Sorry about the title, should say “Pitts S1 New to me” mods please change it, not sure what happened there
Hello, I have been reading the forums for years but this is my first post. I just purchased a hangar queen S1 that has been sitting for about 15 years in a heated hangar in Edmonton Alberta. The previous owner apparently left the country approximately 15 years ago and has not been seen since. The hangar owner had recently seized it for non payment of rent and started looking for a new owner to get her flying again.
Any help you could offer would be appreciated, the engine is a lyc O360 A1D with a fuel injection system and a fixed pitch 76 in Sensenich prop (pitch unknown). The exhaust is a four into four straight pipe setup with the smoke system plumbed into all four pipes. Reportedly the plane only just had over 300 hrs and only approximately 20 hrs on the new wings and fabric. There were no logs available, so I am starting from scratch.. I am fortunate in that one of the previous owners lives only 1 hr from me and may be able to fill me in on some of the details as he purchased from the original builder and sold it to the last owner who abandoned it.
I believe the wings are Falcon wings and were installed after a hangar door was lowered onto the original wings. Anyone who could identify them ,I would appreciate it.
I have dropped the prop of at a prop shop for an overhaul and will be pulling the engine for a complete tear down and inspection.
A mechanic that works for the group of Acro pilots in Edmonton disassembled the plane, unfortunately I was not there during the majority of the disassembly so reassembly will have me posting many questions over the next year.
I have booked time with Bud Davisson for transition training between Christmas and New Year.
Unfortunately at this time I am at the stage where I Do not Know what I do not know. Some of my initial questions are:
1. Could anyone please post the process of using a fish scale for wire tensions, I may have access to an Aviat tension meter when the time comes but both methods have their proponents
2. Budd Davisson commented on the position of the Brake Calipers, and that there have been incidences of a hard landing damaging the caliper and causing that brake to seize, what is the process needed to reposition the caliper forward or rearward?
3. Torque settings for the bolts for the lower wing attach bolts
4.Torque settings for the upper wing attach points
5.Placement and type of washers for the above mentioned bolts
6. Other than replacing all rubber hoses associated with the Christen inverted system what needs to be done to the inverted system in terms of maintenance
7. Should the flop tube be replaced and where can I source a new one? Fortunately Raven aircraft is not that far from me and I will be calling or visiting them for advice
8. Could anyone who has rigged a set of falcon wings share their insight as to the dimensions of the rigging boards they constructed, and anything unique about rigging these wings (angle of incidence etc)
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