PilotBrent
Well Known Member
Finally finished last few items for my annual inspection / maintenance today. 205 hours. Few tidbits:
1) Did compression test for first time per Rotax manual. Pretty much a waist of time as all the cylinders came in +98%. Amazing little engine.
2) Removed and shipped carbs to Lockwood for disassembly/maintenance at 200h, again per Rotax. Took lots of pictures removing them to be sure and get all the H/W correct for re-installation. They have always performing flawlessly for me, but as I removed them I did notice yellow stains on the sides of the choke assembly attach screws (both carbs). Had never noticed this before. Looks like dried fuel. Anyhow, they came back nice and clean from Lockwood but will pay more attention to them going forward whenever I remove the cowl.
3) Cleaned out the oil tank for the first time. Generally only use mogas (+80% of the time) and for the last 100 hours whenever I was forced to buy 100LL I began adding some decalin. Also err on changing oil about every 35-40 hours over last couple of years. Very minimal sludge on the bottom of the tank as you can see so I'll probably continue to clean out the tank at 200h intervals with this level of 100LL use.
4) Spark plugs are only about 100 hours old and the brown color looks like they are in good shape - just checked the gaps and reinstalled them.
5) Removed the tires from the hubs and rotated them to put the better tread on the outside of each wheel. (fun job!) Picture below is the pre-rotation view. No cord was showing on the areas where the tread was worn down so they should be good like this for at least another 100 hours (hopefully more) Replaced brake pads as well. (I am clearly too heavy on the brakes and go through pads at a higher rate than I'd like to admit - when it was a rental 172 it didn't matter, but now it does!)
6) Found a missing rivet on one of the doublers on the fuselage bottom (near com antenna). Now I don't know how many times I've crawled under that plane (and other builders, inspectors, painters too....) and none of us caught that. Go figure. Also saw a lot of overspray from the paint shop that covered wires, fuel lines, etc... Disappointed they didn't cover up these openings more carefully. Just looks sloppy. Not sure I'll ever have to splice into these wires/lines at these specific locations, but if I did, they are all the same color. If I every get an aircraft painted again, this is something I'd make sure was discussed in advance.
7) Finally, did weight/balance for first time since she was painted. Loaded up cabin with all the items I virtually always fly with (eg. headsets, iPad mount, fire extinguisher, First Aid kit, some tools, oil, decalin, overnight cover...) EAA chapter scales round to nearest 10lbs which isn't ideal. She came in at 800lbs! At DAR inspection two years ago I measured 760lbs with the same scales. So in reality the +40lbs could be anywhere between 30 and 50 but ouch...Makes sense if the paint added about 20 and all the other items probably add at least 20. She gained more weight in the last two years than I did! Might be time to reconsider some of my "standard" items. Like my interior, but that too has a cost...
Anyhow, good inspection, maintenance is fully uptodate. Really looking forward to flying again!
1) Did compression test for first time per Rotax manual. Pretty much a waist of time as all the cylinders came in +98%. Amazing little engine.
2) Removed and shipped carbs to Lockwood for disassembly/maintenance at 200h, again per Rotax. Took lots of pictures removing them to be sure and get all the H/W correct for re-installation. They have always performing flawlessly for me, but as I removed them I did notice yellow stains on the sides of the choke assembly attach screws (both carbs). Had never noticed this before. Looks like dried fuel. Anyhow, they came back nice and clean from Lockwood but will pay more attention to them going forward whenever I remove the cowl.
3) Cleaned out the oil tank for the first time. Generally only use mogas (+80% of the time) and for the last 100 hours whenever I was forced to buy 100LL I began adding some decalin. Also err on changing oil about every 35-40 hours over last couple of years. Very minimal sludge on the bottom of the tank as you can see so I'll probably continue to clean out the tank at 200h intervals with this level of 100LL use.
4) Spark plugs are only about 100 hours old and the brown color looks like they are in good shape - just checked the gaps and reinstalled them.
5) Removed the tires from the hubs and rotated them to put the better tread on the outside of each wheel. (fun job!) Picture below is the pre-rotation view. No cord was showing on the areas where the tread was worn down so they should be good like this for at least another 100 hours (hopefully more) Replaced brake pads as well. (I am clearly too heavy on the brakes and go through pads at a higher rate than I'd like to admit - when it was a rental 172 it didn't matter, but now it does!)
6) Found a missing rivet on one of the doublers on the fuselage bottom (near com antenna). Now I don't know how many times I've crawled under that plane (and other builders, inspectors, painters too....) and none of us caught that. Go figure. Also saw a lot of overspray from the paint shop that covered wires, fuel lines, etc... Disappointed they didn't cover up these openings more carefully. Just looks sloppy. Not sure I'll ever have to splice into these wires/lines at these specific locations, but if I did, they are all the same color. If I every get an aircraft painted again, this is something I'd make sure was discussed in advance.
7) Finally, did weight/balance for first time since she was painted. Loaded up cabin with all the items I virtually always fly with (eg. headsets, iPad mount, fire extinguisher, First Aid kit, some tools, oil, decalin, overnight cover...) EAA chapter scales round to nearest 10lbs which isn't ideal. She came in at 800lbs! At DAR inspection two years ago I measured 760lbs with the same scales. So in reality the +40lbs could be anywhere between 30 and 50 but ouch...Makes sense if the paint added about 20 and all the other items probably add at least 20. She gained more weight in the last two years than I did! Might be time to reconsider some of my "standard" items. Like my interior, but that too has a cost...
Anyhow, good inspection, maintenance is fully uptodate. Really looking forward to flying again!