Fearless Tower
Touchdown! Greaser!
How I spent my federal holiday was just too entertaining not to share.....kind of a buyer beware story....folks selling aviation stuff ain't necessarily the most honest people.
So, as some may know, the O-300 A in my 170 started making metal while I was relocating it from CA to VA last month and is stuck in Texas while I try to figure out what to do with the engine. Found a used O-300 D engine on TAP that looked like a great fit. 2500 TTSN, 450 SMOH. Seller wanted $8k which for the engine as advertised seemed reasonable considering it would likely cost around $20k to overhaul my engine and the overall value of the airplane itself is probably not worth spending that much on it, sadly.
So I call the guy up and this is what he tells me:
Airplane (172) was involved in a forced landing within the last year (pretty sure he told me 6-7 months ago, but I can't say for certain). Guy's partner was low on fuel and doing steep maneuvering below 1000'...engine quit and he set it down in a field. Prop stopped horizontally so no prop strike (still attached so verifiable). According to the owner, the only damage was to the carb and bottom of the oil pan when the nose gear collapsed. He tells me he has all of the logs. So, based on that and the opinion of several A&P IAs, I agree to purchase the engine and send him a deposit. It is only a 100 miles away so yesterday I go down there to check it out and pick it up with the owner of the CRS here in Norfolk that will be maintaining my plane.
After driving out in the boonies of NC, we get there and meet the guy. He shows us the airplane (engine was already removed at this point).....about what I was expecting based on the description plus a few other oddities.....two of the engine mounts are on the ground - completely sheared off. And the empenage seems quite beat up strangely. I notice that there is a rope around the tail and I ask the owner about the damage fully expecting him to tell me that it happened when they moved the aircraft. No.... he chuckles and says, 'heh, that's when the hurricane flipped the plane over onto its back....I told my partner that he needed to tie it down!' FWIW, the engine was still attached to the airframe when that happened. Hmmmm.....okay so now the CRS owner and myself are both scratching our heads wondering what else Bubba isn't telling us.
Well, we drive further to his house located right along the ICW. It is all sea level, so no suprise that his house is on stilts. He has the engine hanging from a hook under the house.....my first thought is that it looks like a deer hung up waiting to be butchered. The whole place has a feel like something out of the show 'Swamp People'.
Okay, so we look the engine over. Case looks pretty good. Cylinders look okay (externally). Exhaust stacks are both trashed. Mags and wiring harness look like hell. Pull put the dipstick (oil had obviously been drained) and what was left was solid black - very dirty looking oil. Nothing had been done to preserve/pickle the engine.
Now I look at the logs....or log I should say (He only has the most recent book). The logbook he gives me starts at 2100 TTSN in 1988 (the date of the last overhaul). So not only does he not have all the logs, but this engine has only run 450 hours over the last 25 years. And to top it off, the final entry is the last annual: summer of 2010. Hmmm, 'when did your partner wreck it?' we ask.....oh it was last year......so the airplane wasn't even in annual when the accident flight happened! I look it up on my iPhone....turns out the accident was actually 13 months ago, so this engine had been sitting outdoors unprotected with nothing but a tarp on it. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck.
I tell Bubba - no deal. Ain't no way I can give him anywhere near what he is asking for. He gets all upset and tells me that he has all kinds of people that he has been holding off that want the engine sight unseen......I tell him - 'great, then you should have no problem selling it to one of them!'
After some grumbling, he does give me back my deposit check and we head back, making a quick food stop at the only convenience store/lunch counter in the town. While waiting for our food, the guy working the grill notices the CRS owner's sweatshirt with his company logo and asks 'what ya'll doing down here?'. He tells him that we were down to look at an airplane engine to wich Larry the Cable Guy (which is a fairly accurate description of this fellow) saws, 'huh, you must have been looking at Bubba's airplane.....I'm the one that wrecked it!' Larry then proceeds to say something along the lines of 'don't tell Bubba I said this, but I'm sure that it had something to do with those old cans of MOGAS he was using to fill up the plane with.....that was actually the second time the engine dun quit on me!' The shop owner and I are looking at each other and trying not to lose it at this point......you can't make this stuff up.
