A64Pilot

Why do any of you believe someone woud be stupid to use Camguard or any other additive during break-in? Never seen a bottle of Camguard myself, does it say that on the bottle? I don’t believe in additives, I’ve heard so many times, it’s FAA approved, it must do what it says,which is not true, all the FAA cares about is proof that it does no harm. On edit, I don’t believe non detergent oil is specified for break in because it allows more wear, I believe during times of excessive oil use the detergent can cause combustion chamber deposits, it’s not to allow more wear or faster wear, turbo motors run detergent oil for break-in. why? to keep the turbo center section bearing clean, but they break-in just as well. Detergent additives are not a lubricant additive. The whole “good oil” is too slippery to allow break in is not true, but you hear it every day, “don’t use synthetic oil in your car for 10,000 miles” etc., but higher performance GM cars factory fill has been synthetic forever, and many new cars require 0W-20, which I believe is only available as a synthetic. I wish there was an oil that was so good that it prevented wear so well that it wouldn’t allow break-in, imagine how long a motor might last?

See, I believe it’s basically preservative oil, Shell used to say for infrequently flown aircraft you can add up to 10% of their preservative oil. Number is from memory and I don’t have a copy of that. It’s pretty common for any company’s flagship product to have more or better additive packages, Chevron premium car fuel had more techron than the cheaper stuff for example, I knew the Jobber well and additive packages are added after the fuel goes through the pipeline, even the alcohol is added after it comes out of the pipe. ‘Anyway I believe Shell 15W-50 has more of the anti oxidant additive than the less expensive oil, so ai use it. ‘I was a big fan of Exxon Elite, used the last case I had the other day, have just one quart left. But the first thing you have to buy into for these additives is to believe that major oil companies like Shell or engine manufacturers like Lycoming are stupid, or maybe lazy or maybe cheap, and I don’t believe that.

I’m going to get people upset again, so here goes. Its mostly marketing, Common truth is to run LOP you must have someone’s after market injectors and an engine monitor, Of course you have to have a monitor, how else could you determine your “Gami spread” plus you need a recording one so that you can post the recordings. Ugly truth is many CB’s and some who were after extended range have been running LOP since before the transistor, they didn’t call it LOP just called it “leaned out”, Gami spread is completely irrelevant, all that matters is if it runs smoothly or not. If it doesn’t then a monitor has value determining which cylinder, or cylinders are the problems, they have diagnostic value. It’s simple, be at a power that you can’t hurt the motor, often quoted as 75% or less for a Lycoming which happens I believe to also be the max recommended continuous power setting, and pull the red knob until you get a very noticeable loss of power and leave it there if engine runs smooth, or slowly enrichen until it’s smooth, your done. Pretty quickly you will determine norms, for me down lower it’s 22 squared and 7 GPH, so all I do is reduce power to 20”, then reduce RPM to 2200, which brings manifold pressure back to 22, and pull the red knob back to 7 GPH, that’s it, I’m done, no lean find, no fiddling etc. That gives me 135 kts true which for me is fast enough, due to the loss of power from being LOP, I’m likely in the 50ish percent power. I’ve not yet determined norms for higher altitude, but 22 squared and 7 GPH doesn’t work for some reason, it takes more fuel, but I get a higher true airspeed too. I’ve not flown enough long legs to determine those norms yet. ‘I don’t have a engine monitor and for some reason my motor will run 100C or so LOP smoothly, but produces so little power that its just not enough so I don’t run as lean as it can. ‘However not all engine designs are so tolerant, the bigger Conti’s supposedly are not, but the IO-520 in our C-210 ran just as well with stock injectors as it did with Gami’s I was an early adopter of the injectors back around 2003 or so when they first came out, I put engine monitors and Gami injectors in both the C-210 and in my IO-540 Maule. In both engines on both aircraft fine wire plugs made more difference than the injectors did, which wasn’t huge, but it was measurable thanks to the UBG-16’s and the UBG-16’s did give more accurate fuel flow and were accurate devices, but really weren’t necessary, they were if you really wanted to run the richest cylinder exactly 25 LOP, but not to just run LOP. The red box exists due to detonation and should be avoided, but again different engines are well different, some are very difficult to detonate, others not so much. I don’t think you could detonate my C-85 on 100LL for instance, maybe cheap car gas you could but not Avgas. However detonation can be an immediate death, but usually not, over temp operation damage is cumulative, meaning that it may not result in a failure for years as many of us only fly 100 or so hours a year. Over temp doesn’t guarantee detonation, but detonation will result in over temp. You can choose to believe me or not, but if you want along life out of the motor, reducing power and temps as well as flying often will get you there, Running hard and hot may not. The flight school engines are an enigma, just about everything your not supposed to do for long life is done to them, snd yet they last. short warm-ups, who wants to pay the hourly rate to warm uo an engine? Repeated wide open throttle, followed by idle, repeat excessively, and prolonged rich operation, who leans in the pattern? A lot of why they last in my opinion is that they are relatively low output smaller motors and rarely are run at red-line RPM, fixed pitched props shouldn’t allow redline intake offs and in climbs, and most air work isn’t done at high RPM either. but it’s been over 30 years for me so maybe things are different now.

