A64Pilot

I think if I look hard enough in the FAR’s I’ll find that as a Certificated mechanic that I’m required to ensure the airworthiness of any parts that I reinstall on aircraft that doesn’t require disassembly to inspect. So if I pull a cylinder for example, I can’t put it back together with rings worn behind limits even if I pulled it to replace a valve, but if I remove a prop governor, I don’t have to send it off for overhaul, I can reinstall it if it was working properly prior to removal. ‘An argument to that is that I don’t have fix anything, I can give a list of discrepancies to the owner / operator, but I don’t sign off anything as airworthy that isn't. So IRAN means Inspect, Repair or Replace anything that doesn’t meet serviceable limits as Necessary, it doesn’t mean put on the blinders and only do what was asked Finding hidden damage happens all the time, and once found it has to be addressed, you don’t put the cover back on a wing after finding a main spar crack when you were just installing an antenna. ‘An IRAN differs from an overhaul in that often an overhaul has a list of items that must be completed in order for it to be an overhaul. For example you have a 20 yr old prop that you want cleaned and resealed and painted, but you don’t want the blades re-profiled as that means metal is removed, an overhaul requires re-profiling, a repair doesn’t, so you have the prop re-sealed because your blades have insignificant wear

Actually in a J three gets you roughly 55 gls. to get the full capacity back, you need four bladders. Apparently the original J kits were only three bladders per side, the four per side is a relatively new thing, the fourth bladder can be added to a existing system that only has three, but I don’t know the cost. I believe my three per side gets me 54.8 gl total on my J

The left brake getting mushy is what needs addressing. Brake pads slide on pins, sometimes they get a little cocked and drag just a bit, then use the brake and they align correctly and the noise stops is another possibility. Nothing pulls a pad away from the disk, only pressure forces it tight, but nothing makes it back off, they drag a bit by design

Then what is the recourse if you find thousands of dollars worth of repairs during the annual? If found pre-purchase then you can negotiate or walk away, or buy it with money in escrow to address issues found in annual. ‘At least have a clause in the agreement that purchase is predicated on successful annual completion. ‘I’m thinking of the recent post where someone had just bought an airplane, then discovered corrosion that may require wing replacement for example. I was going to buy a Meyers 200D prior to buying the Mooney, We agreed on a price, a very good price actually and I was going to fly out and conduct an annual with a local IA. That’s when the deal began to get weird. Seller was unhappy that I was going to do an Annual, deal fell through, he pulled out. ‘Thinking back I feel certain that there was something wrong with that airplane, something that a good Annual would uncover, and he was afraid I’d uncover it, and walk away and he would have an aircraft with a logbook entry that would make it hard to sell. ‘I think wanting to do an Annual may have saved me a lot of money and heartache

Yes heat is washed energy, but as you can’t effect BSFC very much, the way to more power, is more heat. LOP only slightly increases BSFC, and yes the power is affected quite a bit, but that can also be argued, if your only at 55% power ROP, then yes you can run LOP without losing any power. Try that at 75% or greater power, you might can at 75%, that’s pretty much about it, but higher than 75% LOP is playing with fire, and I mean actual power, not a manifold pressure that gives power ROP and thinking the same manifold pressure gives the same power LOP. Do this set up a cruise at 75% power at best power mixture, record your airspeed, then go LOP and see if you can maintain airspeed. I am not against LOP, I run LOP more often than not, but I don’t try to run high power LOP, I run a manifold pressure and RPM that will give me 65% power ROP, I run that LOP and accept the reduced power, gives me more margin, I would have to save a LOT of fuel to pay for a couple of cylinders. You can get very efficient LOP, it comes from two things, slowing down is a large gain in efficiency, and there is some LOP too. If I slow down to 120 kts running pretty deep LOP I can actually burn less fuel per mile than my 85 HP Cessna 140 does at 90kts, and the little Cessna is about the most efficient of the little airplanes.

Circular argument, heat is where the power comes from, even LOP, these are “heat” engines. However power does wear out engines faster, HP is Tq x RPM, so higher power is higher RPM, plus higher power will result in higher cylinder pressures, and that forces the rings against the cylinder walls at a higher pressure and increases wear, plus it loads the main and rod bearings higher, which increases wear. ‘It all gets back to TANSTAAFL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain't_no_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch On edit, it’s probably a pretty easy case to make that friction is what wears out engines

Agreed, I climb at a very rich setting and high power, Plus once I get to patter altitude I’m rich again I believe that will help with cleaning it out.

Had a whole response typed up, then downloaded and read the SIL ‘It said pretty much exactly what I have been saying, that is that reducing the timing by 5 degrees will make the engine run cooler, last longer and give you more margin on detonation. ‘It didn’t say the decreased timing advance will decrease HP, but it will trust me. The reduced power is largely why it will run cooler, and last longer. ‘Now some of you will think this is it picking and that’s what aviation is, but it does require parts to be changed, and doesn’t say that you can take an engine that the SB has been complied with and return it to the pre SB configuration, and if your just cranking it up to 25 degrees leaving the SB parts in, that’s incorrect too and may cause damage if the engine kicks back during starting. Question for those that are bumping the timing to 25 degrees, have you replaced the magneto parts and engine ID plate?

