Gregg Dohrer
Foreword from an unknown member:
Gregg's behaviour is forced by a habit: everytime when finishes an airplane restoration, he likes to become the president of this chapter. So it was after he finished his C170B in 1996 (?). That plane was rebuilt from spare parts. With spareparts from several airplane-junk-yards. Because not every part he found was airworthy or rebuildable, he colleted parts from 17 other planes. And now he has finished the restoration of a twin, a C310. And as some people are able to whisper with horses, he is understanding plane-talk. We all are glad, that he carries all the work and all the burden to guide the chapter. But now, let the plane talk, what happened:
Foreword from Gregg Dohrer:
My intent here, is to try to put a personality into an aircraft which is being restored. We always read about what is being done to the aircraft, but we never try to analyze the feeling of the aircraft. If it had feeling about what is being done. So, you the reader must give me some latitude as I attempt to put feeling into the machine which is undergoing all of these strange operations. Now to the beginning of my aircraft's 10 month restoration story.
Aircraft Rebuilding From The Aircraft's Point of View
I started life in early 1959. There was a certain amount of excitement about this event, because I was the second production aircraft from the new Cessna west Wichita facility. After production testing I was off to Ft. Lauderdale Florida. That was the first of many stops. By 1965 I had accumulated 1600 hours and was getting new engines. Soon thereafter, things began to change. I was starting to feel like the unwanted child. I spent time in California, Idaho, Canada, Texas, and Delaware. In this 37 year period I had suffered a gear up landing, flew an additional 2000 hours, and did not get great care. So, here I am doing my best to look good, but it is getting awfully difficult.
At that point in time (2002) I have been in Delaware for four years. All of a sudden my owner is pulling my old propellers off, and sending them off to Texas. Before they come back (in pieces) I am fitted with two new propellers with Chrome Spinners. Wow, that will make your day! Within two weeks I am headed west once again. This time I am going to another airport I have not known. It is called Gladewater (07F). Here, I meet another new face. Another new owner! Ridden hard and put up wet. Great! Within minutes we are airborne, and do all the things new owners do (stalls, steep turns, slow flight, etc.). When we get back on the ground I expect to be parked at a tie down, but was amazed to find myself setting in front of a new hangar. It even smells new! This is different!!!!
Now all sorts of different things start to happen. Some of the old tricks of the trade never change. The new owner (Gregg) gets with a new (to me) instructor, and we proceed to do everything I can think of. We do approaches, engine cuts, and air work. We even do balked landings, and full stop landings with an engine shut down. This is different! Most of this is the same old drill, when will it ever end. I am tired of this..... However, interspersed with these grueling exercises are interludes of something different. On one occasion we go to Shreveport Downtown Airport. There, Gregg meets with an avionics person (Jim at ArkLaTex Avionics). They discuss upgrades to my avionics capabilities. Later, Gregg stops at Clinton Oklahoma, in route to what I later would find to be my home away from home, Tucumcari, NM. Here (Clinton) there were discussions regarding a new leather interior. One day, as I set in the hangar, a truck arrives with two large plastic drums. They are paint stripper. All of this sounds great, but at the moment I have not seen any change.
It is true that Gregg had worked on my right engine cowl. It had a cracking problem. He had also worked on the fuel strainer bowl for my heater. Cessna had decided it did not need a water drain. Obviously, when it collected water the water started to work on the metal of the bowl. Guess what, a new fuel stain on the bottom of the wing appeared.
