Skip to main content

Now the wait really begins

About a week ago I opened the website for the overhaul shop that has my engine and... there was no website. I was presented with a simple dialog asking for a username and password. Normally, when I see something like this, it's usually caused by something getting messed up in the website configuration. Maybe they're using software such as Wordpress, attempted to install an update, and it got screwed up somehow.

A few days later, I checked again and the same thing occurred. I became a bit concerned; another possibility is that they suddenly went out of business, in which case I needed to find out quick so I could get my engine back and make other arrangements. So I called them up to see what was going on.

It turns out all is well. From what I could gather, after over thirty years in business, they've decided to transition the business to a parts supply shop. They'll finish up the work they already have scheduled, of course. As part of this, they decided to rebrand, and took down the website. They do have my engine and, at the time I called, it was in disassembly. After that, it was scheduled for non-destructive testing after which they'll figure out what all it needs. Unfortunately, the time estimate was six to eight weeks, mainly due to parts availability. Fortunately, the person I spoke to noted that my new cylinders were already there so at least we don't have to wait on those.

The person I spoke to suggested I give it about four weeks or so, then call back for a status up date. Hopefully all will go smoothly and they'll be able to finish it sooner rather than later. It would be nice if I could get back in the air before the summer is completely over.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Approaching the annual

I know I haven't been posting much, but that's mainly because nothing much of note has been happening. I've been flying, but not really going anywhere in particular. The engine continues to run very well, and the plane is still solid. I was hoping to do more "destination" flying this year but, for whatever reason(s), it didn't really happen. Next year, hopefully.... On the horizon, though, is the annual inspection. It's already scheduled for mid-December, since the last annual is good to the end of that month. I've also arranged for it to be an owner-assisted annual. I'm told that every airplane owner should do this at least once and I can certainly understand why that is the case, even before I do it. I will be learning about my airplane in a way that nothing else will match and, incidentally, save some money at the same time. I'm looking forward to it. Leading up to the annual, I have been compiling a list of squawks that I want to take care ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Not much going on right now

I've put about ten hours on the plane since I got it back from the shop last December. The weather has been generally poor so flying regularly hasn't been possible. For now, I'm focusing on putting time on the engine to continue breaking it in and get to the first oil change. Oil consumption has already dropped to normal, or near normal levels so it looks like break-in is going well so far. And that's pretty much it for now. I am looking forward to more regular VFR conditions as we move into spring and summer. I'm also looking forward to flying to other places for fly-ins and other get-togethers since I missed most of them last year.
Post a Comment
Read more

Thwarted

The plane is done being fixed again. Well, for the most part, but I'll get to that. The vacuum pump had indeed failed, so they replaced it. They also replaced the starboard fuel sump drain valve. Interestingly, I received an email yesterday from the shop with an invoice attached. It was for a credit to my account, which they gave me because they drained the fuel from the right tank. The invoice notes that 16 gallons were removed. The tank's capacity is almost 30 gallons, and I had filled it almost full on Sunday before my flight. So either they didn't credit me for all of the fuel in the tank, or it had continued to leak and had lost about 12 or so gallons over the course of a few days. I don't know which, but I'm not going to worry too much about it. I went out today to put some Camguard in the oil, run the engine, and possibly even go for a flight if the weather was nice enough. The grass runway and temporary taxiway are open so limited flight operations can proce...
2 comments
Read more