composites don't suffer from these problems. Nor do their aluminum blade props.

The supercharger is used to scavenge the engine, in the same manner as a Detroit Diesel. The turbo is used to provide boost at higher altitudes, so it will maintain sea level performance into the flight levels. here is some more info: https://www.eaa.org/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-26-2019-deltahawk-diesel-makes-first-flight-to-airventure

heat and time made them warp. More heat won't help. Replace them. Plastics like this were never meant to have a 30 plus year life span.

Theory is critically important to understanding why things work the way they do. Electrical theory teaches why systems work or don't work, so you know what part to replace. Hydraulic theory teaches how landing gear systems work. Aerodynamics theory teaches how planes fly, and react to changes in control systems or modifications to structures. And no one understands corrosion prevention without learning about electrons, chemicals, etc. There are three components to the A&P curriculum. Airframe, Powerplant, and General. General is where you learn the building blocks that lead to real understanding of Airframe and Powerplant subjects. In real schools, you start with General, and then progress into Airframe and Powerplant subjects. You will NOT get any of the General topics or theory in a shop apprenticeship.

Not at all, the only winners will be the cheapskates that get another generation of parts swappers at a discount price. Which is why we're in the crisis we're in now. Real A&P schools teach all the subject matter, including the theory behind electricity, structures, and avionics. If you want highly trained, highly productive technicians, they HAVE to come from a quality school, not from an apprentice program that provides cheap labor-in-training for shops that will do the bare minimum to get them a certificate. You get NONE of the theoretical training, while working at the practical experience level as an apprentice in a shop. So while we would get more A&P's, they will be tire changers, parts swappers, and not the well rounded technicians needed to work on the latest airplanes with sophisticated electronics.

this has been 30 years in the making. There are currently more than 8,000 job openings for aircraft mechanics. And for every new A&P school graduate, about 3 A&P's retire. https://resources.savvyaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/articles_aopa/AOPA_2023-05_mechanic-crisis.pdf

I installed the first prototype Deltahawk engine on their Cirrus SR20 test bed in 2013. Since then the engine has been heavily refined to make it ultra efficient and reliable, because the real intended market is long-range military surveillance drones. I would buy one over the diesel offerings from Continental and Austro.

Preceded by an M20P N102PT gear up in Madras Oregon on May 1st. And then an M20K, N262MK, crashed in a cemetery on May 8th, in Manville NJ. So the Mooney fleet continues to shrink...

We don't get anywhere near the transient volume at PMP, compared to FXE. If you want to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, go to Banyan at FXE. The lobby alone is amazing. Pilot shop is right there, and a great restaurant (Jet Cafe) for breakfast or lunch. They don't do dinners, because they only prepare jet catering meals after lunch. Sheltair at PMP is not open very late, so be aware of that for arriving and departing. But there is 24 hour self service fuel at PMP at $6.19 about 1/4 mile west of the Sheltair FBO. Pompano Aviation is not really an FBO, they manage hangars and a self serve fuel pump.

mixing fine wires and massives eliminates the ability to rotate them, which is critical to get the longest life from the plugs. Rotation from the top to bottom, and next in firing order is needed to change the polarity that the plug sees from the magneto.