FFS. I need a new hobby.

brcase said:
Reminds me of the cartoon in one of my Model T books. I should look it up and post it.

Shows a Model T broke down along side the road and the driver digging through a pile old car parts also along side the road.

Caption says "The great thing about Model T's, Spare parts are readily available."

Brian
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I’m going to find/build something for which Auto Zone is the OEM. ;)
 
Jim K said:
Which is why I'm not flying to Chicago tomorrow. I'll see where they are in the system tomorrow evening and decide if I'm flying somewhere Thursday.

Finding something locally doesn't seem likely. If it was rubber, it's not an uncommon size, but silicone is a little harder. Grainger and fastenal will sell me one (for 13 cents!), but drop shipped with a 2 day lead time. I was unsuccessful finding something automotive or agricultural.
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Well, that and the fact that your engine is in pieces right now. ;)
 
Jim K said:
. It was probably okay, but we decided to replace it to be safe. We found a correct new bolt & nut on hand that had been sitting on the shelf for a decade.
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I have heard of this happening, but never knew someone in real life that actually used a part that he had on a shelf for years. Usually I know I saved that part/tool/book and cant find it, so I have to buy new.
 
charheep said:
I have heard of this happening, but never knew someone in real life that actually used a part that he had on a shelf for years. Usually I know I saved that part/tool/book and cant find it, so I have to buy new.
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When I was 10 years old my dad tore down a barn to get the lumber at no cost. He had me pull the nails, getting onto me for bending the nails then showed me how to straighten them.

I sorted the nails by size, and my dad put them in jars and put them in his garage.

55 years later those nails are in my garage. But at least I knew where they are...
 
Zeldman said:
When I was 10 years old my dad tore down a barn to get the lumber at no cost. He had me pull the nails, getting onto me for bending the nails then showed me how to straighten them.

I sorted the nails by size, and my dad put them in jars and put them in his garage.

55 years later those nails are in my garage. But at least I knew where they are...
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Think he actually wanted the nails? Or just keep you busy
 
Racerx said:
Think he actually wanted the nails? Or just keep you busy
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Oh he wanted the nails and the lumber. Most of the lumber rotted away where I stacked it at the back of the property. At least I have actually used a few of the nails...

iamtheari said:
Regardless of intent, I think Zeldman’s dad did a great job of giving him a story or two to share with the next generation and keep his memory alive. I guess I need to go buy an old barn.
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Believe me, I did not think I was making memories at the time... :lol:
 
Zeldman said:
Oh he wanted the nails and the lumber. Most of the lumber rotted away where I stacked it at the back of the property. At least I have actually used a few of the nails...


Believe me, I did not think I was making memories at the time... :lol:
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When I was very young, my dad was building our house. He thought a great way to keep me entertained was to give me a small hammer and show me where the box of nails was.

This worked well…until he realized that I preferred window sill framing as my canvas. He later told me that he probably had to pull about 20+ sinkers from each window sill…:D
 
Jim K said:
Occurs to me I haven't posted the log entry on here yet so you guys can play "spot the lies"

View attachment 134679

I'm done communicating with the guy. I gave him two chances to be helpful. He won't do anything other than blow me off. I wouldn't let him anywhere near any airplane I own again now that I've uncovered his willingness to straight up lie about what he's doing. I would be interested in finding a lawyer to send him a nastygram, but I don't even know where to start looking.
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Does AD 2015-02-07 not apply to your engine? That AD references Lycoming SI 1348C, which deals with the installation of the set screw in question. The AD took effect in March of 2015. Your engine was worked on in 2022. Here is line d of the AD:
This AD was prompted by propeller governor shaft set screws coming loose due to improper
installation. We are issuing this AD to prevent the propeller governor shaft set screw from coming
loose, causing damage to the engine and damage to the airplane.
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This AD includes various models of O-540.
 
bluerooster said:
Does AD 2015-02-07 not apply to your engine? That AD references Lycoming SI 1348C, which deals with the installation of the set screw in question. The AD took effect in March of 2015. Your engine was worked on in 2022. Here is line d of the AD:
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Nope. Only applies to the aerobatic version. Somewhere in here i posted an article published when that ad was adopted... the faa said they were only applying it against the aerobatic engines because catastrophic engine failure at low level is a problem, as opposed to failure at altitude, which is fine I guess.
 
