So I flew up to NJ to check out the plane yesterday. Not perfect as I had hoped but probably Ok?
N2891X, S/N: 15078506 1976 C150 Commuter II (IFR from the factory) 650 SMOH, ~5000 TT Dual nav/coms (MK 12D and Cessna 320) Wheel pants 2000 interior 1995 paint (though chipping off the wheel pants some) Vortex Generators Aileron and Flap gap seals Mogas STC
The bad: 1. Marker beacons were marked inop in 1996. Need to have the avionics shop test them. Need em. May need to replace.
2. Undocumented maintenance: The glass has obviously been replaced since paint. No log entry. More importantly, a small portion of the upper forward engine cowl (see pic) has obviously been replaced and painted (but doesn't match perfectly). No log entry. I'm slightly concerned about how much work was done un-documented.
3. The lower instrument panel is cracked in a couple spots. Have any of you tried to repair? Same goes for the instrument panel. It has a crack or two.
4. Master switch for electric gyros only installed - no log entry This has the potential to be dangerous in IMC if the switch gives out and cuts power off to the electric gyros. Someone added an additional failure point trying to be slick and save the life of the elec gyros it looks like. Need to find out from the avionics shop how much it would take to remove. Shouldn't be much.
5. Wing tip fairings cracked pretty bad on front side. Can they be fiberglassed for repair?
6. Possible damage in 1980. Engine mount replaced with yellow-tagged unit. Nothing from the FAA or NTSB to suggest accident but likely un-reported.
7. No intercom (already mentioned) but the avionics shop doing the IFR cert is going to install one for $350 parts AND labor. These guys are great! (Alron avionics at 17N).
8. Engine rebuilt by "Engine Aides" (Sussex, NJ). Can't find the shop anywhere in the yellow pages or online so it likely has closed. Most of the overhaul used new parts though, including Millennium cylinders/pistons, etc. Crank was grinded and re-used. I think with 600+ hrs SMOH, it's safe to say it's OK despite the questionable overhauler.
I gave a deposit and decided to go ahead with a pre-buy. We'll see how good it turns out. No major corrosion in the wings or aft fuselage. A little surface stuff, but that's to be expected. I finally got the guy to come down from $28k (ridiculously high priced) to $21k, minus the cost of an IFR cert after about a month of haggling. If the engine/airframe turn out good, then it think it's a fair price. We'll see. It's still more than I wanted to spend, but for an decently equipped IFR 150, it should hold its value after a couple hundred hours.
I didn't get to fly it which I really would have preferred before putting a deposit down, but it was still iced over some and there were some very gusty crosswinds (peak gusts 26kt) on a 45' wide runway. I wasn't too worried about getting the lightly loaded Arrow I was flying in and out, but wasn't worth trying to de-ice then fly a 150 in that for a test flight.
Any comments/suggestions? Got the pre-buy lined up, it's just a matter of time.