I would be surprised to see an engine TCDS state, either 20 or 25 degrees, whichever you prefer. I’ve not looked, does one state either or? Or are you saying that at some time in the past it was 25, then later changed to 20?

Believe it or not but they lie, Code if you will something maybe as simple as add x feet or miles whatever, I’ve seen them report where they aren’t and wondered about it.

No, I was dead on my feet, could barely walk blood sugar was so low, Hare Scrambles is a much longer event than Motor-X. ‘Anyway the Coke and Honey Bun spiked sugar levels, it was like speed, I felt good, but sugar gets into the bloodstream fast and is burnt fast too, so my sugar levels would crash soon after, but I think they may have been lower than to begin with. Sugar is great for a burst of energy, thst sprint to the finish line for instance, but not so good for long term energy, it’s like N20 for an engine

Elastomers can harden when they get old, often getting hard is why they eventually split. Of corse when they harden they don’t absorb vibrations very well. Sometimes a vibration can come from a weak cylinder, it could even be as simple as a plug. ‘I’ve never seen a prop balancer use anything but a single accelerometer and of course it measures only one plane. However you can do a “strobe” run on many balancers, what that does is map the vibe level on a whole range of frequencies, then look for a peak at a frequency, if there is one look to see if an accessory spins at that RPM. I concur with you changing the isolators though, even if they were perfect at 20 years they owe you nothing.

No, USAA never saw the drivers license. They have a list of Mail forwarding agencies, they told me that, they weren’t being nasty, they just couldn’t break the law. They told me to just use a family members address, they told me they would never send any mail there etc., they just need a physical address. ‘I fought it as a matter of principle I guess, but finally relented and gave them my Father in Law’s address. Maybe stupid, but I don’t think the Government should be able to mandate how and where I live. I was Retired and wanted to live a nomadic lifestyle, A Federal law says if you do, you can’t have a bank account, and I think that’s wrong, so to to live like that, you have to perjure yourself, and to require that is wrong. I know it’s sort of tilting at windmills, but I believe when I see injustice, your supposed to complain. not break laws, not set other people’s property on fire calling it a demonstration, but your supposed to raise your hand and go on record that you disagree. What tripped the check was a NEW account, for new accounts the law says you must check, but apparently for existing ones you don’t. ‘I really gave some thought to doing what the Blue’s brothers did in the movie, they gave their Parole officer Wriggly’s field address, but figured that might get me in trouble and USAA is great for someone who is overseas and can’t go to an office and send faxes etc as their rules and system is set up to handle a deployed Soldier and if your in Afghanistan or whatever, getting something notarized and faxed is tough. ‘Same if your out in the Bahama’s “Family Islands”, So I didn’t want to lose USAA because they were following the law

I did the cycling thing myself, Bananas are great also because they contain potassium and it’s needed apparently to regulate heart rate. I was a CB and still am, but I made my own food. I got the recipe from a bicycling magazine. I used to ride a Cannondale, a cheap bike but other than the harsh ride from aluminum it was OK, later I got a Lightspeed Ultimate, which was a completely different bike, funny thing was I didn’t ride it as much

That’s actually what we were warned against, feel bad and eating a candy bar and a coke and you feel great, for awhile. It’s the crash after that, that’s worse than doing without. As a kid I was Hypoglycemic, which actually is the opposite of a diabetic. A diabetic is naturally hyperglycemic, it’s the insulin that can make them go to low blood sugar levels, ‘But it occurs naturally, especially in hyper active younger people. I out grew it. ‘Anyway I used to race my Husqvarna in Hare Scrambles, by the end of a race I could barely hold the bike up, my cure was a Coke and a Honey Bun, in 15 minutes I could do anything, but maybe an hour later the crash was bad. I didn’t know any better, and being a kid probably wouldn’t have listened anyway. ‘But carrying some real food along with you while flying if you have skipped a meal is a good idea. I’d suggest low fiber food. I used to export aircraft from the US to Central America mostly and carried up to 14 hours of fuel, I was taught to carry Gatorade and Jerky, you can pee in an empty Gatorade bottle, the other is harder to deal with.

HonestlyI wouldn’t worry about it There is only high pressure between the tank and regulator, after the regulator it’s really low pressure. You may want to inspect the tank for the hydrostatic test date, I think they are required every five years and I believe composite tanks aren’t inspected, they are replaced when they time out, and it may not be five years for them. Some metal tanks may even time out. ‘In my opinion a pre-buy isn’t much of an actual inspection, if you really want to know, buy an Annual. An Annual is legally defined and has a checklist etc. There is no such thing as a pre-buy. ‘But either way in my opinion your looking for big high dollar gotcha’s, nickel and dime stuff I wouldn’t even worry about. There will be things like that. some will bother you and you’ll fix them, others may not and you’ll just let them be. It all depends on price, and the level of perfection you expect in an older used aircraft, and of course the price should reflect condition.

