BC-65; no tach time meter??

[mhorowit]

This 1940 BC-65 I'm looking at has one of those large tach and it has no way to measure tach time.

IF you are an owner of one of these tachs, how do you record tach time? - Mike

[alwaysoar]

Re: BC-65; no tach time meter??

You don't, you have to keep track of the time and dutifully record it in the logs--that's what I do. Of course, you have no idea looking at another plane if the owner kept track or not. Lots of stories here; I have one of those too, having just majored a 700-hundred-hour engine!

[Frank DeBartolo]

Re: BC-65; no tach time meter??

Ed,

The airplane I purchased with the "recent overhaul" did not have a recording tach either. At the overhaul, I purchased a new recording tach, and new oil pressure an oil temp instruments.

Some people call installing new rings and grinding valves an overhaul. Many never bother to check out the engine parts to see if they are within tolerance.

It's been quite a lesson.

Frank

[alwaysoar]

Re: BC-65; no tach time meter??

Hi Frank,

I was glad to read that you are happy with your engine and that you're IA came through. You should be able to fly that plane forever. We both got lead down the primrose path, so to speak, but we now know what we've got and have learned a lot. I'm now up to about 50 hours on my major and with new mags, it runs/starts great.

Ed

[Frank DeBartolo]

Re: BC-65; no tach time meter??

Hi Ed,

Glad to hear all is well with your plane. I just flew my T-Craft 2.4 hours yesterday. The weather here is Severe Clear and light winds. Great flying weather with temps 15-20C. Some thermals however but yesterday you could see forever. A great day for flying in Iowa.

To get back to Mike's dilemma, after what I went through, I think that logs can't be trusted and compression tests do not tell the whole story. I had decent compression on a rotten engine. My take on this is that if I were to do it again, I would try to find the best airframe I could find and figure that the engine logs could very well be full of Bulloney. I would plan to overhaul the engine if needed and if I got lucky and did not have to overhaul the engine, then, I would be ahead of the game. Another thing that could be done is to pull a cylinder and check out the tolerances on the pistons, remove the piston rod and inspect the crank, however that would be one of four. Anyone else have any ideas?

Frank