I have been here six weeks, collected 23.8 hours, not had an oil change, and had lots of promises but no action. Did you ever feel like second fiddle? Finally, the dam breaks and things start to happen. It starts with paint stripper on the horizontal tail. This is nice, but kind of a feeble start. Now, I set in the hangar for over a week in this condition. Finally, Gregg comes back and starts the program in earnest. All of my control surfaces are removed. I can tell it will be awhile before I leave this hangar again! The mufflers are also removed from my engine nacelles.
old left engine
My engines are high time. The right engine has almost 2000 hours, and the left has 1650 hours. They are both factory remanufactured, the right was done in 1965 and the left was done in 1967. I hope that you are not surprised to find that they have been leaking some oil over the years. Gregg addresses this problem by using a special soap followed with a high-pressure wash. It is truly amazing how much crud is removed from my airframe. I wish I could tell him that there is a lot more where that came from.
removing all layers of paint
This paint stripping process is different than what I have experienced before. This process is a multiple step method. Water is not involved, so I do not have to leave the hangar. The first step is the paint stripper. This material is fairly mild, and works best when it is not allowed to evaporate. This means that when stripper is applied a piece of plastic is placed over it. This allows it to work on the paint. It takes the stripper 10 to 15 minutes to work. To keep things moving Gregg has from 4 to 6 patches of stripper/plastic on me at any given time. I look like a patch work quilt! The second step is removal of the primer. That is done with a different solvent. It is rubbed in with a Scotch Bright pad. Each area is then wiped clean using additional solvent and a paper towel. This process leaves each patch of me looking bright and shinny. However, I find the splotchy effect to be very disconcerting.
As the stripping process was going on this odd shaped thing arrived in the hangar. I overheard Gregg and Kelley talking about it. Kelley is a person who helps Gregg whenever a situation calls for the effort of more than one person. I can tell that Kelley and Gregg enjoy each other, and the ongoing discussions about my progress. This odd shaped object is called a Mooney tail. When it first arrived I was very concerned that all sorts of bad things were going to happen. Much to my relief I found out that it had been damaged and was destined for the new wind tee. Wow, was that ever a relief! You cannot believe how scared you can get, when you have your control surfaces off and something like that shows up. Was I ever relieved to see that Mooney tail leave the hangar! Wow! I could not imagine where it would go, or how it would fit!
As the stripping process wound down the question of replacement paint scheme and colors kept coming up. Obviously, I was very interested. Gregg said from the beginning that he wanted to go to factory original paint. I departed the factory with two shades of brown (light and dark) with a cream white. Apparently, Gregg painted some test colors on small aluminum plates, at what he calls hangar A. I am in hangar B. Don't ask me what this means. Haven't been there don't know. Here he comes with three test plates. They are a light gray, bright red, and a blue/white. Gregg says this is a factory original color option. Looks good to me, but I am not in a position to argue!
My GOD! Things are getting serious. As soon as I start to get used to the new colors, Gregg starts pulling my interior out. I really think ripping might be a better term. Immediately after this traumatic event, he removes my horizontal and vertical tail surfaces. I am not really sure I am pleased with this turn of events... I am starting to look more like a plucked chicken all the time.
Interspersed with the events mentioned above, Gregg has been doing a disappearing act. For quite some time he has been conspiring with Kelley. Kelley and Gregg have been studying my jack points, and talking about screw jacks. Now four completed jacks appear. The next thing I know my wheels are off the ground. This has happened before, but not in the state of disassembly I currently find myself in. To complete matters, all of my inspection plates are removed. Now, another stranger appears. This is Don Maxwell, he is an IA inspector, and after he is finished I am pronounced to be in good health.
retracing the main gear
Now, Gregg disappears again. He had discovered that with me on jacks, and with the gear up the boarding step is also retracted. That makes it very difficult to get up on the wing. He comes back with a large step stool he has fabricated. Slipped up to the rear of the right wing it makes it easy for anyone to get onto my wing. Next he disconnects my main gear doors, and begins to remove the nose gear and its doors. With these parts loosened or removed some serious solvent cleaning and sand blasting take place. The breaks are disassembled, cleaned and reinstalled with new O-rings. The gear wells are washed with solvent, stripped, primed, and painted. The nose gear is sandblasted, primed, and painted. There is also a problem with the outside air temperature gauge. It gives a reading, but its response is not linear. With the nose gear out of the way now is the perfect time to install a replacement OAT, with a new sensing unit. The new sender is easy to install with everything out of the way. The fun part is getting the nose gear pieces back where they came from. Apparently, Kelley has some special talents regarding the installation of nuts and bolts in places that are almost impossible to get to. Between the two of them (Kelley and Gregg) all of my nose gear parts are now back where they came from.
a nose gear like new
This newly installed gear assembly needs to be adjusted to factory dimensions/tensions following a very exacting procedure. The convoluted rigging process wound up taking four days. The rework of the nose gear took more than half of that time. Factory recommendations are that gear rigging needs to be verified during each annual. Hopefully, it will go quicker next time. There sure are lots of parts to inspect and lubricate. Finally, I am back on my shinny wheels. I have never been on jacks this long before (a total time of 36 days).
