Fuselage corrosion

[cvavon]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

What do you get when you buy a used fuselage that has not been inspected? maybe the same thing he has after blasting fixing what he has will give him a as new fuselage that if oiled right will last another 70 years and he will know it is solid

[Guest]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

We probably should take a tube drawing and highlight all of the trap areas. It would be a great guide for doing the ice pick probe test at annuals. There area lot of those trap areas that aren't obvious if you haven't cut a fuselage frame up.
Hank

Good idea.

While reading this thread and looking at the pictures I was thinking "hmm I think I missed some chambers at my last inspection!"

[cvavon]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

Our planes are a minimum of 66 years old and no matter what the log books say we cant be sure what they have been through or how they have been treated so if it is a factory fuselage it's old and it would be better to repair then to buy old parts to start over with he all ready has done the inspection opened up the bad spots now jest fix it and it's then like new.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

What do you get when you buy a used fuselage that has not been inspected? maybe the same thing he has after blasting fixing what he has will give him a as new fuselage that if oiled right will last another 70 years and he will know it is solid

I wouldn't buy a fuse without inspecting it first. Unless you run a camera through every tube on the repaired fuse I would be worried there might be an area that wasn't quite there yet but close that I missed.

[jim cooper]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

I think it may be that alot of T-Crafts, Cubs, etc. are currently flying with horror storys hiding under the fabric. I like what Terry said in that you may have saved one or more lives including you own. It seems a good welder could make it right at a reasonable cost. Don't give up! The Stearman I bought in the 80's was owned by a super liar. It had 2 bad jugs and a broken spar. I was very lucky that a good mechanic took pity on me and helped me fix it correctly. (I watched while HIS ai "annualed it" and passed it in 4 hours!)I was Real dumb! I had ALOT of fun with it later and in the end it turned out well. JC

[Dano"T"]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

I just rebuilt a Cub that was way worse than that...I did it myself as a challenge. I never gas welded before, but I replaced 1/3 of the tubing and made a new birdcage (converted it to an L4) and did a complete ground up on it....and I've never done any restoration work before....but if I can do....so can you....You are correct that buying a good used fuselage will be cheaper than paying someone to do it.....or just do yourself, like I did. see my thread in Hangar Mates. A friend of mine taught me how to tig and gas weld.

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

Either that fuse has lived in a water enviroment, sat uncovered in the elements for many years, or was covered with the old Blue River process that caused many Super Cub failures back in the 80's when they put them back into production and had to recover most of them due to the OLD waterbase covering system. They just do not rot like that in service (unless it lived on water) and I have probably seen more bare fuselages than anyone on the board except Forrest.

[crispy critter]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

The way that fuslage is rotting from the inside-out in sooo many different and unlikely locations makes me think it has probably been under water at one time.....perhaps a flood or something. Also, the blue river system was another thought that first came to mind however the blue river system mostly corrods from the outside-in...or at least that I have seen. Also could have been subject to electralysis(not sure how to spell that). If the airplane had a wind genereator or electric system that was improperly hooked up could cause corrosion over time.....I've never seen this first hand and know very little about it, someone was telling me about it a couple years ago.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

It sure looks like a fuselage that has seen some time on salt water. NOT beyond saving by any means, just check every tube as you work from one end to the other. It doesn't look like problems from a wind generator to me. He would have a tube corroded through where the ground was attached to the frame. It is pretty rare and has a distinct look to it when it happens. Nice sharp edges of corrosion where the ground strap attached. Wind generators are great, but you want to keep ANY moisture away from the connections to the frame and check the condition of the area on annual. Mine was grounded to the pylon the generator actually attached to. If it had corroded the generator would have fallen off before the structure was compromised. It is also easy to look at on every pre-flight (which is why I don't worry as much about it being out in the moisture).
Hank

I test the generator pylon for security every time I crawl under the plane by smacking my head on it.

[TimHicks]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

I talked Steve Pierce of Pierce Aero in Graham, TX yesterday. He confirmed a lot of the stuff that Chuck mentioned about him. He is kind of a Piper guy who has jigs to do Pipers. Steve said that's nice because he can drop fuselages into the jigs and if they don't fit, there are usually old repairs that can be improved (in addition to ensuring that new repairs get done right).

So Steve doesn't have any jig for TCrafts. But he has done TCraft repairs before and he said that from my verbal description of my damage, he considered it possible that the work could be done without a jig.
I sent him the same pictures that y'all have seen (so that he could get a better idea of the scope of work) by email. But I haven't heard back from him yet. I left a voicemail this morning asking if he got the pictures.

When I bought this airplane, it came with a wind generator. But it wasn't mounted. And it didn't look like that particular WG had ever been mounted to this particular airplane. But there is evidence that this airplane did operate with a wind generator in the past.

Also I bought this airplane in Houma, Louisiana, where is spent quite a few years. I'm not sure if living near the Gulf could have had this impact.

Last night, I tried to get the Fuselage SN off of airframe. It looks like 9117. The SN in the logs is 9172.

I'm not opposed to replacing the fuselage. If anybody has a '46 BC-12D fuselage available for sale, please let me know.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

A difference of 55 between SNs isn't impossible, especially if a fuselage was pulled off the line for a mod or factory repair (stuff does get "bent" in production and fixes are common). There is a pretty good chance it "could" be the original fuselage, further off than most I have seen, but not completely ridiculous. It could have gotten some minor damage, been set aside on the line for repair, and put back in later after it was sent back to be fixed.
I would still repair it and use it as a great excuse to learn to gas welding.
Hank

[barnstmr]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

NOTE TO SELF - Never buy any metal airplane parts or car parts from anyone in Houma, LA

[barnstmr]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

Are you sure that's not 9147? Look again

[M Towsley]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

I agree with Terry, looks like a four. Try taking a photo at a slight angle to the serial number so the flash doesn't wash it out but instead picks up the stamp ridges. That would make it only a couple of digits off.

[crispy critter]

Re: Fuselage corrosion

The location certinly could tell the story on the corrosion....it could have sat in flood waters from a hurricane or tropical storm and anything....or just simply being that close to the salt water all the time.....s/n in the pics is certinly without a dought 9147