Complete interior re-furbish

[rmorris]

Originally Posted by hharney

Good advice, it will be done. Where did you source the lines? Has anyone used Precision Hose, PHT, in Tulsa? They indicate that they have a complete kit. I am searching the logs now to see if any hoses have been replaced just as a good exercise. Also checking the Service Manual for requirements, not real clear.

Installing the FM oil filters adaptors, eliminate always cleaning those annoying screens. Also found issues with the rear motor mounts. One is actually cracked and crumbling. New ones on order.

My front engine has plagued me with an oil leak for several years now. Nothing huge but very discouraging. I have looked and looked but haven't been able to really zero in on a obvious source. My AI said that some push rod tubes showed a little wet, could be but I keep thinking there is something on the rear of the front engine that is culprit. What about the alternator? Has anyone had a bad leak around that unit? When I fly 2 - 3 hours and stop I have a couple of small puddles of oil on the front tire and ground. I don't use that much oil in the engine. Maybe 1 - 2 quart for between oil changes (25 hrs). Is that too much? I have 1500 hours on the engine.

Well, I didn't brave the trip yesterday but will be working on it today. I am ordering all the glass today from Great Lakes Aero in Flint, MI. I will be talking to Precision Hose and consulting with Whelen on their LED / strobe position wing tip lights. Has anyone had these installed? Whelen says that I will need to get field approval. It would be a lot easier if I can show another aircraft that has been approved through the FSDO. Even if it is not a Skymaster let me know if you know of anything. This LED technology is amazing. I can't imagine not allowing something like this. It has to be safer (greater visibility for other aircraft), uses a lot less amps, come on get with the program here. Whelen should be more proactive on this.

Herb,
I used PHT this summer for the rear engine hose kit. Kim Geyer (frequent poster on this board and overall nice guy) pointed me in their direction. Overall my experience is mixed.

It took them a little longer to get my kit shipped after I ordered it than what they had promised, but then they shipped it overnight at their cost - so a wash on that point.

When I handed the whole kit to my a&p, he said that several hoses were wrong. I quickly emailed their sales rep and told him the lenths and connections (as measured by my a&p) for the 4 or so replacement hoses and asked they overnight them to me - see point #1 about thier initial delay which caused me other scheduling challenges. They said they couldn't ship out that day, but would make them up the next day and ship out to me. OK, sounds like a plan to me (although it then delayed me leaving TX where I was now grounded with a half-done houise sawp out). The new hoses arrived and they fit nicely. So I took the wrong hoses and shipped them back that same very day, at my expense. Thinking, 'wow this finally worked out'....then a few weeks later I looked at my credit card statement and saw that they charged me almost $600. MANY emails later, they finally credited me back about $300. Still don't know why I had to pay them $300 extra, when they had sold me a complete kit. They had even verified my serial number when quoting me the kit.

I will probably use them again, but make sure I have a better written trail on responsibility if any hoses in their 'kit' don't fit.

Also, I noticed on several other posts to this board that others have used Sacramento Sky Ranch for thier hoses.

Finally - you will probably consider the firesleeving option on your hoses, so I'll share that part of the story.
After reading many articles and posts - I decided to firesleeve all the hoses for my rear engine. This cost more, as the hoses in the PHT kit only firesleeve the ones that came that way from the factory. No problem, I decided to pay the extra for a little more peace of mind. You have two firesleeving options - the orange bulky firesleev which is attached by clamps, or the brown firesleev which is basically cooked on. I wanted the brown one, but the PHT rep talked me into the orange ones - saying they were cheaper, faster to make (see my scheduling issue above), and worked just as well. After they arrived, I had lots of issues during the install due to the now much larger size of the hoses with the orange sleeve versus the originals they replaced. Was told by the a&p that the install would have gone much smoother with teh brown cooked on sleeves. Also, understand that the Sac Sky Ranch folks give a lifetime guarantee on the brown sleeved hoses they make.

Hope this all helps,
Robert
________
Ford performance vehicles history