Hello everyone;
After doing aerobatics and flying inverted in a cittabria and a super decathlon, i built up the courage to fly a pitts S2B and i am hooked! unfortunately i cannot afford an S2B so started looking for the next best thing, an S2A
Almost pulled the trigger on a 1982 S2E when my instructor warns me of the old fabric (original 1982 fabric) and although it looked magnificent, he warned me of fabric separation due to its age; i walked away
next week i am doing a pre-buy inspection on a 1974 S1S with an O360; fuselage and wings all stripped in 2004, inspected and recovered with ceconite and painted a beautiful red with sunburst white pattern(in a paint booth!), exactly what i wanted;
since its in the amateur built category a race engine workshop (for drag race cars) overhauled the engine and pickled it, its been sitting with the fuselage and wings apart in storage since 2004
i will have to trailer the plane to my a&p's hangar for assembly, the owner did not agree to run the engine at prebuy and said it will be a hassle since the tank is in the top wing;
my questions are;
should i be worried about an overhauled and pickled engine that has been sitting since 2004 ? will i need to replace the bendix mags? is a compression test enough to determine the health of the engine?
does a carburated engine with a pressure carb perform well with hard aerobatics ? (lots of snap rolls)
i know it has the solid crank flange but is the combination with a sensenich wooden prop good for aerobatics ?
it has an open cockpit which i am planning on enjoying for a while but when it comes time to build a canopy, how much will it run me ?
anything else i should worry about that might be affected by sitting for about 12 years ?
any input would be much appreciated
Moe
After doing aerobatics and flying inverted in a cittabria and a super decathlon, i built up the courage to fly a pitts S2B and i am hooked! unfortunately i cannot afford an S2B so started looking for the next best thing, an S2A
Almost pulled the trigger on a 1982 S2E when my instructor warns me of the old fabric (original 1982 fabric) and although it looked magnificent, he warned me of fabric separation due to its age; i walked away
next week i am doing a pre-buy inspection on a 1974 S1S with an O360; fuselage and wings all stripped in 2004, inspected and recovered with ceconite and painted a beautiful red with sunburst white pattern(in a paint booth!), exactly what i wanted;
since its in the amateur built category a race engine workshop (for drag race cars) overhauled the engine and pickled it, its been sitting with the fuselage and wings apart in storage since 2004
i will have to trailer the plane to my a&p's hangar for assembly, the owner did not agree to run the engine at prebuy and said it will be a hassle since the tank is in the top wing;
my questions are;
should i be worried about an overhauled and pickled engine that has been sitting since 2004 ? will i need to replace the bendix mags? is a compression test enough to determine the health of the engine?
does a carburated engine with a pressure carb perform well with hard aerobatics ? (lots of snap rolls)
i know it has the solid crank flange but is the combination with a sensenich wooden prop good for aerobatics ?
it has an open cockpit which i am planning on enjoying for a while but when it comes time to build a canopy, how much will it run me ?
anything else i should worry about that might be affected by sitting for about 12 years ?
any input would be much appreciated
Moe
Last edited:
