May is the month for N5771H’s annual condition inspection. I figured I would start early in the month and hopefully not be down and torn apart for too long. It is good to get this all done before the summer flying season. Of course, it is always flying season in SoCal!
I flew up to Corona Airport for a last minute trip to Aircraft Spruce for some supplies. A call to the Will-Call number will bring a van to pick you up from the airport. Purchases made, I headed back to the airport and then a quick flight back to Ramona. Back in the hangar, off comes the cowling and the first thing on the list is to drain the oil and do a compression check while the engine is still hot. The compression looked good and so did the sparkplugs. I use automotive spark plugs with the P-mag electronic ignitions. Replacing all 8 plugs is around $20, so it makes sense to just put new ones in rather than try and clean and re-gap the old ones. I had bought a new tool from Avery Tools (before they closed down the business) that cleans out the threads in the cylinders and adapter plugs. The anti-seize used on the plugs tends to gum up the threads. I methodically went through all of the engine systems. Fuel lines all checked and tightened. Injectors cleaned. Oil lines inspected. Air filter cleaned and re-oiled. P-mags inspected and re-timed. Plug wires Ohm’ed out to spec. Exhaust system inspected for cracks, and some Mouse Milk lubricant applied to the joints. Basically, every nut and bolt gets a wrench applied to make sure it is still tight. The big job for the engine this year is to get my leaky crankshaft nose seal replaced. For this job, the propellor has to come off. Once that was out of the way, I was able to pull out the old seal and thoroughly clean the old sealant off the engine case. Getting the new seal on requires some technique. You have to heat the rubber seal up (I boiled some water in the FBO microwave), then stretch it over the prop flange. It took some effort, but I was able to slip it over and glue it in place. I did the same job last year, and this time it seemed much easier. The old seal didn’t appear to be damaged, so I’m not sure why I keep getting oil spitting out from the crank. It isn’t a lot, but it does make a mess. The engine breather tube is not blocked and I do see evidence of some oil coming out there (like it is supposed to). Fingers crossed this time it won’t leak oil.
Next up I worked on the tail and wings. All of the inspection covers and fairings come off. Again, all of the nuts and bolts get a wrench applied, and the control bearings get lubricated. I cleaned off all of the control surfaces and ran my fingers over every rivet line. I buttoned up everything only to find out the next day that a new Service Bulletin had been released by Van’s to inspect the rear wing spar where the inboard aileron brackets are riveted. Back off with the inspection covers on the wings. I was able to get in there with my camera to get some photos of the area of concern. No cracks! Thankfully, I won’t have to add the doubler that is the fix for any cracks found in this nearly inaccesible area. I’ll have to put this check on my list for next year.
On to the interior parts of the fuselage. Out comes the interior carpet and seat cushions. Now I get to wedge myself in and under the control panel and inspect everything under the panel and on the firewall, like the heater controls and parking brake valve. I pulled out the fuel filter and opened it up to find just a tiny little bit of junk in there that looked like some lint. I found a couple of slightly loose nuts on the main gear leg weldments where they are attached to the side of the fuselage. The left brake pedal on the passenger side has been weeping just a bit of brake fluid. I disconnected the brake lines (a very messy job) and let the brake fluid drip out into a small plastic bin. Out come the small elbows that screw into the brake pedal cylinder. I cleaned them up and reapplied some Loctite 567 sealant and this time really cranked them into place. I counted three rotations to remove them, and I put them back in with four complete turns. Much tighter. I also didn’t put enough sealant on these originally. The brakes got bled and fluid topped off. Seat pans were taken off and everything underneath looked good, just like it did last month when I had everything apart to fix the steps under the baggage floor. The flaps go up and down smoothly. No issues in the back of the plane behind the baggage bulkhead. The ELT was tested and all wires and cables are still secure. Pitot, static and AOA lines still in place. Seat belts look in good condition and the mounts are all tight.
I jacked up the airplane from the wing tie down points. Landing gear legs get inspected along with the wheels, tires, bearings and the breakout force on the nose gear. I recently replaced the main tires, tubes and brakes, so they are all in good shape. One of the gear leg fairings had slipped down just a bit. Cleaning up the brake dust off the calipers and wheels is probably the messiest job.
I cut a new hole in the panel for the Dynon Knob panel. This little addition adds three knobs dedicated for setting Baro, Altitude and Heading/Track on the Dynon Skyview EFIS. After everything is inspected and checked off the list, it is time to put all of the interior back in, cowling on, wheel pants and fairings in place. I drained the right fuel tank and put the fuel from it into the left tank. I was able to recalibrate the fuel level sender on the right tank. The last time I did it, something got screwed up and it would only show 11 gallons (instead of 18) at full capacity.
The condition inspection isn’t complete until you make the required logbook entry and do a complete system check, engine run up and test flight. I did the run up and had some timing divergence between the two P-mags, according to my Electronic Ignition Commander instrument. Some searching on the internet showed several avenues to pursue in tracking down the issue. Today I did some troubleshooting on the ignition. Timing was fine, but I think when I replaced the P-mags I oriented them differently enough to cause some of the plug wires to cross and potentially interfere. The instructions have you keep some spacers between all of the plug wires as they run from the P-mags over to the sparkplugs. I loosened up the P-mags and repositioned them, then set the timing again. Another run up performed and this time no divergence alarm. Unfortunately, the day wasn’t good for a test flight. It was Marginal VFR due to some heavy overcast (May gray) weather. I’m hoping for clear weather tomorrow so I can be back in the air.
Flying Over The Hills 