There is still some final stripping on fairings and other fiberglass parts. However, now major action starts on my right side. First the right propeller is removed. Then all the engine controls and connections are removed. This is followed by removal of my right engine. It had been there for 37 years. Doug Williams is the person helping Gregg with this process. The next day the two of them take the engine apart. Several days before these events started Gregg brought a large box to the hangar. It contained a set of shelves, which Gregg assembled. I must say the shelves are now coming in very handy. In fact they are almost totally full of pieces. Gregg spends the next two days getting all of the parts together for inspection and repair. Some parts go to San Antonio, others to Tulsa, Fort Worth, Lancaster, and Dallas. Gregg says it should take two to four weeks for everything to come back. The plan is to assemble the right engine and install it before working on the left engine.
The kind of work being done changes now. When we were flying last summer Gregg had the opinion that the fuel gauges for my auxiliary fuel tanks were not working correctly, especially when the tanks were less than one quarter full (ultimately, the problem turned out to be a plugged vent line). Both transmitters were removed from the tanks and checked with a volt/ohm meter. It was found that both transmitters were linear, and had a stable output throughout their range. The next major item was repair of rudder wind damage. I had spent some time outside in the past. On one of these occasions the wind was blowing hard from the rear. Each gust would catch my rudder and hammer it to the right. Finally, my rudder could not hold up under the strain. As the bell crank bent it twisted far enough to get into contact with the horizontal stabilizer. This pounding eventually had broken both rudder stops, and created a tear in the cabin floor below the pilot's rudder pedals. Gregg fabricated new doublers for the damaged areas. He removed and straightened those pieces that were reparable. This was a major project, but when he was done everything was straight and in good alignment. It was quiet a relief to have that problem corrected.
When Gregg gets on a kick he is adamant about it. He has gone from stripping to bolt turning to rivet shooting. Now, he is on rivet shooting. Apparently he still remembers his discussion with Jim, because he is now in the process of removing old antenna and fabricating new antenna mounting locations. Each new antenna needs a doubler for structural support. So, Gregg is now merrily drilling, countersinking holes, and shooting new rivets. Soon all the new attach points have been constructed.
I have heard that my right engine case has a nonrepairable crack. This is really wonderful.... Gregg spends lots of time on the phone trying to find a replacement. Finally, he finds a case from an IO-470-VO. After additional conversations it is determined that if the oil ports on this case are sealed it can be used as a replacement for my old IO-470-D case. The die is cast and the new case is on its way. The next bump in the road is a message from San Antonio. The return call reveals that four of the cylinders for my right engine are light (-R) cylinders. My logs give no indication of when I acquired four illegal cylinders. The cylinder shop had four (-D) cylinders on the shelf. The swap was only a question away, but the phone message the night before did cause some gas. The next shoe was from Dallas. This time the word was that every gear in the accessory case had a problem. When the shouting was finally done the only right engine pieces to make the round trip were two cylinders and the crankshaft!
While all the engine parts are gone Gregg starts to work on repairing baffles. My design requires a lot of baffling around the air filter. That assembly plus the throttle body for the engine intake is all put together with baffles. One particular piece of doubler is fabricated three times before it can be riveted into place. Finally, all the engine parts are returned. The exhaust stacks for the engine were also sent off. When they come back they have been cut in half and welded 180 degrees from original. I do not know what to think about this, but hopefully I will be pleased with the result.