In my opinion being high is good, if you feel it’s too high,it’s easy correct by leaning, but if it’s a little low, you can’t enrichen

This article may be of some interest to you https://www.avweb.com/ownership/the-savvy-aviator-65-whats-your-fuel-flow-at-takeoff/

My 200 Hp motor is 19 at sea level and the prop governor is a little low, so yes I’m right at that .1 you speak of. ‘But I don’t know about others

In Army flight school we had a acronym we memorized for self imposed stresses.’ It was DEATH Drugs Exhaustion Alcohol Tobacco Hypoglycemia All were to be avoided as they reduce performance and lead to accidents guess what Hypoglycemia is? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoglycemia I can assure you that we had no diabetics in flight school

Go to the Air Gas place or whoever fills bottles where you live, ask them and you will find that the source of ALL their oxygen is the big Dewer full of O2 outback. Some will say that Medical and Aviation has different levels of moisture etc, but no compressed O2 has any moisture, it’ seems the process of liquefying it removes it. ‘Now I’ve heard that medical cylinders are sterilized, and that may be true, but the place that fills them doesn’t sterilize them. There is a lot of misinformation about O2, I guess to justify a jacked up price? Depending on where you are, you will have to have a prescription, lords knows why, can you abuse O2? Also if there is a technical diving shop near where you are, you can get fills real cheap compared to the airport. We use O2 to blend tri-mix and for deco gas, dive shops don’t ask for prescriptions. ‘What’s different between medical bottles and I believe all others is the valve for some reason, we and I believe welding bottles etc use CGA valves. of course CGA just stands for Compressed Gas Association I think, I don’t know what the medical valves are called ‘I have a hose that lets me fill my own off a welding bottle, as you can see in the picture, both ends are the same. ‘I had to do a bunch of testing up to FL250 of a special crop duster and up that high you have to wear a mask, and a mask uses a lot of O2 compared to a cannula On edit, buy bottles from Sky Ox or other O2 kit suppliers, or just off the web, not the airport, after a quick look I think we use a CGA 540 valve, medical is called a post valve or maybe a CGA 870? Last edit I promise. Don’t let any kind of oil or grease near anything you use for your O2, a friend at a dive shop after eating lunch filled a deco bottle and when unscrewing the fitting, he must have had some chicken grease on his fingers because it burned his fingers, high pressure O2 will make anything burn it seems

One on my IO-540 was not saftied, I think the adjustable ones are uncommon. The non adjustable ones have to be removed and taken apart and washers either added or removed.

Bumping 5 degrees will increase torque I’m sure, the exception to that would only be say in a low compression motor running high enough octane fuel where detonation just isn’t possible and their timing was set for max torque, if that were the case then any change would be a reduction of torque Maybe you couldn’t detonate an R-1340 or a C-85 on 100LL as they were both certified for 73 min octane fuel. I’m not going to try though

I would answer by saying look at the difference between 20 and 30 degrees advance to see how large that is. As a kid I built and raced drag racing motorcycles for Star Cycle in Americus Ga., I’ve put many an engine on a dyno and “played” with timing, it’s pretty universally accepted that timing advance can make a large difference in power output, and can really get you into detonation quickly and a blown motor, I mean in a hurry. ‘For turbo motors it was pretty common to have a boost retard, that is as boost built, timing was backed off, also alcohol / water injection. ‘Now aircraft won’t have a boost retard, as it’s a complication that’s not needed, because you can’t bog down an airplane the prop just slips, but a wheeled vehicle you can get pretty high boost at lower RPM. ‘Pretty sure alcohol / water injection was common in WWII to help prevent detonation from high boost. The people abdicating to advance your timing from 22 to 25 degrees really are seeing a significant increase in power, but they are also operating at a reduced detonation margin. ‘TANSTAAFL

Fuel is easy, meaning additional fuel is easy, even if you heated it or even if for some reason you were to vaporize it first. ‘However higher intake charge density is desired, drag racers will run their fuel through a can with ice in it trying to gain a tiny bit of charge cooling, the heat absorbed by evaporating fiel isn’t trivial, the intake of an alcohol fuel motor can feel ice cold for instance and that cold of course helps with charge density. ‘So in other words heating fuel while sometimes is done, it’s usually done to prevent icing etc., like a turbine for example will often have fuel heaters, but it’s not done to increase efficiency or power etc. ‘The GE T-700 has a neat design, its fuel heater, is the engines oil cooler, so you get both in one device. On edit, we are not direct injection or timed injection, we have a continuous spray of fuel shot at the backside of the intake valve, what that means is that all of the fuel or almost all anyway has vaporized prior to being sucked into the engine, and the tiny bit that’s not will be before combustion. ‘Droplet size, spray pattern etc is far more important in a turbine or a Direct injection Diesel.