Jsno

I had a tank that had trees like yours. The previous fix was to smash coat it. The fuel intake screen was half closed up from this and the drain holes in the ribs were covered. I used polygon with a little success. The splash coat had to be dissolved with MEK first though. I had better success with Stewart Systems paint stripper that I had left over form a previous project. I then primed and resealed the areas with BMS 1828, a two part epoxy sealant. Still finishing other things on the aircraft so in the future will find out how well I did..

Cessna has a SB to remove them due to possibly breaking loose and clogging the muffler. I pulled my exhaust during o/h and after 900 hours they are intact. There are plenty of articles about why they are there so I won't go into that. I would suggest having the muffler pressure checked for leaks. I'm getting a whole new system from Knisely.

I have had my floats overhauled. They are somewhat accurate. I have installed digital in a previous airplane and through they are accurate they vary according to pitch of the aircraft. I think fuel flow is the most accurate way to determine how much fuel that you have. As far as a leaking drain, If it is well maintained a non issue. Plus you will see it on the ground during a preflight. More likely to have fuel seeps from tank seams.

Is that 400 hours after the muffler was rebuilt?

I fly with Basic Med under Avemco. No problem.

Without going out to my plane and verifying, that looks like it is just an aluminum angle extrusion that you can buy from Aircraft Spruce and splice in a piece per AC 43.13. 2024-T3

I would not use a car charger on rapid charge. The aircraft battery is like a motorcycle battery, delicate. Trickle charge would be the safest route.

Yes I used a generic article. Just trying to point in some direction without seeing the aircraft.

QAA.com has an article on how the turbo operates. It uses manifold pressure for the controller to regulate the turbo. Maybe the tee was the connection to that.

I would expect above 400 on initial break in. Are the cylinders plated? Nickel take about 1/2 hour for the temps to fall, steel an hour or two and chime take the longest. Also did yo run much on the ground or keep it to a minima? They could have glazed with a lot of low power running. Keep flying and your oil usage will tell the story of glazing or you could borescope and see. Don't know the indicator you are using, it could be defective. You could test by dropping one probe in boiling water and see what it reads. What year and model are yo flying?

Wow} Avemco required 10 hrs and ten take off and landings for me.

I would replace the cylinders. Compression check is only part of the puzzle when evaluating cylinders, not the only determination of their health. The way I look at is is when you are flying at night, hear a loud bang, then silence, the price of new cylinders will quickly not matter.

to open the fuel tanks, remove the screws and then carefully work a thin flexible putty knife between the flange of the panel and the wing skin and work with a sawing motion all round the edges. It takes patience and some muscle. The panel on the right wing top, next to the door ,under the wing walk, has a bracket extending inboard and outboard. This has some flush screws in it so be sure to remove them before attempting to remove the panel. Aircraft spruce sells Polygone 310 that you can apply to the sealant in the tank to loosen it. Then use plastic scrapers to remove the sealant. You can resharpen them with sand paper as they will dulll quickly. Dontas use steel to scrap. Be sure to Aldine the metal before resealing to prevent corrosion.

I had my cylinders nickel plated. They initially broke in in about 40 minutes. Ten hours later they are running great and oil usage is stable. I would opt for nickel over chrome or steel. You can have them replated with nickel for about 2K. I don't think that you can hone chrome.

I see you sealed the wing root area. Did you reseal the tank from the inside as well? If not the fuel will find a way out.

Turn around was three weeks. Lycoming exhaust valves work harden. Quote from Sky Ranch Engine Manual, "The exhaust valve face and seat work hardens in service. A work hardened exhaust valve is more likely to fail because of fatigue. Also for two surfaces to form a gas tight seal, the surfaces must be elastic to conform to each other. A work hardened valve and seat face will have lost their elasticity and be more prone to valve leakage than a new valve and seat. For this reason, used exhaust valves and seats are not as desirable as new regardless of appearance." One of my valves was cracked and the edges were ground down sharp enough to shave with. Obviously had been through more than one cycle of overhaul. New valves are twice the cost of used but I think that they are worth the assurance that they won't fail.

I have tries the dry ice method and had no luck with it.

I overhauled an O-360 installed new steel cylinders but unfortunately did very little flying the first year. As a result the fresh cylinders got some rust and pitting in them. I pulled them and cleaned them up and installed new rings, And they rusted again. I think that the problem is that the pitting was not fully removed when I honed the cylinders and the corrosion just started from the pits that were not removed fully. The only good way to remove pitting is to have the cylinders ground. My oil was turning black after about 15 hours and consumption was up. When I scoped the cylinders they looked like yours, the rust particles had scuffed the cylinder walls. I pulled them and sent them to Aircraft Cylinders of America and had them Nickel Plated. Cost just under 2 K. When I got them back I ran them in and they seated in under an hour. Very pleased with the results. No oil consumption and no pitting worries. I once bought a dry climate engine only to find that it had corrosion. Doesn't matter so much about thee atmosphere humidity as much as how much moisture is in the engine when it is sitting idle. That will be the start of your problems. High moisture is usually caused by short flights or ground run ups. As many hours as there are on that engine SMOH, I would top it with some overhauled Nickel plate cylinders as new cylinders are hard to find now. BE sure to use new exhaust valves. When you pull the cylinders you will be able to inspect the cam and lifters for pitting. If any found you will need a new cam and lifters as they do not heal themselves.

Aluminum work hardens when it gets dented. That makes straightening it out difficult. The dent is harder than the surrounding metal. Hail damage is ok as long as it does not interfere with the operation of any flight controls. Many of your large passenger and freighter aircraft have hail damage although they use thicker skin. Damage to composites usually have to be repaired. I have some hail on my Mooney and the upper surface of my Cessna has quite a bit of minor dents. It does not affect the flight characteristics at all. My view is while sitting in the cockpit looking out, I don't see it so I don't care.

Didn't see that. Interesting...

For your Instrument you will need to perform precision approaches. This is only equipped for non recision approaches. You would have to up grade some of the avionics.

I installed the tail beacon on my 69 M20F. Easy to install.

Having bought one that sat 4 years in Arizona, I would pass. On the flight home my cam and tappets ate each other. Overhauling now is difficult because the machine shops are backed up up to a year and some of the parts are difficult to find. Up to a year for new lycoming. If you want to fly spend a little more up front.

Do you know what caused it to bend? Prop strike, corrosion??

I have done repairs like this. Not very difficult for someone with a little experience. I would repair rather than replace an entire skin. Use flush rivets and you can for aerodynamic purposes filled the seam with fiberglass putty, repaint and you won't even see it externally. Much quicker and easier than a full skin.