Exhausts won’t be perfect duplications of each other, that plus tolerances in rubber engine mounting etc may require a tab in some airplanes to line things up and not on another. ‘I woud cut myself another tab out of mild steel, or ideally Inconel if you have any laying around. SS is often so hard it will crack easier, but if you have any that’s half hard of less then sure go with SS

My Test Pilot Mentor told me that about a Cirrus and it’s why he doesn’t like them, he said they just don’t trim well and to use his word are obviously meant to be auto pilot flown. I lost two of my friends to an inadvertent IMC in a Cirrus, both very experienced and likely they knew they were out of the window for parachute use. As a mechanic with a lot of experience with repairing composites in military aircraft, I don’t want anything to do with them, way ,way easier to do sheet metal, and easy equates to way less expensive.

I haven’t figured it out yet, I haven’t even installed the thing, but I’ve run some numbers. ‘I believe a 20 SEER 2 ton mini split will draw about 20 amps at 220V. That’s 4.4 KW, electricity is 12c a KW, that’s 53c an hour, if you figure a 50% duty cycle that’s 12 hours a day and $6.3 a day times 30 days is close to $200. I don’t want that, I want $100 and let the temp end up where ever it does if I can keep humidity less than say 65%. Time will tell. Hanger is concrete block, block has an R factor of 1, not so good, so keeping it real cool even if i insulate the attic isn’t likely to happen, but the goal is dehumidify, not cool. so maybe a humidistat is in order and not a thermostat? Dehumidifier of course has a humidistat

You still fail to understand, between 1970 and 1980 roughly 10,000 GA airplane were produced every year, Cirrus is the big producer now, they built 200 in 2019.’ Every year way more than 200 GA aircraft are lost, destroyed, broken up in the bone yard etc. 200 and whatever Cessna builds etc doesn’t even come close to replacing the aircraft lost every year. There are probably more aircraft than that exported every year. ‘Unless something happens to change things andI don’t see that myself, we are the last generation to fly ourselves in little private aircraft that an average person can afford. ‘Maybe Experimental home built will fill some of the void

I Know St George very well. we had a house on Alligator point and as a kid I almost grew up on Dog Island, I’ve kept a boat in Carrabelle and later in Panama City Navy base and later the City Marina, luckily we weren’t there for Michael. There was a little Motel on Dog that I’m pretty sure is gone now and a grass strip, pretty much isolated only way on the island is to fly or the ferry, often had the beach to your self. ‘I have a friend that runs a fishing charter out of St George, Wessley Talifaro if you know him, I haven’t seen him for years. ‘I wouldn’t want my airplane outside either, but as St George is a private airport I don’t think I have ever been there.

