February 1999 - American Bonanza Society

coin . Nebraska, area. Any suggestionswould be greatly appreciated.A: u.s. Avionics (3 10-375-9898) andAstronautics (414-447-6204) are currentlyour best contacts forthis repair. Ifany members have had success withother shops, please let us know.- NPF33A overhaulvs. factory remanBob FinleyGoldsby, OklahomaQ: My newly acquired F33A has justover 1,500 hours SMOH. Oil consumplionIS about eight hours/quart and compressionsare in the mid to high '70s. Thecyltnders have not been off the aircraftsince the overhaul in the late ·80s. Obviously,the job was done right and theprevIous operators of the aircraft had allthe ducks in a row. The crankshaft is non­VAR so it must be replaced at overhaul.The existing engine was a factory remanto about 1979 and field overhauled in1988.Even though the oil consumption andc~mpress ion s are very acceptable, I realtzethat realistically an overhaul iswithin a year or so. I will fly the aircraftapproximately 125 hours per year. I planto do some homework before the timeoccurs in order to have my strategyplanned.I hear that a factory reman wi ll increasethe sell ing price of the aircraft bylip to 10 percent. I also know that a localeng ine shop can overhaul the enoine forsomewhere in the $10,000 to S I2,OOOarea, which is about $6,000 less than thefactory reman. I expect to own the aircraftfor 10 years or so. What is the truestory concerning factory reman vs. fieldoverhau l.Additionally, I have been told that myheavy case BA 520 can be line bored toconvert it to a BB model. Since I have tobuy the new VAR cran k anyway, whatwou ld I gain by converting from BA toBB model engine?The temps on my engine are very acceptable,however, the baffling is show­Ing lots of wear and lear. T have seen thenew style baffling that is needed for the300 HP 550 models. Is there any realadvantage to converting to it with the 285HP 520 engine? There seems to be a sionificanlcost difference in repairing theexisting baffling compared to convertingto the new style.ABS Fe bruary 1999A: Since you must purchase a newcrankshaft, I doubt that the local overhaulwill be much less than a factoryreman. The factory includes the newcrank plus you also get new cylinders andpistons. The seventh stud requires abaffle conversion on the F33A. The twobaffle pieces, tight forward and left aftare about $1,000. [ would consider repairingthe baffles, go with a factoryreman exchange, realize a possible increasein resale value and suffer the leastamount of downtime during the enginechange.-NPF33 conversion to F33ADan HurleyKilty Hawk, North Carolinan: I am shopping for an earl y '70s33:'1 ran across an F33 that had been convertedto an F33A. When I inquired aboutIt, I was told that the useful load was only928 pounds. This seemed unusually lowcompared to other 33s I have seen. Hehas the usual panel toys, but nothing specIal.Can you offer an explanation?A: The original 3,050 pound grossweIght of an F33 is significantly less thanthe 3,400 pounds of an F33A. Even withthe engine change from the 10-470, 225HP to the 10-520. 285 HP, the ai rcraftgross weight remain s at the orioi nal3,050 pounds unless the STC includes agross weight increase. In addition, nowyou have a heavier engine with a correspondinglyhigher empty weight.-NPBaron heater shutdownJames HooperWebster, MinnesotaQ: We have been in a discussion aboutthe proper way to shut down a heater ina Baron. It is my contention that. althoughit probably doesn't make muchdifference in flight. the proper way is topush the temp control all the way in tothe coolest temp then wait until you feelcool alf before shutting off the heaterswitch.Another Baron owner says turn it offand on with the switch and leave the tempcontrol alone untt! you need a differenttemp. When on the ground. turning offWIth the switch only, you would stop thealf flow WIth a hIgh temperature remaintOgwithin the heater. In other wordsbetter to use the blower to cool the heater:We can't find anything in the book.Would you have any information on thissubject?A: Check Section VII, Systems Descriptionin the POH. Although it maynot state specifically, if you turn theheater switch to "off" in flight a few minutesprior to landing, the heater wi ll cooldown without moving the temperaturecontrol. The blower will not run in the"heat" or "blower" position with thelanding gear in the up position.On the ground, I recommend switchingbriefly to the "blower" position tocool the heater down and avoid blowingthe overheat fuse. You can just switchfrom "heater" to "blower" withoutchanging the temp control or you canreduce the temperature control and cooldown first in the "heater" position.-NPBaron auxiliary fuelScoN SeiboldLas Vegas, NevadaQ : Do you know of anybody offeringaux fuel capacIty such as tip tanks forthe Baron D55 or 56TC?A: Other than the factory installed optionalfuel tanks, Colemill is the onlyother source for Baron aux tanks. lostallationsvary by model and depend on thecapacIty of the existing tank installations.The B55 Baron is STC'd for wi ngletswith an additional 15 gallons per side.Colemlll (615-226-4256) is located inNashvi lle, Tennessee.-NPIO-470-C fuel pumpD eon SchroederVancouver, WashingtonQ: Where can I find information onthe fuel pump for an 10 470-C? CoLvin'sClinic talks about the problems but doesnot have enough detail. I have the engineparts catalog, but it shows the pumpas one part. I would like to find an overhaultype of publication if one is available.A : \' m not sure which type pump youhave but Aircraft Systems (815-399-0225) and Aircraft Accessories (800-255-9924) overhaul most of the commonpumps. They have been helpful with informationto members. Essco (30-644-7724) has service manuals for most commoncomponents.- PPage 5565