Random pic thread.

Didn’t know that places actually sell these. Also didn’t know they came in anything other then a half can. For those of you who haven’t ever deployed, deployed soldiers live on these.

1C8604A8-06C1-4763-996A-609399F767B8.jpeg
 
Damnit, wheel spacers! Cheap Amazon ones be like, "oh....6 lug? How bout two and like it." The Catawba run with the Broad River Crew. Easy fix. Minor inconvenience, but did interrupt a perfectly good country song while blasting down some back roads.
IMG_20211002_150022_hdr.jpg

IMG_20211002_161159.jpg

The trip was worth it.
IMG_20211002_110904.jpg
 
benmack1 said:
29R getting her annual check up.


View attachment 358455
View attachment 358456
Click to expand...
My friend's cessna 180 just underwent its inspection. Smooshed lifters precipitated a full engine rebuild. The tail and other controls checked out ok. Too bad the engine is like 50 grand for the rebuild and upgrade. I told him to slap an LS in it and call it a day. Apparently that's not the correct answer in the airplane world.
 
willness33 said:
My friend's cessna 180 just underwent its inspection. Smooshed lifters precipitated a full engine rebuild. The tail and other controls checked out ok. Too bad the engine is like 50 grand for the rebuild and upgrade. I told him to slap an LS in it and call it a day. Apparently that's not the correct answer in the airplane world.
Click to expand...
Yeah an engine overhaul is a big hit in the wallet. 25-35 is very typical on a full overhaul and I am sure if you went with a totally new from factory engine it would be 50 at least. Mine is a lycoming 360ci carbeurated and I’m at about 700 hrs on this one (3rd one in my Cherokee since 1970). Full lifetime should be 2000TBO on mine. Hope it gets that far which will be another 15 years of flying for me.
 
benmack1 said:
Yeah an engine overhaul is a big hit in the wallet. 25-35 is very typical on a full overhaul and I am sure if you went with a totally new from factory engine it would be 50 at least. Mine is a lycoming 360ci carbeurated and I’m at about 700 hrs on this one (3rd one in my Cherokee since 1970). Full lifetime should be 2000TBO on mine. Hope it gets that far which will be another 15 years of flying for me.
Click to expand...
So why are they so expensive? I understand everything has to be FAA certified and that adds a lot of cost, but these are engines that have been around for decades and are fairly simple, so you'd think much of that cost could be amortized by now. Is it because there is very little competition?
 
jeepinmatt said:
So why are they so expensive? I understand everything has to be FAA certified and that adds a lot of cost, but these are engines that have been around for decades and are fairly simple, so you'd think much of that cost could be amortized by now. Is it because there is very little competition?
Click to expand...
I’d expect maybe half of that cost to be actual hard parts/engine, the rest being labor, and certifications for the process.

Aircraft maintenance is almost worse than boats, the biggest difference is if something goes wrong above 50ft you have a very short window of having a good outcome, so everything has to be top notch, and when it goes bad the last guy that touched it is the one under the gun, he ain’t doing it for cheap. Liability has a price.
 
jeepinmatt said:
So why are they so expensive? I understand everything has to be FAA certified and that adds a lot of cost, but these are engines that have been around for decades and are fairly simple, so you'd think much of that cost could be amortized by now. Is it because there is very little competition?
Click to expand...
I assume a lack of competition is a biggie. the only shop i know that does the machine work in this region is in Burlington, there may be others but I don’t know. Most shops will disassemble/reassemble but all the inspections, machining etc are at triad at BUY. My buddy just dropped one off 2 weeks ago for an overhaul, he is about 25 deep in line. Won’t get it back until December at best. The other biggie is liability and insurance I assume. Obviously you can’t have these fail. And of course anything with FAA certification is an extra zero or two. You are right on the technology. These are all 1950 and 60’s motor designs. Nothing fancy going on. If I recall the last time I changed plugs was about $300 for the 8 spark plugs. I just put 3 tires and tubes on, about 250 a wheel. The liability thing can be a challenge to overhaul things too. Most mechanics won’t open up a magneto and rebuild it. They are not really any different than an old school dizzy inside. But the liability causes them to just swap in a new on. Those damn things are 1500 on a good day as well. It’s a no no to do that yourself as well. As a pilot/owner there are very specific mx items you can do (have to be both FAA licensed pilot and own the plane). As I recall the regs define about 17 items you can legally do yourself and sign in the logs. A lot of folks do other things as well but if anything happened and it was determined it wasn’t done legally insurance would deny and FAA would come down hard. They don’t play games with that stuff. But with all of that in mind, I’m flying around in a 51 year old plane and it’s by far the most reliable and well kept “vehicle” I have. It’s my commuter to work now days and you can’t beat the traffic.
 