The original plan was to put the right engine back together before dismantling the left engine. I am a little confused, but Gregg and another friend (Cliff Moore) start to tear down my left engine. I can tell that Gregg is not very happy about this, but he is pressing on. This engine comes apart as rapidly as did the first one (two days). The next day Don Maxwell is back in the hangar. He starts to assemble my right engine, but the process comes to a halt when it is determined that the crankshaft bearings are not correct. Gregg gets busy getting parts for the left engine shipped off. It is the same drill as before, pieces go everywhere. Some new doublers are cut and bent for the new under wing exhaust. Kelley is back on the scene to help roll the correct curve in the metal. It looks to me like my entire exhaust system is being modified. However, I am not sure where this new metal will go.
While all of this is going on Gregg is spending a lot of time out of town. This does not do much for one's spirits. I am setting all alone in a cold hangar with no tail, no engines, no interior, and no paint. When Gregg does get back there is a significant change in mood. All of a sudden all my engine parts are removed from the hangar. I do not know what this means, but I hear that Don quit the project, and a person by the name of Jesse has agreed to take me on.
The next two weeks were absolutely amazing. The electronics were removed from the instrument panel. All twelve valve covers were sandblasted and Powder Coated. Two trips were made to Dallas to get the parts for my left engine. Best of all, my right engine is assembled and setting in the hangar. I do not know what happened, but there has been a major change in the speed with which things are happening, and in Gregg's disposition.
engines are expensive, - and the time to mount them even more
I now find out what those curved doublers are for. There are two elliptical holes cut in the lower rear of each nacelle. Instead of my engine exhaust turning up to go over the wing, it will now go through these holes into the slipstream below the wing. The holes are initially cut small, the shape and size is modified as the engine is placed. Mounting the engine and making the engine control connections takes about two days. The geometry of the airframe, in conjunction with the engine induction/exhaust system is such that all four engine mounts cannot be installed at once. This fact means that a portion of the exhaust needs to be removed to allow one front mount to be installed last. This whole process is really a bear!!!!!!
Now that I have engines, Gregg turns his attention to my instrument panel. It is really a mess. Some of my old electronics have been removed (Cessna Nav/Com, GPS, and Transponder). My new electronics include an IFR GPS, self contained King Nav/Com, Transponder, Strikefinder, and JPI 760 engine analyzer. I have also acquired a glove box.
cockpit under re-construction
I have over heard that Dallas Air Salvage has a 50 percent off sale once a year. When that event took place, some weeks ago, Gregg came into hangar B with all kinds of stuff. One of the items was a glove box. This is very handy for storage. He also acquired a "Goose Neck" light. This is controlled with a rheostat, and is intended for reading charts and approach plates at night. In addition there were new antennas for communication and navigation. These pieces now become his focus.
Apparently, Gregg has a thing for beacons on top of the tail. I will relate this story second hand. He consults his illustrated parts manual to find the part number of a vertical fin without a beacon attachment. When he orders the part, instead of getting a piece of fiberglass, he gets a rib of aluminum. He calls the supplier to determine why he got aluminum when he was expecting fiberglass. The supplier does not know the answer, but looks in the parts bin to find a piece with the same part number that is fiberglass. A swap is arranged, and the desired piece arrives, with the aluminum piece riveted into place. The total cost for this is $35.00. Sounds like somebody made an error here, but the error is currently atop my tail, and I now have two strobes instead of one.
One thing I will comment on is that Gregg appears to work on one thing, but be thinking about several other projects. I am not sure I understand the process that is just the way it works. In any case, my engine access doors appear to bend easily. This happens when they are open during maintenance, and a mechanic leans on them. This weakness was addressed by adding a doubler at the hinge line of each door. The difficulty is that Gregg is not comfortable riveting a flush rivet and bucking it with the door attached to the hinge. Excessive movement I guess. The difficulty is solved with volunteer assistance from Bill Vawter.
