On May 6, 8:09*pm, wrote:
On Mar 26, 6:18*pm, wrote:
*The older 172's with manual flaps and

simple basic electronics are pretty low maintenance.

Nope. Unless someone has already replaced a lot of stuff like control
cables, pulleys, control surface hinges and many other things, these
will all be pretty old. Pulley bearings seize with age and corrosion.
Cable corrode and the wires in them break, causing fraying where they
run over pulleys, even if the angle change is very small. Any moisture
that's gotten into the airframe, even condensation, causes corrosion
and many good-looking airplanes have been junked because they were
eaten out from the inside. Any animals that nested in it will have
done terrible damage. 172 stabilizer spars crack, usually because
people push the tail down to turn the airplane. A 1950s 172 has had 50
years to get to this state, and if it's been outside with the wind
working the controls a bit, there'll be a lot of wear. The Continental
engines need lots of care where the valves are concerned.
* * * The old wheels on '50s airplanes are almost impossible to find
parts for, as is the rest of an airplane that old. Cessna doesn't
stock or make parts fo.r their old models. Univair has a few of the
more popular bits.
* * * If it was so cheap to run old airplanes, they'd be much in
demand. But, like old cars, they often end up costing more than it
would have cost to buy something much newer in the first place.

Dan (aircraft maintenance engineer)

I should add: Old electrical systems also cause considerable
trouble. Age means corrosion, especially if there's moisture, and dust
contributes further to problems. So we see failing switches and
breakers and fuseholders and solenoids because their internal contacts
develop oxides on them, causing resistance and heating and eventual
burnout. Those old master switches on 172s are in a stupid spot, high
in the panel and hard to get at, and they start to fail, too. Voltage
regulators quit, and the generators have a rather short brush life and
don't produce much juice. If the airplane has less-than-modern
avionics, the tuning switches in them suffer the same oxidation and
are forever costing money to get fixed. Battery cables and many other
wires have crimped-on connectors that develop corrosion between the
wire and terminal, and cause symptoms that can take a long time to
diagnose. Old airframes develop corrosion-related resistance at
riveted joints and we get ground-loop noise in radios and headsets.
Lots of expensive fun, and many mechanics aren't really up to
speed at finding the problems. Electrical stuff is a field all its own
and a guy can spend a lot of time studying it. Most mechanics don't
get nearly enough training in it.

I restored a 1951 International Harvester half-ton pickup. Daily
driver, not a show truck. As simple as a vehicle can get. No
electronics, no complicated stuff. I drive it less than half the miles
we put on our 2001 car, yet I spend much more time fixing stuff on the
truck than I do on the car. We can gripe that "they don't build things
like they used to," but it's a good thing they don't.

Dan

Dan