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Matt M

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Everything posted by Matt M

  1. That is what I am wondering. I used a 5/8" PVC tube over it and wrapped the drain port with electrical tape before the tube was on it and put a hose clamp around it. Seemed air tight. A couple of pieces of electrical tape seals off my static ports no problem.
  2. Yep, that will be one check once I get the inspection panel off behind it. Did you end up buying a new one or finding a salvage one? I looked and spruce has it for $2700. A little steep. Hopefully that is not it. If that is the case I will live with the leak. Not affecting airspeed indications at all. Got a workaround for the IFR cert to bypass it.
  3. I am certain the drain isn't leaking. I spent 3 hours removing the side panel and interior and busting up my hands getting in there to replace the o-ring. I disconnected the line from the pitot tube to the drain and put my test pressure source into the drain and I had zero loss on both my airspeed indicators. Once I go from the pitot tube all the way all bets are off.
  4. I am chasing down a pitot leak. It was found as part of troubleshooting my leaky static system which I got resolved. During the IFR cert the test box was having trouble keeping the airspeed under control as the altitude was raised for the check so we had to abort. After some troubleshooting over the weekend I found a few leaks - airspeed gear switch to airspeed indicator and the o-ring drain. Got both of those resolved. Now I am still seeing a leak from the pitot tube to where it connects to the drain. Going to do some more troubleshooting - either it's the pitot tube, connection from the pitot tube to the nylon line, or the line itself. Verifying the connection to pitot tube requires drilling out the riveted inspection plate behind the pitot tube. If I do end up having to replace the pitot line, how hard is this? Doesn't look there is much access to get the forward part of the wing where the line is. Matt
  5. I have been chasing a static leak over the past month and determined my altimeter is leaking. It causes a 500+ fpm leak when you move the knob. My VSI also has a small 30-40 fpm leak. I want to send them out for overhaul while it goes into annual. I figure I might as well send the airspeed indicator as well since 2 of out of the 3 are going. The bezel is looking a little rough anyway. Has anyone used any of the instrument shops lately? I was looking at aircraft quality instruments, Rudy instruments, Berkshire, Kelly instrument. I am looking to do an overhaul vs. exchange. I can wait an extra week or two to save a few hundred bucks. Matt
  6. So lately my electric trim on my KAP-150 has been giving me some issues. I previously had some issues which I thought were trim switch related. I resolved those over a year ago by cleaning the micro switches and reassembling the module. A year later more issues. Now if I engage the trim when you depress the far left button you hear the clutch engaging. If you then try the up or down you can see the trim wheel move slightly forward or aft, but it doesn’t go far and hesitates. If I engage the autopilot while on the ground and set altitude hold and use the up down button on the flight computer it moves the elevator as expected then eventually the trim wheel turns freely to trim off the pressure as expected. I thought maybe trim servo, but it seems like it is operating fine when driven by the autopilot. The autopilot works fine in flight and passes all tests. Is the electric clutch triggered by the far left trim switch unique to the manual trim? If so that would explain why the autopilot works fine. Any ideas?
  7. I am currently doing the exact same thing. Installing those same pieces tomorrow. I have the SCS carpet kit as well. I ordered the poly board from Airtex and glued it to the carpet with the glue they sell. I purchased the polyboard already cut to the shape of the side panels, spar cover, and baggage pieces to save some time. The stiffener material is basically the same material that they make lawn signs out of. Home Depot sells it. It’s called Coroplast. The Home Depot stuff is combustible while the Airtex stuff is not. I even tried lighting some scrap to confirm. As for the insulation I removed all the open cell foam insulation installed by in the 80s and the fiberglass insulation for the headliner and aft areas. Also purchased the Airtex 1/2” and 1/4” sheets of foam insulation. Installed it all. Great quality for a decent price. Matt
  8. I received new sealant ordered from Boeing. I couldn’t get the cs3330-b2 so had to go with the cs3330-b1/2. Made in Jan 2023, so much fresher than the Skygeek batch. This worked like a champ. Mixed well and turned the grayish color like it should have. Was tack free after 2 hours. I mixed the same as the previous batch, so that eliminates improper mixing. The previous sealant had to be a bad batch. Something happened to the hardener. Not using the stuff before I wasn’t aware that a purple color is not the proper mixed color. I think I can put in Mooney side windows in my sleep now.
  9. It’s very odd that one tube worked perfectly and the others were crap. They were all mixed the same. I inserted the rod and put about 10% of the hardener in at the top then slowly moved the mixer down a I released the harder. Then I turned the plunger and moved it in and out 50-70 times. I even had someone helping me and they excessively mixed their tubes probably 100 times. I showed my mechanic and he never had any issues with the tubes before. They never used Skygeek though. He is going to get me new ones from Aviall this week. I am convinced that something was wrong with the tubes.