So, as some may know, the O-300 A in my 170 started making metal while I was relocating it from CA to VA last month and is stuck in Texas while I try to figure out what to do with the engine. Found a used O-300 D engine on TAP that looked like a great fit. 2500 TTSN, 450 SMOH. Seller wanted $8k which for the engine as advertised seemed reasonable considering it would likely cost around $20k to overhaul my engine and the overall value of the airplane itself is probably not worth spending that much on it, sadly.
So I call the guy up and this is what he tells me:
Airplane (172) was involved in a forced landing within the last year (pretty sure he told me 6-7 months ago, but I can't say for certain). Guy's partner was low on fuel and doing steep maneuvering below 1000'...engine quit and he set it down in a field. Prop stopped horizontally so no prop strike (still attached so verifiable). According to the owner, the only damage was to the carb and bottom of the oil pan when the nose gear collapsed. He tells me he has all of the logs. So, based on that and the opinion of several A&P IAs, I agree to purchase the engine and send him a deposit. It is only a 100 miles away so yesterday I go down there to check it out and pick it up with the owner of the CRS here in Norfolk that will be maintaining my plane.
After driving out in the boonies of NC, we get there and meet the guy. He shows us the airplane (engine was already removed at this point).....about what I was expecting based on the description plus a few other oddities.....two of the engine mounts are on the ground - completely sheared off. And the empenage seems quite beat up strangely. I notice that there is a rope around the tail and I ask the owner about the damage fully expecting him to tell me that it happened when they moved the aircraft. No.... he chuckles and says, 'heh, that's when the hurricane flipped the plane over onto its back....I told my partner that he needed to tie it down!' FWIW, the engine was still attached to the airframe when that happened. Hmmmm.....okay so now the CRS owner and myself are both scratching our heads wondering what else Bubba isn't telling us.
Well, we drive further to his house located right along the ICW. It is all sea level, so no suprise that his house is on stilts. He has the engine hanging from a hook under the house.....my first thought is that it looks like a deer hung up waiting to be butchered. The whole place has a feel like something out of the show 'Swamp People'.
Okay, so we look the engine over. Case looks pretty good. Cylinders look okay (externally). Exhaust stacks are both trashed. Mags and wiring harness look like hell. Pull put the dipstick (oil had obviously been drained) and what was left was solid black - very dirty looking oil. Nothing had been done to preserve/pickle the engine.
Now I look at the logs....or log I should say (He only has the most recent book). The logbook he gives me starts at 2100 TTSN in 1988 (the date of the last overhaul). So not only does he not have all the logs, but this engine has only run 450 hours over the last 25 years. And to top it off, the final entry is the last annual: summer of 2010. Hmmm, 'when did your partner wreck it?' we ask.....oh it was last year......so the airplane wasn't even in annual when the accident flight happened! I look it up on my iPhone....turns out the accident was actually 13 months ago, so this engine had been sitting outdoors unprotected with nothing but a tarp on it. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck.
I tell Bubba - no deal. Ain't no way I can give him anywhere near what he is asking for. He gets all upset and tells me that he has all kinds of people that he has been holding off that want the engine sight unseen......I tell him - 'great, then you should have no problem selling it to one of them!'
After some grumbling, he does give me back my deposit check and we head back, making a quick food stop at the only convenience store/lunch counter in the town. While waiting for our food, the guy working the grill notices the CRS owner's sweatshirt with his company logo and asks 'what ya'll doing down here?'. He tells him that we were down to look at an airplane engine to wich Larry the Cable Guy (which is a fairly accurate description of this fellow) saws, 'huh, you must have been looking at Bubba's airplane.....I'm the one that wrecked it!' Larry then proceeds to say something along the lines of 'don't tell Bubba I said this, but I'm sure that it had something to do with those old cans of MOGAS he was using to fill up the plane with.....that was actually the second time the engine dun quit on me!' The shop owner and I are looking at each other and trying not to lose it at this point......you can't make this stuff up.