Really? ever heard of GAMA? This link http://www.fi-aeroweb.com/General-Aviation.html And or keep you from having to read here is a screen shot. 3% dude, that’s it, next you’ll say GAMA doesn’t know what they are talking about because it doesn’t fit what you want to hear. As I said the future is bright if your in the biz jet business

your misunderstanding what I’m saying. ‘I’m saying as the temperature drops i’m late afternoon, the RH increases. Drop the temp enough and the temp and dew point coincide and dew forms.

OK, four ways, broken rings too

OK, there are pretty much three ways you can get low compression and high oil consumption, oil turns black in a hurry and high oil temp from excessive blow by, one is glazing, glazing is a physical clogging of the cross hatching on the cylinders, it’s what it sounds like they are glazed by something, a varnish like coating. The other way is bore polishing which is pretty much just wearing away the cross hatching, and babying the engine during break in. ‘Sometimes glazing can be recovered from, I’ve seen it, liberal use of Marvel Mystery oil and running the snot out of it, but keeping it rich. ‘Whatever MMO is or isn’t, it seems to have detergent like properties, but then of course mineral spirits is a good cleaner Glazing can be caused from overheating by excessive ground running at 1200 RPM or so warming up the oil, there is very little cooling air flow and 1200 is high enough to get the cylinders smoking hot, not the cylinder heads. but cylinders. Babying the engine can sometimes keep the rings from seating, but shouldn’t glaze them, pretty much takes heat or some added substance that can bake into a glaze, OK if they don’t seat and you keep running it, then I guess they can glaze. I’ve never let one get that far Rare for glazed cylinders to need replacing, if they are glazed then a good honing and new rings will get you back like new, never seen them needing to replaced, but that does of course get you to new. ‘Until we know what Camguard really is, I don’t think anyone can claim anything about it. I wish I had a quarter for every time I’ve heard a claim of what caused this or that that had no bearing on the case. Often a cylinder’s rings just don’t seat, it’s got to be blamed on something so it’s glazing, you can see glazing in a bore scope, it literally looks like varnish, what I have seen had a slight brownish color to it. Pop the jug off, have it professionally honed, but I have seen some use a dingle berry hone and it work, new rings and run the snot out of it for 10 hours, if they haven’t seated in 10 hours I doubt they will.

Yes I’m serious, look at how many of those are single engine pistons, then compare that number to how many were produced back in the 70’s and for kicks compare that to the population. You can post your silly videos all you want to,but the fact is that about 100,000 GA aircraft were delivered between 1970 and 1980, and not many were biz jets. According to GAMA biz jets were over 90% of the revenue for 2019, so yes if your in the biz jet market. things are looking good. So far as your silly assertion about a parachute, I’d rather have an aircraft that didn’t need one to pass Certification. ‘So what Cirrus do you have?

I don’t know what an SGI home is, but RH is of course relative humidity, take the same amount of water in the air and drop the temp and the RH goes up. So here in Central Fl it often varies from about 50% sometimes less in the middle of the day and high 80’s or 90’s at night, early morning. Of course that’s why the dew sets at night. The dehumidifier pulls at least 5 gls of water a day, I know because initially I had it draining into a 5 gl bucket, I emptied it at least twice a day so it didn’t get full. ‘But anyway with a closed up hanger and a few dollars spent on insulating the door and weather stripping the RH will stay pretty constant between 50% to 60% with a dehumidifier running, which is pretty much what my house does. But this time of year it’s getting pretty hot in there too, 90F mid day and maybe 80F at night, so I think a airconditioner will cool some and dehumidify. Besides I’d rather work on the airplane i much cooler temps, now I confine my work to the AM hours, and I’m really not a morning person. ‘The dehumidifier seems to cost about $30 a month to run, I figure the AC will cost about three times that and be run for four maybe five months a year, but it’s just a guess. I’ll know more later. 2 ton mini splits with an SEER equal to or greater than 20 can be had for just over a grand, the refrigerant is in them so it’s a matter of pulling a hard vacuum and opening the refrigerant valves, you don’t need to hire a licensed installer, although I am licensed Next step will be to see what it cost to blow in insulation in the attic, does anyone know how much per sq ft it cost?