Commuter plane huh? I run 150 miles a day round trip and considered a plane. I live on the water so an amphibian was what I was looking for. Seems there's 6 for sale in the us and it's the same 6 for the last 5 years. Roughly $65k asking price. Then I got to thinking about all the vfr ifr rules. I'd have to fly at night most of the time and these old birds with steam gauges would require more training than I'm up for to be legal. And id want to do my own maintenance which as stated isn't allowed, so I wouldn't be able to legally fly the thing much less put down at the regional strip near the office. So I'm rolling coal in the Cummins. The seaplane does cross my mind occasionally though. Would be interested to learn more about how you worked it all out to make it worth while @benmack1
 
Clubbs said:
Commuter plane huh? I run 150 miles a day round trip and considered a plane. I live on the water so an amphibian was what I was looking for. Seems there's 6 for sale in the us and it's the same 6 for the last 5 years. Roughly $65k asking price. Then I got to thinking about all the vfr ifr rules. I'd have to fly at night most of the time and these old birds with steam gauges would require more training than I'm up for to be legal. And id want to do my own maintenance which as stated isn't allowed, so I wouldn't be able to legally fly the thing much less put down at the regional strip near the office. So I'm rolling coal in the Cummins. The seaplane does cross my mind occasionally though. Would be interested to learn more about how you worked it all out to make it worth while @benmack1
Click to expand...

I work in Charlottesville VA so it's about a 175 mile drive. I don't do it for a daily commute, that would get old quickly. I have a townhouse up there across the street from KCHO. So it's usually for 2-5 days of work on that end when i am there. I have a hangar there as well. It's a pretty cool set-up really. I can walk to the hangar or terminal and usually do that in the evenings to kill time. The plane is based on Danville so it's a 120 mile flight (about 1 hr). I drive to KDAN (about 40 miles from the house in the correct direction), hop in the plane and go. It's absolutely no faster than driving by the time I pre-flight, deal with fuel and put the plane away on the other end. Maybe 20 minutes faster but it's so much more fun and no idiots on the road or deer etc. I also leave it in Burlington some as well but there it sits under a canopy tarp on the ramp in nice weather. It's no faster as the flight is about 35 miles longer even though it's closer to my home, it's the wrong direction. I have my instrument rating so can fly in some level of weather although I would never push that. It just lets me get out and in if there is a deck or something I need to work through. Also that training has been a real boost to my confidence and abilities. Steam gauges are just fine IMO in combo with a GTN650 but again I wouldn't do 200' ceilings or anything crazy low. I keep my 2003 TJ in the hangar on that end and leave my car in the one on this end when I am running back and forth. Swap the jeep and plane in the hangar and I've got wheels to run back and forth to the office on that end. I try to fly as much as I can find time for and it's never enough. It's obviously a blast but in my view if one is gonna fly, you have to fly weekly at a minimum or proficiency is not there. This achieves a few objectives that way. Ironically, I absolutely hate flying commercial now.
 
benmack1 said:
Yeah an engine overhaul is a big hit in the wallet. 25-35 is very typical on a full overhaul and I am sure if you went with a totally new from factory engine it would be 50 at least. Mine is a lycoming 360ci carbeurated and I’m at about 700 hrs on this one (3rd one in my Cherokee since 1970). Full lifetime should be 2000TBO on mine. Hope it gets that far which will be another 15 years of flying for me.
Click to expand...
I do believe he's using this opportunity to upgrade to a larger engine. Something about upping his cruise speed about 30 knots.
 
I know zilch about airplanes.
So this may be old news or not helpful. But…there is a company in south charlotte that I did some work for. They have a major busienss selling certified used parts to private pilots. It’s crazy the money in that.

We were talking through the warehouse and dude points to a top shelf. See that? That’s a half million dollars as soon as someone in the Us needs it. That’s the only certified engine in the country and a new one is over a million. I’ve got about 17k in that one. But it’s been there three years already.

Anyway if y’all are looking for parts (and agin not sure if they even serve your specific craft) Magellan aviation in charlotte is owned by good dudes
 
