Oil Change & Service

I went into work early since I had no shot at getting out of Wilmington at 7am. The fog settled in right over ILG and I could not see the hangars across the field from my tie down at Red Eagle.  It was clear blue sky above and from I95 I could see the twin spans so visibility was greater than five miles at least, well, everywhere but the airport. 

I managed to get a few things done and check on my contract work across the bridge in Carneys Point. With the contractor busy and the tenants happy I scooted back to work and turned in a leave slip for a half day. The wx was looking much better at ILG and after a few extra gallons of go go juice and a sump I was headed to 58M.  08Romeo had fifteen gallons in the left tank and maybe five to seven in the right, she jumped off the runway! It's just a short hop to Cecil County and as soon as I hit 2000 feet I was nosing over and announcing my midfield crosswind entry for runway three one. An nice landing and slow roll out for the taxiway, I was down and clear. 

Roger marshaled me in and I shut down in front of the hangar.  Keith was going to do my oil change today so I gave a hand removing the top cowl. I did remember to take an oil sample so I can send that off to the lab, results will be posted.  Roger removed the right wing sump to check on replacing both O rings.  The Beech auto-valve 971D1 cannot be disassembled, it has a machine pressed pin that will not stay in place once removed.  Only the base seal can be replaced.  Roger is ordering the part, stay tuned for the rest of the story. In the picture below you can see where the machine pressed pin would lock in place just above the "crimp" area.

The Gascolater sump was also having an issue, not leakage but some blockage.  I tried to clean out the sump but didn't have much luck. Keith removed the unit with a special made tool that was a socket cut out to accomodate the cross pin. With an additional clamp to hold the socket tight and an adjustable to hold the gascolater nut in place it slowly broke free and spun off.  Keith had to use a small dental pic to clean out the mud dauber deposits. Some additional compressed air to finish the clean out and a spin on the wire wheel and the part was ready to go. Once reinstalled and tested we confirmed the flow rate was back to normal. I hope I don't have to get a "remove before flight" cover to keep the critters out.

The wing tank sump needed to be ordered so I will either have it replaced at annual in November or make another vist to the shop. The F75, pictured above, has a clip that can be removed and both O rings replaced, this is the replacement part for the 971D1 Beech Part.

As I was getting my sticker for 08Romeo's log book a gentleman walked into the office and introduced himself. Charlie has been a long time reader of this blog and we have corresponded a few times via email and through the comments feature on the blog. We finally meet!

I had seen a sweet looking Cherokee come in (green over white) and commented to Keith while we were finishing up in the shop. Keith said the owners name but it didn't register.  Of course I just got done crawling around the plane helping with the oil change and fuel sumps so I must have looked like I just crawled out from under a rock.  We all chatted and agreed to catch up for a lunch run, you know it doesn't take much to twist my arm to fly.

Charlie's Cherokee

Charlie had a ride back to N57 scheduled. I asked if he wasn't already in the air I would give him a lift back to New Garden. He thanked me but said his ride was on his way.  I finished my transaction in the office and was on my way. I was second in line to depart runway three one behind an aztec.  As I went wheels up I saw Charlie wave so I rocked my wings and climbed out for home. A total of .8 in the book, fun times working on the plane and meeting new friends!!

Charlie, where are we going to meet up for lunch?