Either way, it would have been prudent to follow the SL while the engine was apart in 2022. Even if the AD didn't apply to your engine.
And, it's apparent that the SL was not followed.
 
So.
We're officially moving backwards.
Prepping to put the case halves together (for the second time), we noticed that the #4 rod was a little sticky. It would move smoothly, but if you held it in place for a second, it would stick in that position, even perpendicular to the ground. This felt wrong. My mechanic said he had not seen one like that. He called an engine builder friend who suggested perhaps poor QC on the bearings. We decided to investigate further.

I tried swapping bearings with another rod. Then I tried swapping the #4 rod onto another journal. In both cases the problem followed the rod. That was Friday evening. I had to deliver 18,000 bushels of beans Monday and Tuesday. Finally today I was able to go up and investigate a bit more. I eventually determined that the #4 rod big end was .005" out of round. I called the shop manager at G&N (who had yellow tagged the "overhauled" rods). He said that it isn't uncommon for the tongue & groove rods used in the angle valve engines. He said they usually don't find it until assembly as it will measure normally on the bench and then get sticky on the crank, which is exactly what I experienced. He said that they don't have the machines to hone it, and it would have to go Aircraft Specialties in Tulsa.

Sigh.

I don't understand how a rod out of a running engine has zero bearing clearance, but here we are. Guessing somebody dropped it along the way? Anyway, I stuck it in a box and overnighted it to Tulsa this afternoon. The shop manager out there said that if I call him when it shows as delivered, he can find it and move it to the front of the line, and they can have it back out by the end of next week, maybe sooner if they happen to be running that rod. I guess we'll see what happens.

I'm beginning to understand the six month quotations from engine shops.

Sigh.
 
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Look on the bright side - it was one rod (not the case or crank) and you found it. I imagine an engine shop where the guy assembling it might say “it’s good enough”; nothing unethical necessarily, just a subjective opinion. Add a pushy customer and a cranky boss and “life” and… That’s the benefit of YOU building it. Congratulations on the QA/QC find.
 
I would imagine delivering beans means it's payday. Pay back for his hard work last summer.
You know when the price is right on certain days around here when there are long lines for many trucks to unload grain around here. The police help direct traffic around the trucks waiting in line to unload.
 
Not that anyone is really interested, but these are soybeans produced for seed. I get about $1-1.50/bu premium, on top of the CBOT price which is around $10.50/bu. Syngenta will then clean them, treat them, bag them, and sell them for about $70/bu. These will be seed planted by farmers all around the midwest for the 2025 crop, which is kind of cool.

For that ~$25,000 premium, I store them on my farm and deliver them when Syngenta wants them, which is usually the coldest, nastiest day in February. This year was no exception. Negative temperatures in F both days. At least it wasn't super windy. One truck started just fine after being plugged in (block heater) all night, but the other was not having it. Finally got it going with a combination of a 200A booster and jumper cables from the pickup. Weak battery was okay in decent weather, but producing no amps at that temp. Wound up leaving it idling overnight because Tuesday was even colder.

This was all complicated by the fact that my dumb ass forgot to move the powersweep over the intermdiate wells. The sweep auger brings the grain in a flat-bottomed bin to the center unload auger. It won't start running under a pile of grain though, so "intermediate" sumps are provided to park it over so it will start. Mine was on the opposite side. Thankfully my co-op loaned me a grain vac (basically a 150hp vacuum cleaner) so I didn't have to hand scoop the 1500bu that was burying the sweep.

All that extra work MIGHT cover the parts for this stupid engine.
 
