Wings of Hope eBay site

alfadog

alfadog

Final Approach
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alfadog
Sounds like it might not have been used much even before it was abandoned in 2000. That radio has been illegal since 1997. The omnigator is cute, if they pulled it from the panel, I might feel charitable in giving them a few bucks for it :)
 
flyingron said:
Sounds like it might not have been used much even before it was abandoned in 2000. That radio has been illegal since 1997. The omnigator is cute, if they pulled it from the panel, I might feel charitable in giving them a few bucks for it :)
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There was an omnigator like that on eBay recently for maybe $40.

edit: I have it in my watch list:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150778249069
 
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I saw that too. Of course the engine is a huge unknown, and you'd have to assume it needs a major overhaul (or you may get really lucky). The interior basically needs to be shelled and re-done from scratch. Avionics are effectively absent, I'd plan on replacing everything. great opportunity to drop in newer stuff, tailored to your personal taste.

None of that is a problem, I'd expect that in a project airplane. Two things do concern me about the "project" aspect of that airplane. First, it looks to me like those flaps are at an unnaturally high angle of droop -- I wonder if the flap cable is broken. Second, since it's apparently sat for years with no attention whatsoever, I would be worried about how much corrosion there is waiting to be discovered as you strip the interior and have the tanks drained and the entire fuel system flushed.

If it were on the other side of MO I'd be tempted to drive down and take a look.
 
Considering the price old airworthy Cherokees are selling for, I don't see anything but a money drain, looks like it's ready for Wentworth.
 
bartmc said:
Considering the price old airworthy Cherokees are selling for, I don't see anything but a money drain, looks like it's ready for Wentworth.
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Wentworth would just put it on eBay themselves except they would pull the engine and sell it separately. They would certainly not bother to pull the radios as they usually do.

They also would not sell it with a low opening bid and no reserve.
 
Considering the price old airworthy Cherokees are selling for, I don't see anything but a money drain, looks like it's ready for Wentworth.
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Meh... you'd end up with a Cherokee built the way YOU want it (avionics, interior, etc), for about what you'd spend on a comparable Cherokee of someone else's.

I was looking at another one, a mildly hail damaged '83 Warrior sans engine that Wentworth was selling. I added it all up and figured for well under $40K I could end up with a nice Warrior with a mid-time engine, some minor performance mods (wing tips needed replacing, so why not go with good ones?), autopilot, IFR approach GPS (not moving map), nice radio gear. Pretty good deal, I'm just not in a position to spend the money right now. It's less than what I see similar Warriors listed for, and they typically have even more geriatric avionics.
 
I don't know. If you ned the work done by others (don't have an A&P) that engine overhaul is going to cost a pretty penny. So will all those other airframe repairs, plus the wild card, corrosion. Avionics don't come cheap either.

I met a fellow who had redone his Cherokee a few years back, really nice. We asked him how much he spent, and he said that after about $30K he stopped counting. Of course, he had more in the panel of that thing than I have in my whole airplane. Still, in the age of declining airframe values, you can get in over your head on a project like this very easily. No offense to the OP, and I'm certain it's a worthy cause. But I'd pass on this one.
 
steingar said:
I don't know. If you ned the work done by others (don't have an A&P) that engine overhaul is going to cost a pretty penny. So will all those other airframe repairs, plus the wild card, corrosion. Avionics don't come cheap either.

I met a fellow who had redone his Cherokee a few years back, really nice. We asked him how much he spent, and he said that after about $30K he stopped counting. Of course, he had more in the panel of that thing than I have in my whole airplane. Still, in the age of declining airframe values, you can get in over your head on a project like this very easily. No offense to the OP, and I'm certain it's a worthy cause. But I'd pass on this one.
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Of course, no offense taken. But if it goes for the price of the engine then someone got a good deal. I am not an A&P but I have about 45 years repairing and restoring cars, trucks, and motorcycles. If I had the money and a hangar, this might be a fun project.

