Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Sold my 150, now looking at 182s

As some of you know, I recently sold my 150 in order to purchase a 182. The 150 was no longer meeting my mission, and at this time, a 182 is a better fit for me.

Since I know that several of you are quite familiar with 182s, I thought I would post some information on a 182 I am looking at, and see what you all think.

I am looking at a 1977 Cessna 182Q, N735TZ. TTAF 3560, TSMOH 1950, Time since bottom overhaul 900. Engine O-470 U, 230HP, 84 gallon tanks.

The “overhaul” that occurred 900 hours ago included: camshaft reground and new hydraulic lifters installed, new main bearings, one crankcase half repaired, new rings, new valve springs, two new valves, new piston pins, two new valve guides.
Engine work in 2007 (about 300 hours ago I think) includes factory rebuilt carburetor 2 new cylinders, and new RH exhaust header.

Avionics:
Garmin 530 WAAS with GPSS roll steering coupled to the autopilot.
Apollo 4 place intercom, marker beacon system
KX-155 nav com #2 with VOR/LOC indicator
KT-76 transponder
STEC 50 autopilot
Nice paint, nice interior.

What do you think of this plane? I like everything about it except the engine. I’m not really sure what to make of it. I don’t really want a plane with an engine that will need instant overhaul. As best I can tell, the bottom half of the engine is good to go, and 2 of the cylinders and carburetor have been recently replaced. Do you think that if I purchase this plane I would be in the engine shop instantly? I have oil analysis results back to 2003 that all look good.
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Click Here for More Pictures [pbase.com]

I like it

Timothy,

You used “overhaul”. My plane’s engine is in sort of the same position; 275 on cylinders and 30 on the bottom end. The bottom end work was done due to the wind blowing my hanger door off of the tracks and into the spinner and prop. The crank and cam were still standard after 2200 hours of total service.

The following questions are rhetorical, just to give you something to think about and perhaps check on.

I presume that the engine time is the same as the airframe. Even though the TBO is 1500 hours the engine really has more like the 900 hours since the case was split. If the work that you described was done by a good shop I wouldn’t be afraid of it.

If you do have any cylinder problems they can be taken care of as they happen. I once to used the logic that if one cylinder went bad it wouldn’t be long before they all went bad and replaced them all. Wrongheaded thinking, just fix what needs fixing. Some of these 0-470 have been going for 4000 hours fixing things as needed. I refer you to the Cessna Pilots Association. One of the editors flys a 310 with very high time engines. However, if you aren’t comfortable figure around $3000 to $6000 to repair or replace the remaining four cylinders and figure that into your price.

CPA is also a good resource on 182s. They have a pretty good pretty good 182 fourm.

When were the mags and wires replaced? How about the alternator and starter times? It has wheel pants so it is hard to see the brakes but they need to be checked out; it is real easy to spend a grand on them.

The prop is also a 1500 hour TBO item. How long since overhaul.

Does it have wet wings or bladders? If bladders then take a look at how long they have been in service. It looks like to me that the life for them is around ten to twelve years.

From the pictures the plane looks really nice. (If my plane had that paint job I’d quit calling her the WartHog.)

VERY nice panel.

One thing that I would recommend for any carbureted 0-470 is the installation of a carb temp gage: they can be very inexpwnsive. I just put one on mine and I am amazed how cold the venture gets. In your part of the country that could spell real trouble.
Good Luck.

Tim,

Wayne really nailed it - the bottom end of the engine is the driver on the overhaul. Cylinders are repaired or replaced only as needed. Don't do an overhaul unless it is needed and the way to tell it is via oil analysis, borescope examination of the cylinders and data from an engine monitor. You've got good oil analysis, which is a huge plus. It appears the engine is effectively mid-time.

Suggestion: use the odd engine "overhaul" as a negotiating tool on price (this is definitely the time to buy) and make the deal contingent on an acceptable prepurchase examination. Have the cylinders borescoped (do a compression test but recognize that it may be art more than science as two mechanics doing compression checks one after another may get widely differing results). It looks like a very nice airplane. I did not see that it had an engine monitor (maybe I overlooked that part). If it doesn't, that would be, IMHO, a wise, immediate installation as it may pay for itself in catching little problems before they become big and help that engine run a long, long time.

You might also want to set aside about a quarter of the purchase price to cover the things that somehow invariably go wrong the first year no matter how careful you are.

Also, heartily concur with Wayne's recommendation to join CPA; excellent organization with tremendous technical information. Mike Busch's maintenance articles are themselves worth the price of admission. (His column in AVweb is also excellent reading.) He's running a T310R with engines that are 1000 past TBO and going strong - LOP operation, oil analysis, borescope and engine monitor data analysis regularly.

Good luck with it,
Rick

Thank you for your replies. I especially appreciate the reference to Mike Busch's articles, they are the best.

I actually e-mailed Mike, and he gave me a very prompt, helpful reply.

I'm not sure if this will end up being the plane for me, as I don't know if the seller, a bank, and I can come to a mutually agreeable price. This plane looks better in-person than it does to the banker, and the banker thinks that it is priced too high.

I will need a lower price, or a different plane.

The search continues...