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We sold our 2024 beans on Feb 7 for $10.61

My life is easy…50/50 with the farmer. We used to cash-rent, but this is more “fun” and has been better financially.

Much respect sir.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
We sold our 2024 beans on Feb 7 for $10.61

My life is easy…50/50 with the farmer. We used to cash-rent, but this is more “fun” and has been better financially.

Much respect sir.
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That's great. I'm sure your tenant prefers sharing the crop with you instead of cash rent, which always feels like an adversarial process, no matter how well you get along with each other.

I run a hybrid agreement with most of my landlords where I pay a relatively low base rent, then once I pay all the bills and sell all the grain, I pay them a bonus to bring them up to where they would've been had they been 50/50. It usually winds up being better for them, and gives me some protection in the case of a bad year.
 
I have a small fleet of trucks that go everyday. Years ago there has been weeks in the coldest part of the winter that we would not turn them off from Monday morning until Friday night. All idled 24/7 over night
Now todays trucks start better than the old one's used.
 
I'm flabbergasted. Just got off the phone with "Steve", the shop manager at Aircraft Specialties. I told him UPS dropped off the rod, he put me on hold and went and found it. He said they would have it out tomorrow! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, because they could still condemn it, but so far they've been the best people I've dealt with.

I really wish I had just sent all my parts to them in the first place as i could've had them balance the rotating assembly. I mistakenly thought dealing with a local shop would be faster and cheaper.
 
Unsurprising:

The FAA's Alabama/NW Florida FSDO completed their investigation of your allegations in case AAE-EHL-20241114-149. The investigation did not substantiate that a violation of an order, regulation or standard of the FAA occurred related to improper maintenance and a possible fraudulent maintenance logbook after an engine overhaul.

The review of the logbook entry (“All work was accomplished as per the Lycoming Direct Drive Overhaul manual with service limits, and engine remains at current time SMOH and engine TT.”) documenting the work performed was completed and signed per 14 CFR 43.9, by an individual powerplant certificated mechanic.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Sincerely,
Federal Aviation Administration | Office of Audit and Evaluation | Washington, D.C.
ADKq_NaMl3MW7_GGgyZYqozYr9S3SX4jm22IIxKTy8GOXs-pITgftL6I5KhJqLZtIR1FfLk6IvvOle8g-sVGRpN9iImZRgYi89RbR74ucixxyZqG7OjIXcORLjHsi5lllcPb8LTecLXKv6vMhgvA3DGaWlEqkfoi5r3P_nZCu9tCLlQ1SyOn4zw=s0-d-e1-ft
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Jim K said:
Unsurprising:
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I haven't really been following this until last night. Read through all this and reminded my self why aviation is slowly dying for me. All these regulations driving up the cost yet they don't enforce them. I've had similar issues in the past with mechanics doing shoddy work, luckily one had enough logged complaints mine finally forced them to do something about it. G&N is my preferred NDT shop and I've never had any issues with them. The last time I used them was about 5 years ago and their workforce was old then, so they might have some new faces and letting quality slip.

Stories like this though are why I will likely never own another airplane with a Continental or Lycoming power plant. When the engine in the Venture dies, it will get retired. The little Rotax 912 in my Kitfox is soooo much cheaper and easier to maintain than even a Continental C85. From the research I've done there are no ridiculous waits for anything, prices are reasonable, and they just don't seem to wear out. Last time I checked they had engines in stock ready to ship as well. No 2 or 3 year wait or sitting in a 6 month que for inspection shops. I know there will never be a certified replacement for the big 6 Lycoming and Continental engines but I hope one day Rotax comes out with a 250ish horsepower alternative in the experimental market.
 
Grum.Man said:
…
Stories like this though are why I will likely never own another airplane with a Continental or Lycoming power plant. …
Last time I checked they had engines in stock ready to ship as well.
…I hope one day Rotax comes out with a 250ish horsepower alternative in the experimental market.
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As much as I want to build an RV-10, I keep coming back to this conclusion.