While Bill is helping with the riveting, he indicated that he would be willing to help with wiring. One of my new toys is a JPI 760. This system has CHT (cylinder head temperature) and EGT (exhaust gas temperature) outputs for each cylinder. This means that there are 12 pairs (24 hook ups) of wires going to each engine. Gregg has run the wires from the instrument panel through the wings to the nacelles. Bill now proceeds to install the probes, cut the individual pairs, and install the ring fittings. This process does not take many words, but it takes a LONG time. Bill it a real trooper for hanging in there....
While Bill is busy with JPI wiring Gregg is busy with electronics mounting. He builds mounts for the new center radios and also for the Strike Finder. This device is supposed to help keep me out of Thunder Storms. This is something new for me, and I am sure I will be more than pleased to avoid those nasty things.
New stuff just keeps popping up. A rather small box is opened up to reveal a bunch of sticky paper and lots of little t-shaped pieces of aluminum. First, four sticky orientation pieces are placed on each wing. Two pieces inside and two outside of each nacelle. Then a chalk line is popped between the two outside orientation pieces. Now numbered pieces of paper are placed along each chalk line and between the two inside orientation pieces. Each of these pieces of paper is about 30 inches long and 3 inches wide. Small rectangles are cut in the paper, each at an angle to the paper's edge. A similar arrangement is placed on my vertical tail. With this set of patterns in place the small aluminum pieces are glued into place. There are two sizes of rectangles, and there are two sizes of aluminum piece. I understand that these VG's (vortex generators) will decrease my Vmc (velocity of minimum control) by 12 MPH. This means that my stall speed and my minimum control speed are within 2 MPH of each other.
I am beginning to wonder when all of this will be done. I have been in this hangar five months, and Gregg keeps tying up loose odds and ends. At least he has not taken anything off for the last few weeks. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel, or is that a train coming?
Finally, a nice warm sunshiny spring day, I am rolled out of the hangar, and washed again. This time the wash is followed by an acid treatment. The hangar floor is also washed down. I am a little disappointed that the treatment was only on the flap bays, and all my removed pieces. I do not wish to be a psychic, but I would be willing to bet that paint is soon to follow. Am I good or what! Early the next morning Bart, another of Gregg's friends, shows up and spraying begins. Hopefully, this initial shot will be followed by something more substantial in the near future.
I am pleased that the primer application began. I am upset that the following day it was back to wiring. It seems that the number 2 Nav/Com is a 14-volt system. My 28-volt system will not make this piece of electronics happy. A special converter is installed and soon the required power is available for the radio. The following day things were looking up again. I had suffered some hail damage, and that damage was being repaired. Next came repair to the fronts of my engine nacelles. Over the years they have suffered some cracking. After five days of this tedium I am finally out of the hangar again. This time I get a total acid wash and rinse. I am rolled into the hangar, placed on jacks, and my gear is retracted.
phosphor-acid is a good corrosion protection
The next morning primer is applied to all my surfaces. This act starts a process that I had forgotten. Paint application is a hurry-up and wait process. First, there is preparation, and then paint is applied. Paint cannot be manipulated until it is totally dry. Therefore, time is required for the fresh paint to cure before it can be worked again. Gregg is not one to let moss grow. He has interior window trim work lined up until he can start getting the primer coat ready for paint.
primer is the right surface for color
Now I start to see the scheme that Bart and Gregg have come up with. My paint scheme is three colors. One of the colors is red. As a rule red does not cover other colors very well. So, red will be the last color to be applied. This means that the first color applied will be gray. The second color applied will be white, and it will be the base color for the red. That way the color sensitive red will have a constant base color (white). This plan makes it easy for them. They know where the gray will go, and do not care about over spray. It will be sanded and masked off for the application of white.