  10. If you do it you need plenty of patience. I researched on here plenty before I started. I have a J which I thought had clips held on with screws. Well surprise to me when I pulled the interior and found out the 4 clips per window are mostly riveted with some screws into the tubular frame. I believe I had to drill out about 40 rivets. All the windows needed trimming except the cabin door window. It all looked perfect yesterday. Then the sealant problem occurred. I ended up pulling the 3 windows today. The sealant was a mess. It was easier cleaning the old 40 year old sealant than the semi wet sealant I put on. MEK is your friend. Remasking the windows, removing them, cleaning up the sealant on the window frames on the airplane, and cleaning the plexiglass set me back 8 hours. Then I need to reinstall them at the end of next week and hope there are no scratches from the remove/replace process.
  11. I think that is what happened or the sealant was bad. I find it hard to believe I mixed 4 tubes wrong, but maybe. The one window came out perfect. That one used its own tube.
  12. This week I replaced my side windows. I used CS3330-B2 to seal them as recommended. I finished sealing the last window 5 pm Thursday. Its been in a hangar at 65 degree F. This morning the sealant is still purple and wet to touch on three windows. One window is completely dry and a grayish purple as expected. I purchased the sealant from Skygeek (expiration date end of March 2023) and mixed the tubes as specified. Used the ram rod to push the black into the tube as I went down with the mixer. Then mixed it at least 50 times. Will this ever dry? I even rubbed some off and tried using a heat gun, but the sample just got warm. I am fearing the worst of having to pull them out and redoing them. Thoughts?
  13. I definitely hear you. It is a toss up. On one hand Graves originally was against FAA privatization, but then switched sides and was all for it adding though that GA would be exempt from the fees associated with it. Privatization is definitely not the answer. Government contracting is highly inefficient. It’s all about the money.
  14. Yup, and they keep asking for more money. Referencing the email from AOPA I received this week that annual dues went up.
  15. I think we have a huge advocate for us in Congress. Sam Graves is the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. This committee is responsible for the FAA reauthorization which is where those user fees would be identified. He is a longtime GA pilot. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2020/march/06/aopa-q-and-a-with-us-rep-sam-graves
  16. Stuff is a little pricey. $120 for a 6 oz tube. I figure one tube a window since I’ll be time limited with the drying time of the sealant. $500 for sealant seems insane to me.
  17. I looked back and there are lots of previous threads regarding sealant for windows. SM calls for PR1403-GB2 or PRC1321-B neither of which I can find readily for sale. I have seen that a lot of people have used Flamemaster CS3330-B2. Skygeek seems to sell it. Thoughts?
  18. I am painting all my plastic panels a light gray using sem. If I can’t find a gray trim I will put the beige trim on and paint them completely as an assembly. I am a little worried about the paint adherence to the trim.
  19. Anyone have a source for the silicone window trim that goes on around the window trim plastics? Jaeger aviation is out as their vendor discontinued the product. Plane Plastics sells only beige, I need light grey. Any other sources used with success? Matt
  20. I looked and it appears Wisconsin Aviation uses SCS for carpets and seats. SCS is closed this week for the holidays. I will give them a call next week and see. It looks like their carpet kit includes the side panels as well. If so it is comparably priced to Airtex when you add the carpet and sidewalls together.
  21. So I have been tossing the idea of redoing the interior of my J for a while. I decided that now is as better than any. I already planned out what I need. Plan on repairing the plastics, painting them, etc. I also have a couple that are beyond repair that I am going to get from plane plastics. I was entertaining Airtex seats, carpets, and side panels for the rest as they seem to be a good value and are about an hour and a half drive so I can save the shipping costs. I called today and it's a 18-20 week lead time. That puts me in June right when I want to be flying and have other home projects planned. I am toying the idea of an auto upholstery shop. I figure I can give them the seats, side panels, and carpets. They can use the side panels and carpets as patterns for the new and then make the new seat backs and cushions for the seats and install on them. My only hesitation is that they have done a few aircraft over the years not many. They mainly do cars and boats. They said they could, but may cost more than a company that already has the patterns. Are there any other companies that do seats? I know about Aerocomfort, but they are above my price point. Airtex is about $1600 for all four. I have the split seats in the back so they are very basic. Matt
  22. Look great. I am about to embark in an interior refurbishment as well. How much of a pain was it to remove and reinstall the headliner?
  23. Take a look at the ultrawing walk Spruce sells and look up “herculiner”. See any resemblance? Sold in the aviation aisle at any auto parts store for $25 a quart cheaper.
  24. My first step is to send in another sample. I got about 14 hours on the oil since the last sample. I talked to my mechanic this morning who thinks he may have screwed up obtaining the sample. He is second guessing himself. I echo Lycoming support. A few weeks ago I attended a seminar at Sun ‘n Fun given by Lycoming field tech support. It was a very informative session.
  25. I had my mechanic do this oil change. Not sure when he took the sample. He cut the filter and no metal.
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