People don’t like it, but it’s the truth, anything left out in the sun and weather won’t last as long, that’s why Farmers put their tractors and plows, combines etc in barns, and why people have garages, and all of those items are still being mass produced, with better and better ones made each year, and yet they are still protected. Get close to the Ocean and corrosion becomes way more problematic. ‘We just came off of living for three years on a Sailboat cruising the Caribbean, corrosion is a constant, and UV radiation degrades everything, combine the two and the sum is greater. Realistically there are only X number of GA aircraft, I doubt think anyone believes that in the near future GA manufacturing is coming back. So all the aircraft there are, is pretty much going to be all there is. I see myself as my aircrafts caretaker, I don’t view it as disposable, something that I will throw away in ten years and get another, and throw it away too. I would have a different attitude if GA aircraft were like cars, still in mass production and better ones made each year, but every one that gets neglected is one less. I hate seeing aircraft tied down outside and rotting away, the supply won’t dry up in my lifetime, but it’s going to dry up, and ifI were still around, I’d miss it. 95% of my adult life has been aviation, by that I mean my Profession, and after Retirement, it’s still my hobby.

I think they may be the Canadian’s that due to Covid haven’t been down, if so, then no as we didn’t buy until late last year.

Forget fuel burn, in the real world of aircraft ownership the difference in fuel burn in one Mooney to the next is insignificant, and if it does become a issue, slowing down can save quite a lot of fuel. ‘Most Bonanza’s are getting old, real old so be careful on inspecting, but parts are available which sort negates the age thing in my opinion, except for the magnesium skinned flight controls. I don’t believe any of those have been made in along time. They are not a tie it down outside airplane, although you see it done of course. ‘I looked hard at an S35, they are slightly lighter and faster than a V, look the same of course. ‘Your altitude can be done in a NA, but can be done so much better with a turbo, your the reason they exist mostly. I wouldn’t want a turbo, but I live at sea level, and pretty much never use O2, so for me it’s unnecessary expense and increased maintenance.

Do NOT use silicone, first it’s crap and won’t stay on, but any of it that smells of vinegar sweats acetic acid as it cures as that causes corrosion, you trap the acid underneath the silicone right against the aluminum, there is an aircraft silicone, but I don’t know where to get it. Fuel tank sealer is expensive but far, far better. use a tiny brush to paint the sealer after it dries, the paint will shield it from the sun and make it last decades. ‘However if your replacing the windows, do NOT use fuel tank sealer on the install as the next guy will never get them out, fuel tank sealer isn’t really, but I think of it as a structural adhesive, it’s tough, real tough ‘For scrapers break pieces of plexiglass, that leaves sharp edges for scraping, ones you buy don’t have sharp edges. ‘Oh, of course use blue tape for masking when applying the fuel tank sealer, and it can be smoothed very well with a wet finger, but be advised one drop of it can cover a large amount of surface area on the upholstery of your car, so be darn sure you get it all cleaned off, paint cleanup towelettes sold at home supply stores will clean it off of your hands, as will acetone, but acetone I’m sure isn’t good for you.

Some people did chrome spinners, and I think there may even be an AD about that, but maybe not, I remember asking my PMI once about it and he said unequivocally no, don’t do it, but I didn’t ask for chapt and verse. ‘Some people polish props too. and that makes all but one unairworthy as all but one require paint in their manual, Hamilton Standard may be the one that allows polishing?