With the gear and flaps up I have few areas that can cause a problem. Early in the morning the two of them show up and start spraying the gray. I now hear that Gregg needs to go to New Mexico for his mother's 80th birthday. That gives lots of time for this color to cure. When he gets back several things happen. My vertical fin and rudder are set (I did not say installed, I said set). Apparently, there are painting concerns. These two pieces are placed on my fuselage and not bolted down. Next comes wet sanding and striping with a chalk line. These straight lines are followed with polypropylene tape and then with masking tape. Finally, everything not intended to become another color is covered to keep over spray away from that which has already been painted.
markings on gray color
I am now primed, have my gray paint, and am striped for white. Bart and Gregg always start early. I mean the sun is not up when they arrive! When the painting is done, in this case white, the hangar is closed up for several hours to let the paint dry without outside interference.
the first final color is white
Now Gregg gets serious about the instrument panel. He starts out with masking the instruments on the engine side. After that is done that panel is painted with ultra-flat black paint. Work continues on mounting the various radios. The problem is not with the space in the panel. It is with the room consumed behind the panel to allow the control yokes to function. Bottom line, the transponder and the strike finder are not mounted with the other radios. Building the cover plates and the mounting brackets appears to consume lots of time. Another time-consuming item is the need to have all the electronic wiring hooked to the correct pin location. Radio's need power to operate, and output wiring to be listened to.
The completion of these activities means that preparation for painting red is at hand. Everything, which is NOT going to be red, needs to be covered. Apparently, Gregg has had problems with red in the past. He really works hard to make sure that everything is taped and covered. Bart and Gregg are loosing their focus. It is 7:00, not the usual 6:00 when they show up. I was beginning to think they had forgotten me. Red does not take long. They are out of the hangar before 10:00. After three to four hours Gregg is back. I feel like a giant Christmas Present. I wish I could get a giant mirror to look at myself.
at last the darkest color
Wow! The next two days are really fantastic! During the first day, after paint, all of my Nav/Com antenna are installed. In addition more work is done to the engine control (center) console. Day two is the day that my horizontal and vertical tail surfaces are installed. The rudder, elevators, and ailerons are also installed, and the trim tabs are connected. I am close to being totally together.
Now, it is back to details. Gregg is back in the tail tying up loose wires, connecting cables, and adjusting cable tension. Next he moves back to the pilot's side of the instrument panel. When all of the instrument mounting is done the focus shifts to the post lights. These little lights are both a blessing and a curse. They provide localized light to each instrument. The way they do it is by running a wire to each light. These individual wires come from a power strip. Each wire has a spring loaded screw connection that screws to the back of the light. The post light has an insulated power shaft that runs through the hollow center of the post. The light bulb in the head of the light has to have a tight fit so the current can get to ground. Because the instrument panel is mounted on rubber shock mounts it has to have a ground strap to complete the circuit. My instrument panel has 28 of these little joules. Are we having fun yet?
OK! Let's sum things up. I am still up on jacks, but I am painted and back together, with my instrument panel in place. I do not have an interior, my propellers are not installed, and I do not have any fairings in place. It is amazing how many details remain before I can get out of here and into the air. Now it is stainless steel screws. During painting my inspection plates were held in place with one screw. The final stainless screws are being put into place now. The next issue is wing root fairings. These are held in place with rivnuts and stainless screws. The sad truth is that most of these fasteners (rivnuts) have been stripped out. So, now every other screw gets a new rivnut. This process takes an entire day! Finally the fairings between the wing and the fuselage are in place. The fairings between the wing and the tip tanks go into place a lot easier. The new strobe lights are installed. The ELT is reinstalled, and its function is checked. This is also the time for touch up and decorative paint. Touch up refers to areas around rivet heads where the paint striping is not clean. Decorative paint includes required numbering on the tail, and model designations on the tip tanks.
Finally, my gear is lowered, the props are installed, and the jacks removed. Wow, I am again on my wheels. Then comes the crushing part. Gregg comes into the hangar with one of my OLD front seats. WOW! This is really a low blow... What can I say, oil is in the engines, the prop bolts are torqued, and the spinners are installed. Rubber rub strips are installed around the gear doors, and fish eye mirrors are installed on the tip tanks. I look like a shiny new dime on the outside, and like a piece of ---- on the inside!
