Yet Another Annual Story

I took the airplane up on Saturday AM to warm the oil. After landing, I
pulled the prop and cowl to give easy access to the engine and commenced
with the firewall forward portion of my condition inspection.

I expected about 3 hours of firewall forward inspection. It took 6. One
extra hour because I noticed that the carb bowl was loose and fixed that
problem. Some of the time was spent finding one of the local AI's who had
the lock-tabs I needed to complete the job. Another extra hour was spent
putting the air filter back in. That thing is a bear. I think the filter has
shrunk since I installed it years ago. Maybe time for a replacement?

I'm not sure where the other extra hour went. Maybe I spent it wiping
things down to remove oil from the oil leak I can't find. I am tempted to
replace the little rubber hoses that are part of the oil return system from
the valve area of the engine - one or more of those hoses may be leaking at
the connection.

Otherwise, nothing to report except a few more scratches and scrapes (on me)
than I expected. And I'm a little sore today due to being in awkward
positions to work on some things.

My most satisfying moment was replacing a leaky fuel drain on a near-full
tank while only spilling a cup or so of fuel. Not bad, I thought...

What's left? Well, I have an AI run a compression test and time the
magneto. He'll work me in sometime next week. Also, I need to inspect the
flap linkages and the elevator bellcrank behind the baggage compartment.
That one isn't fun. Finally, I need to check the timing on the electronic
ignition. Then, I get to button everything back up, make a few logbook
entries, and go fly some more...

I figure a couple of hours of my time, plus coordinating with the AI and
I'll be done.

Then I need to clean and wax it. Right now, it looks like an airplane shaped
pile of pollen.

KB