Anyway, I was more saying that folks might want to keep an eye on WOH than buy this Cherokee.
 
steingar said:
I don't know. If you ned the work done by others (don't have an A&P) that engine overhaul is going to cost a pretty penny. So will all those other airframe repairs, plus the wild card, corrosion. Avionics don't come cheap either.
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I agree that if you're going to pay an A&P to do ALL of it, you can spend way too much. I'd want to do as much as possible myself, with an A&P signoff on the work.

Avionics are indeed ridiculously expensive, especially for the decades-obsolete crap you see in a lot of airplanes. When I was figuring out the Warrior rehab, I still managed to put together a nice IFR GPS setup for around $11K. That was everything - xponder, dual nav/com, indicators, GPS, audio panel, intercom, all of it. No glass (other than the round kind), but still nicer than some of what you see in otherwise nice airplanes.

Like I said, you're probably not going to do it on the cheap... but at least it will be set up the way you want. The one in the auction, though... I don't know that I'd be brave enough to tackle that one. :)

I will tart watching the WOH auctions, though. That's interesting.
 
I'd be a HUGE gamble if the intent were to get it airworty, you could pull the tanks and be out 15K-20K on wing spar corrosion before you ever got started.

For reference, I have a 63' 150, new interior, new KX155, New KY197, Tagged KLN89B, new annunciator, new CDI, new VSI, new DG, new AI, 600SMOH, Less than that on the prop SNEW, replaced every hose and filter on it, replaced all the engine baffling, rebuild the exhaust system, overhauled mags, new fuel pump.

TODO: New plexi-glass and I'd like to install a new glareshield.

Total cost: less than 25K spent aquiring the plane and fixing it up over the past couple of years.

If you want an old cherokee to fix up with a busted engine on a known good, recently flown airframe with decent avionics,

http://www.piperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2152

His engine just crapped out, he did the smart thing, bought a turbo Mooney. :)

His shop told him to consider salvaging it, they know everything else is good but the engine.
 
bartmc said:
I'd be a HUGE gamble if the intent were to get it airworty, you could pull the tanks and be out 15K-20K on wing spar corrosion before you ever got started.
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That's what my biggest fear would be. At that point it's good for soda cans and not much else.
 
DaleB said:
That's what my biggest fear would be. At that point it's good for soda cans and not much else.
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That is where the price comes in. If you snag it for the price of soda cans and engine core, it would be worth the gamble, IMO. I would not be surprised if that is all it goes for.
 
alfadog said:
Wentworth would just put it on eBay themselves except they would pull the engine and sell it separately. They would certainly not bother to pull the radios as they usually do.

They also would not sell it with a low opening bid and no reserve.
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Neither of those radios has a usable COM side. Wentworth would have left them or pitched them in the smelting heap.
 
flyingron said:
Neither of those radios has a usable COM side. Wentworth would have left them or pitched them in the smelting heap.
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Exactly. Wentworth is very good at maximizing profit. Nothing wrong with that but I do not bother looking at their auctions; there are no bargains, or at least, you can do better. When I see something on Wentworth, I always know I can do better.
 
alfadog said:
Of course, no offense taken. But if it goes for the price of the engine then someone got a good deal. I am not an A&P but I have about 45 years repairing and restoring cars, trucks, and motorcycles. If I had the money and a hangar, this might be a fun project.

Anyway, I was more saying that folks might want to keep an eye on WOH than buy this Cherokee.
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Thanks for being so circumspect. Yeah, if you really could do all the work yourself it would be cool resurrecting an old thing like this, and a Cherokee is a good airplane to do it. Only about 1200 parts on the whole thing. My bike has more than that.

I would think that there is quite a bit of airplane-specific stuff that is less than fun in doing a project like this. Lots and lots of record keeping that you don't have to do with a car or bike. And you can't just go out to Pep boys for parts. Add to that there are lots of airplane-specific tasks (safety wiring, riveting aluminum, etc...) that have to be learned and have no application to other vehicles.

This sort of thing I'll leave to the A&Ps, at least until I am one. Plenty of bikes out there worthy, deserving, and needful of restoration.
 
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