Good evening! I'm a new member here, and very glad to "meet" you all. Quick background: I live in Atlanta, am close to getting my private pilot certificate, and currently shopping around for a 150 to build time for commercial. My goal is to find one with mid-engine hours, build time over several months, and then either resell it or pass it along to my father if he decides to start taking lessons too (and/or just keep it if we fall in love with the ol' girl).
We've run the numbers and anticipate decent cost savings over rental even leaving room for some repairs, depreciation, taxes, and other costs. It certainly helps that there's a nearby private airfield with a $50 tie down and 100LL for under $4/gal.
Anyways, I'm considering a 1965 150F located in TX with 3377 TTAF, 868 SMOH (overhaul was in 2002). I've narrowed my confusion down to 3 main areas now:
1) Most recent compressions were 67,72,70,68. Is this a cause for concern? Prior compression checks were all in the low-to-mid 70s. The current owner has been flying it regularly building xc time (~60 hours since January). In prior years it was flown 23, 36, 81, and 99 hours (most recent year first).
2) The owner said the engine wasn't running as smoothly as the 172SP that he had been using for training, so he spent $700 on a valve lubrication and it's been running much more smoothly since then. I've heard that these valves can be "sticky" sometimes, but is this lubrication procedure normal or is it a cause for concern? Would you expect that issue to be recurring if the lubrication wears/burns off, or would you expect it to be good for a while now that it's done?
3) Finally, I found a different 150 that looks good except that the last major overhaul was around 1982 (and 1071 hours SMOH). That's 36 hrs/yr average and I'm waiting on the logbooks to see how much of that flying was recent, but 35+ years SMOH seems like way too long. Is it smart to steer away from a very old engine even though it's at ~1071 hours SMOH?
Thanks very much in advance for any tips!