Jesse is back on the scene now. I am pulled out of the hangar. Gregg gets into the pilot's seat, and Jesse is up on the wing. First the left engine is cranked. After several blades it fires into life. Within 30 seconds the oil pressure is showing on the gauge. The generator switch is thrown and the amp meter shows a charge. Wow! I am alive, at least on one side. After three to four minutes of running at 1500 RPM the engine is shut down. Cowl doors on both sides are opened and a thorough inspection for oil leaks is made. The process is followed on the right side. The result was the same as the left side, with two exceptions (oil leaks). Both oil leaks were found to be associated with fittings that were not tight enough. Once these problems were corrected Jesse said it was time to FLY.
Both engines are fired up, and we taxi to the fuel pumps. For the last nine months I have had minimal fuel in my tanks. Now they are topped off. Jesse has said to go to about 5000 feet and run at full power for about 30 minutes. What can I say, we were having so much fun it was closer to 60 minutes before we got on the ground. Wow, that was fun, but there are lots of problems to correct, and this lack of an interior is really starting to get me down.
OK! OK! It is great; I am out of the hangar. I have flown! These are great things, but I still have this interior that looks like ----. Apparently Jesse has given Gregg specific instructions regarding the break in of the majored engines. I find that they are run at one condition (2450 RPM and 24" MP). In both cases this is top of green. The world is really going by (195 MPH indicated @ 5000 feet), and who knows what the fuel flow is. My gauge reads is PSI not GPH. Fueling after the fact indicates that I am using between 24 and 25 GPH.
The rat killing continues. Jesse installs a new seal on the push rod for the number 4 cylinder on the right engine. This solves a major oil leak on that engine. However, now I find myself up on jacks again. Very depressing. This time the jacking is to install new tires and tubes on all three wheels. New shoes, and I am back on the ground again. Good Deal!!!
After a second flight four problems need to be addressed. The first is the fuel pressure for the right engine. The pressure is slow to come up for start up, but is fine for normal operation. It is found that the rubber hose between the fuselage bulkhead and the gauge is partially blocked. New hose corrects the problem. Oil is coming from the breather that separates the fuel pump from the engine. Originally Jesse indicated that the seal might need to wear in for the leak to stop. The second flight confirmed that the leak was not decreasing. Removal of the mechanical fuel pump revealed the seal had not been installed. Installation of the correct seal solved that problem. The attitude and directional gyro problem was addressed by having both instruments rebuilt. The engine temperature problems with the left engine were somewhat more confusing. After three test flights it was determined that there was a bad EGT probe and three pairs of wires were crossed. When you have 12 temperature inputs coming from each engine it is easy to see how a small hookup error could occur.
All this rat killing has happened in 12 days. Early in the morning Gregg shows up with charts in hand. I go to the fuel pump to be topped off. Gregg is talking with Max Rae (another friend) about some sort of trip. Max takes off in his Mooney, and soon I am in hot pursuit. Max has a 40-mile head start, to wherever we are going. In any case the course is NW, and at these high power settings I pass him in 45 minutes. I find myself back at Clinton OK. Great, the interior shall begin.
Fifteen days later Gregg is back. The final touches are being applied, and I feel like a new dime. After several hours everything is complete. I am pushed from the hangar to the fuel pump. My tanks are topped. During preflight Gregg notices that the right fuel selector is set to off. He moves it to the right main. Starting is done with the left engine first, because it is closest to the battery box. When it is time to start the right engine fuel pressure cannot be gotten. Finally, I am rolled into the shade of the hangar, and my right cowl is removed. Various fuel lines are opened to determine if fuel is available. One of the interior people asks if anything has been moved. He indicated that the fuel selectors had to be removed and that the mounting shafts are symmetrical. When the selector is again set to the fuel off position, pressure is available. The selector is changed, the cowl installed, and we taxi out. After run up it is found that the door will not close. Back to the ramp we go. The interior man comes running out to help. He says he never goes home until the airplane is out of sight. The problem is the new welt is too stiff. Finally, we have a problem that will correct itself over time. The door is closed from the outside, and I am going HOME.
What an experience this has been. I sure am thrilled at what has taken place in the past 10 months.
why I'm in a hangar ?