Aside from my 172 partnership, I can’t envision another certified plane in my future, and honestly, I wouldn’t want one I couldn’t get the repairman certificate for.

That leaves the Sling TSI as the only real option on the block to meet my mission. I guess I need to learn more about turbo reliability in that motor.
 
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I like the Aerovolare engine project, but not the way theyre after it. I stumbled across them after I decided to investigate using a GM Lv1 (aluminum v-6, 4.3L, 285 HP) in my Zenith. They want $27k for a +/-$5k engine bolted to a $6k airboat PSRU. I can sort out a prop, engine mount, wiring and plumbing for far less. This engine has been successful in marine and generator applications so it seems like a good candidate for aircraft testing.
 
Grum.Man said:
Stories like this though are why I will likely never own another airplane with a Continental or Lycoming power plant. When the engine in the Venture dies, it will get retired. The little Rotax 912 in my Kitfox is soooo much cheaper and easier to maintain than even a Continental C85. From the research I've done there are no ridiculous waits for anything, prices are reasonable, and they just don't seem to wear out. Last time I checked they had engines in stock ready to ship as well. No 2 or 3 year wait or sitting in a 6 month que for inspection shops. I know there will never be a certified replacement for the big 6 Lycoming and Continental engines but I hope one day Rotax comes out with a 250ish horsepower alternative in the experimental market.
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Problem is, there aren’t a lot of 6-7 place choices in the experimental world that would haul @Jim K and his family.
 
I'd love a Murphy Moose, but the 3500 hour build time makes it a non-starter. The Comp Air giants look good, but the kit prices and scarcity of flying examples are concerning. If Vans or Zenith made a 6 place, there would probably be a market. Imagine if Vans made something Bonanzular with club seating? I'd still prefer the Helio re-introduced as a kit aircraft. How much are used kidneys going for nowadays? I dont really NEED two...
 
A Bearhawk 5 can carry 6, and is nearly as fast as a Lance especially if you can suppress your inner child and avoid the goofy giant tires.
 
Jim K said:
I'm flabbergasted. Just got off the phone with "Steve", the shop manager at Aircraft Specialties. I told him UPS dropped off the rod, he put me on hold and went and found it. He said they would have it out tomorrow! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, because they could still condemn it, but so far they've been the best people I've dealt with.

I really wish I had just sent all my parts to them in the first place as i could've had them balance the rotating assembly. I mistakenly thought dealing with a local shop would be faster and cheaper.
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In happier news, Aircraft Specialties did, in fact, finish my rod and ship it out today.
 
I rode in the backseat of @Jim K's Lance and even my fat butt was pretty comfy. I checked out the Bearhawk at Osh last year and although I didn't crawl up in it, I doubt I would be as comfortable. Almost child size, but maybe a large child? I'd have to look again, it's more than 2 seconds for my fishbrain.
It's slower and a couple hundred lbs less useful load too.
But I gotta say, I still walked away wanting one.
 
Jim K said:
and.....it uses an IO-540...
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....unless you dont want it to. Its an experimental, and an alloy V-8 would be an excellent option. If you want an aircooled engine, youre free to choose whatever make, model or variant you like, as well as whatever parts you deem appropriate!
 
Jim K said:
I eventually determined that the #4 rod big end was .005" out of round. I called the shop manager at G&N (who had yellow tagged the "overhauled" rods). He said that it isn't uncommon for the tongue & groove rods used in the angle valve engines. He said they usually don't find it until assembly as it will measure normally on the bench and then get sticky on the crank, which is exactly what I experienced.
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I don't rebuild aircraft engines. Curious that a roundness spec isn't part of the measurements required to be overhauled.

Did you sweep the bore in and measure TIR or how did you determine this? Because I don't understand how this isn't part of their process, other than since they don't have the ability to correct it, they don't have a lot of motivation to check for it.
 
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