Last edited:
benmack1 said:
I work in Charlottesville VA so it's about a 175 mile drive. I don't do it for a daily commute, that would get old quickly. I have a townhouse up there across the street from KCHO. So it's usually for 2-5 days of work on that end when i am there. I have a hangar there as well. It's a pretty cool set-up really. I can walk to the hangar or terminal and usually do that in the evenings to kill time. The plane is based on Danville so it's a 120 mile flight (about 1 hr). I drive to KDAN (about 40 miles from the house in the correct direction), hop in the plane and go. It's absolutely no faster than driving by the time I pre-flight, deal with fuel and put the plane away on the other end. Maybe 20 minutes faster but it's so much more fun and no idiots on the road or deer etc. I also leave it in Burlington some as well but there it sits under a canopy tarp on the ramp in nice weather. It's no faster as the flight is about 35 miles longer even though it's closer to my home, it's the wrong direction. I have my instrument rating so can fly in some level of weather although I would never push that. It just lets me get out and in if there is a deck or something I need to work through. Also that training has been a real boost to my confidence and abilities. Steam gauges are just fine IMO in combo with a GTN650 but again I wouldn't do 200' ceilings or anything crazy low. I keep my 2003 TJ in the hangar on that end and leave my car in the one on this end when I am running back and forth. Swap the jeep and plane in the hangar and I've got wheels to run back and forth to the office on that end. I try to fly as much as I can find time for and it's never enough. It's obviously a blast but in my view if one is gonna fly, you have to fly weekly at a minimum or proficiency is not there. This achieves a few objectives that way. Ironically, I absolutely hate flying commercial now.
Click to expand...
This is a pretty interesting take and something very similar to what I’ve considered in the next few years. Flying has always interested me but I’ve never had a reason to take it up. My father in law has his Cessna 150 sitting in the shop, wings off and hasn’t flown in about 8-10 years and wants to give it to me. I totally get the size and cost of the project of getting it back in the air, but with us living north of RDU and spending almost every weekend in southwest VA it’s crossed my mind to just leave my truck at the farm and fly back and forth since I run a company car all week.
 
rodney eppes said:
Mahle, is what the rebuild shop used on my 360. Never heard of them. Guess their pretty good.
Click to expand...
Asheville engine is "supposed" to be the man for rebuilt 6,0's and 6.4's and thats what they use on their engines so I guess we'll see.For the price ($579) they better be good.
 
Ron said:
I know zilch about airplanes.
So this may be old news or not helpful. But…there is a company in south charlotte that I did some work for. They have a major busienss selling certified used parts to private pilots. It’s crazy the money in that.

We were talking through the warehouse and dude points to a top shelf. See that? That’s a half million dollars as soon as someone in the Us needs it. That’s the only certified engine in the country and a new one is over a million. I’ve got about 17k in that one. But it’s been there three years already.

Anyway if y’all are looking for parts (and agin not sure if they even serve your specific craft) Magellan aviation in charlotte is owned by good dudes
Click to expand...
I was trying to buy a used truck, many many years ago. Truck was only two years old, but had 150K, on the meter. Bumper to bumper, it looked brand new. A 65-70 yo man, was the previous owner, & traded every other year with Huntersville Chevrolet, at the time. He ran Airplane Parts, back & forth between Charlotte & Texas. Could have been Magellan. Just like when I hauled forklifts, & took one to a used airplane /salvage parts, at Douglas. Was probably them.
 
Last edited:
WARRIORWELDING said:
Where did you get the chimney? Can you get pictures of the way you want through the roof?
Click to expand...
I used SS my second go round and got it off the interwebs. I googled SS chimney pipe and bought the cheapest I could find. We'll see how it holds up. I didn't want to deal with a roof penetration so I went through the wall maybe a foot unter the eave. I made a 2'x2' angle iron frame that I screwed to the siding to pinch the insulation right and then cut the insulation away on the inside with a razor. I ran my stove pipe in the middle of the frame. Maybe 1/4" gap all the way around the pipe. It's been so hot that the SS pipe is blue now and so far I've had no issues. The paint hasn't even peeled around it on the siding.
 
awheelterd said:
I used SS my second go round and got it off the interwebs. I googled SS chimney pipe and bought the cheapest I could find. We'll see how it holds up. I didn't want to deal with a roof penetration so I went through the wall maybe a foot unter the eave. I made a 2'x2' angle iron frame that I screwed to the siding to pinch the insulation right and then cut the insulation away on the inside with a razor. I ran my stove pipe in the middle of the frame. Maybe 1/4" gap all the way around the pipe. It's been so hot that the SS pipe is blue now and so far I've had no issues. The paint hasn't even peeled around it on the siding.
Click to expand...
I have reservations on poking through the roof. Did you use nice "s" bends or some 90* fittings? I going to do something but have also contemplated Gas of somesort........but that means a big tank. I got plenty of trees to keep cleaned up and I enjoy sawing when I have the time.
 
For penetrations....the technical term for what you want is a wall (or roof) "thimble."
They are surprisingly cheap. I buy them all the time for indoor genset applications, though Im usually buying a diameter you wouldnt want (8-14")...usually ~$250 for steel, fully insulated in the sizes mentioned above.

I always advise against roof pens in that environment as well. Based on experience.
 
Back
Top