Annual 2016 Day 2

What! It's 5am already? Time to get these sore bones up, feed the zoo and get on the road.

After getting the zoo squared away and making sure I have everything I need, I manage to get on the road by 5:45am. I'm going to be cutting it close to an 8am start.

I should add that everyday on the road is an adventure. The speed limit on SR1 is 65, I do 70 and cruise along. At 70mph you are considered FOD, foreign object debris. I get tailgated, flipped off and just about run over. I decide to run with the pack just to see what kind of speeds are "normal", 85mph, that's right, not a typo, 85 mph.  No thanks, I'll back it down and deal with the abuse. I make a quick fuel and breakfast stop and manage to make the shop by 8:15.

right mag good gear

Roger pulls the right mag and opens up for a better look and all seems good to go. He cleans the distributor point contacts and the rotor contact and finished up checking and setting to the timing marks. With the right mag reinstalled Roger sets each mag's timing making slight corrections bumping the prop and listening to a special tool that beeps and lights up. I have no clue what its called but I assume it works like a timing light for cars making sure each mag fires at the correct mark.

from the left mag notice the top of the gear

With the mags completed Roger moves to the general inspection. With mirror and flash light in hand he crawls around each wing, wing tip and tail assembly. 08Romeo gets a thumbs up, she's good to go, button her up.

Roger checked my brake install and wheel reassembly adding the cotter pin to complete the process. 08Romeo is coming together.

After lunch I start to pull the interior apart. I had pulled both back seats before I left the hangar Saturday so that was a plus. Plastic cups everywhere with miscellaneous screws and nuts. Josh jumps in to finish the interior strip and I jump out to remove the jack point bars and button up the main gear skirts.

Roger is busy in and out of the shop and the phone rings non-stop. It's getting late but we want to finish the light checks which would leave us with the added duct removal and new install along with control cable and pulley inspections. Josh hits the lights and everything looks good except the strobes. Josh, please tell me you did not turn on the strobes. They are on, comes the response, crap!

Josh then informs Roger and I that the breaker just popped. Double crap! We investigate and Roger determines the Grimes power supply has crossed over, it's toast. I immediately hit the Internet and look for a replacement. Roger mentions he may have a Whelen unit that will work just fine. His search comes up empty remembering it was used on another aircraft. I get an email response but no quote since they won't sell to the private sector.

I called the number and handed the phone to Roger, they exchanged some info and a new email was sent to the both of us. The replacement grimes unit was $1800. I needed to get punched in the chest to get my ticker going again. I'll look for a Whelen tonight when I get home.

Day two ends and I'm back on the road with the crazy people heading south. Mary made a delicious pot roast for dinner. It was tasty and hit the spot after a long day of crawling around the concrete floor of the shop.