Fl can be bad, mostly near the coast. just as a general statement I’d say avoid Fl airplanes, I learned early in my search don’t even go see the ones that have been tied out, waste of time, even the ones with what would seem to be good traits like new paint in the last few years and interior etc. Of course it’s my opinion that aircraft tied down outside age about three times as fast as ones in a good hanger. ‘I went to see a 90’s J in Naples. recent P&I, engine and prop less than mid time. When I got there to see the airplane I didn’t even give it’s good look, it was obvious that in my opinion you couldn’t make it airworthy, looked under the wheel wells and there were holes in the liners from corrosion. Saving on hanger rent for 10 years cost that guy at least $100,000. However if you have a nice hanger you can climate control it, mine right now has a 70 pint dehumidifier running in it and it’s set to turn off at 50% RH, it keeps the humidity in the mid 50’s, even on rainy days it stays in the 60’s. ‘But a dehumidifier adds heat to the air as it’s just an AC with the evaporator and condenser in the airflow. So this month I bought a 2 ton mini-split for $1,000 and will start installing it next week. I believe if I set it for mid to upper 80’s temps it will keep the hanger cool and dry. ‘I have a thing about corrosion, it’s what kills airplanes, they often survive wrecks and gear ups etc, but not corrosion. 1960’s Airworthy Mooney’s are not uncommon, because they were kept corrosion free. I have a 1946 Cessna, I intend for it to survive me, see I’m just it’s keeper for a time is the way I look at it.

yes

It’s not common for sitting to get a crank. it is common for cylinder rust to occur and the dreaded cam issue. ‘Very often on aircraft that sit a lot the cylinders will form some rust on them, it’s very quickly cleaned off the next flight, repeat that enough times and you’ll have what’s called polished bores, once polished the cross hatching is gone and the cylinder doesn’t hold a film of oil, you get a lot of blow by which makes the oil turn black fast and the oil runs hot too, as blow by gasses are hot. Due to their not being much oil, piston ring wear is rapid. In other words time for a cylinder overhaul although I have seen them be honed and new rings put in with a good success rate. Cylinders are easy, I don’t understand why a person who won’t blink an eye dropping 20 grand into avionics blanches at the thought of having to have cylinders overhauled or replaced

Only comment I’d make is that I think the 140 is overpriced, a Mooney’s annual will cost more than 10% more and it will burn more than 10% more fuel. ‘But it’s a 90 kt airplane too, if you lean it out and slowdown a Mooney will burn the same fuel and still be much faster. ‘I have always thought that to make ownership logical from a purely financial perspective, you need to fly more than 100 hours a year. However my last rental was in Killeen Tx about 1989 I think, mission was to take another pilot from the unit and his wife to supper, last renter’s pax had puked in the backseat, so we put newspapers down over that, then it wouldn’t start, trouble shooting found a loose battery cable under the back seat, and the battery cable had been chafing on the elevator push pull tube. That put me off of renting, between the aircraft not being airworthy, the puke smell and us being late from having to deal with all of that was enough for me.

I can go over with you and look at it, either one of us ought to be able to get a ferry permit. I’d want a nice longish ground run and cut the filter first though. ‘Unless it’s overly far away, I might even leave the gear down until I got to the shop unless retract tests were done, many have jacks can’t hurt to ask. My luck they would come half way up and stop, stuck ‘I’ve been working with Orlando FSDO ref the IA, 8610.1 etc is done, everything is done, she is mailing me the 8610.1 and will watch me sign it via a facetime call, then I’ll mail them back to her for her to sign, then she will mail them back to me, you know because if I see her face to face she’ll catch Covid and die. Hopefully July I’ll go to Bakers for the test prep and will have my IA back assuming I pass of course in July. I guess the people at Baker’s won’t catch Covid and die, just the Feds?

All Engines and props have a calendar limit, many assume and they may be correct that it stems from gaskets and oil seals etc. ‘But any engine that’s not in warranty is a crap shoot, we do the best we can and hope for the best, most of us that is. ‘I have a C-85 that’s got maybe 100 hours on new cylinders and new mags, but was overhauled last in the 1970’s, now that’s excessive, and it does leak oil pretty badly, but runs like a top. ‘I keep telling myself that I need to overhaul it, but just haven’t yet, afraid that I’ll find the crank worn behind limits etc, and there are no cranks, yes you can put 0-200 internals in it, but that is expensive, so I’ve just kept flying it.