What to look for - bringing an aircraft back to life

"Louis L. Perley III" wrote in message ...
I seek the collective wisdom of the group. As I have mentioned previously, I
was the co-owner of a 1965 Piper Aztec, due to various conflicts in the
partnership, the plane has not flown in two and a half years (approx.) most
of this time it has been in a heated hangar, but has been out in the weather
since April. I have just this past week convinced my partners that it was
doing no one any good to have it just sit there, and they finally let me buy
them out. It's a pretty decent airframe overall, it's just been sitting idle
with disuse.

Couple of things that need to be done prior to the annual and most
importantly prior to even starting the engines......

1. Fresh oil change and at least 20 minuets on an external oil pump
for pre-oiling or if using a pressure type pre-oiler, then 10 fill
and drain cycles.

2. Battery replacement or charge check. If it won't hold a charge then
replace it.

3. Gear swing and rig check and lube. Do it by the book and no
shortcuts....

4.Power up the aircraft with external power and do a good sniff check.

Once you've done this then fire up the engines and do some taxi
testing and get ready for the annual.

Craig C.

Couple of things that need to be done prior to the annual and most
importantly prior to even starting the engines......

1. Fresh oil change and at least 20 minuets on an external oil pump
for pre-oiling or if using a pressure type pre-oiler, then 10 fill
and drain cycles.


Will be doing this with the mechanic.

2. Battery replacement or charge check. If it won't hold a charge then
replace it.


Already ordered replacement batteries, I'll throw the old ones away. I
figure this is cheap insurance/preventative maintanance.

3. Gear swing and rig check and lube. Do it by the book and no
shortcuts....


I'll do this with the mechanic hooking up the aircraft to an external pump.
I've also planned on replacing the tires for the same reasons as the battery
above.

4.Power up the aircraft with external power and do a good sniff check.


I need to find someone who sells the plug for a Piper. I have one for the
Cessna, but it's a three prong, flat plug and the Piper one is round. One
nice thing about the Piper is that it's only 14 volts, so powering it via
the external plug is easier.

Once you've done this then fire up the engines and do some taxi
testing and get ready for the annual.


Will do.

--
Louis L. Perley III
N46000 - C152
N370 - PA-23-250

(Craig) wrote in message news:

Couple of things that need to be done prior to the annual and most
importantly prior to even starting the engines......

1. Fresh oil change and at least 20 minuets on an external oil pump
for pre-oiling or if using a pressure type pre-oiler, then 10 fill
and drain cycles.

2. Battery replacement or charge check. If it won't hold a charge then
replace it.

3. Gear swing and rig check and lube. Do it by the book and no
shortcuts....

4.Power up the aircraft with external power and do a good sniff check.

Once you've done this then fire up the engines and do some taxi
testing and get ready for the annual.

Craig C.


And see how old those fuel and oil hoses are. Ten years is the
outside limit, and five is more reasonable. They get brittle and crack
with age and can cause some serious second thought.
The oil filters should be checked after a couple of hours
running. Running the engines on the ground a few times puts a whole
lot of moisture into the case and causes acid formation and corrosion.
If the bearings/journals and pistons/rings have been roughed up by
corrosion there might be metal in the filters.

Dan

And see how old those fuel and oil hoses are. Ten years is the
outside limit, and five is more reasonable. They get brittle and crack
with age and can cause some serious second thought.
The oil filters should be checked after a couple of hours
running. Running the engines on the ground a few times puts a whole
lot of moisture into the case and causes acid formation and corrosion.
If the bearings/journals and pistons/rings have been roughed up by
corrosion there might be metal in the filters.

Dan

I plan on replacing all the hoses and such, again, as a preventative
maintanance type thing, it's a bit more cost for quite a bit of insurance in
my line of thinking, plus if I get it done now, it shouldn't be an issue for
the next few years.

On ground running the engines. I thought that as long as you ran them on the
ground long enough to get them up to operating temperature then it wasn't a
problem? Something about getting the oil hot enough to evaporate the water
or something. Is this just simply incorrect information?


--
Louis L. Perley III
N46000 - C152
N370 - PA-23-250

"Louis L. Perley III" wrote:

On ground running the engines. I thought that as long as you ran them on the
ground long enough to get them up to operating temperature then it wasn't a
problem? Something about getting the oil hot enough to evaporate the water
or something. Is this just simply incorrect information?

Fifteen years ago, that was conventional wisdom. Now, you'll get lots of argument
about it.

As for getting the oil hot enough to evaporate water, on my Lycoming O-320, getting
into the green arc won't do the trick. You need to get the temp at least half way up
the scale and keep it there for 15 minutes or more. I can tape over my oil cooler and
manage to get it there on the ground in July or August, but the rest of the year,
ground operation won't get the engine hot enough.

Further, running the engine at all puts acids into the oil from a combination of
blowby and condensation. Unless you immediately change the oil, that acid is going to
sit in your engine. Of course, if you don't run it much (as you didn't), you won't
get much acid buildup, but it's still a problem. It's really best to just pickle the
engine if it's going to sit.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.