Well, it's nearly done...
Nearly.
Lesson #1 learned... there's more than one drain plug on that pan and in fact I did not need to remove the one I did.. there was a quick drain hiding on the other side of the engine.
Lesson #2 learned... there's a screen on these engines that needs cleaned out now and then apparently... and that flat copper washer is in fact not a copper washer it's a crush seal and now I need to find one.. hopefully the mechanics have them in stock when they reopen on monday
Lesson #3 learned I should have bought some oil-dri before starting this.
Lesson #4 I shouldn't have brought home that tote I keep all my extra towels/shop towels/cleaning rags in so I could wash them, then not bring it back to hangar when I went to change the oil.
Lesson #5 Safety wire sucks and aviation has now completely ruined my confidence in the area of wire twisting. I think I broke 6 in a row before finally securing the oil filter.
Also not so much a lesson but a discovery... the hot air tube coming off the exhaust manifold had fallen off... it looks like either the clamp was barely tightened down or was barely hanging on and popped loose. That hose doesn't look very good either, a lot of the reinforcing wire is exposed. Is that thing an A&P item? I'd think not as it's a flexible tube and a pair of hose clamps but it's hard to say with these things.
but... it didn't go too bad all things considered and next time I won't screw any of these things up.