
The first annual is usually a dreaded and costly experience for owners of
newly acquired airplanes, especially if the airplane had formerly been a
"renter". N4184R had a number of small "squawks" to be
fixed.
Here
is a picture of N4184R in the shop with the cowl off. The fiberglass
cowl needed some repairs: a new horizontal stiffener was laid in, replacing the
old one, which had apparently broken due to excessive bending and
vibrating.
Also, the front mounting pins were reseated, as their fiberglass mounts had
weakened over time.
The baggage door also needed to be repaired -- its diagonal stiffeners were
broken. My guess is that someone pushed the baggage door open too far and
broke them.
This
next picture gives a good view of the new interior, with the seats and
floorboard out for inspection. No squawks to fix in this area. It
was very clean. (Well, the old Piper Auto-Control III aileron and trim
controls needed replacing, but that's another story -- in the avionics upgrade).
Here's
an aft-facing shot, showing the controls beneath the floorboard.
I
also had a remote oil-drain installed, to reduce the time and effort involved in
oil changes.
Notice the extra "buttress" bar to the right of the oil
cooler? That was an innovation by my A&P mechanic, so that the
relatively thin firewall wouldn't get vibrated apart by the mounting of the
oil-cooler.

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