Question 1968 PA28-180: First Annual as New Owner

Steve, I think you got me confused with the other person in that thread (I think his name is Kevin). I didn't import my plane, in fact I bought mine locally (about 30 minutes from my house). Happy to write-up any details of my experience as a first time plane owner, buying a plane as a student pilot, etc. but that's about all the expertise I have to offer

Ah yes, the Avionics budget! That always seems to be creeping ever higher!!

Hi Alyssa;
Based on your report, it looks like the maintenance people there are taking very good care of you. As a semi retired A & P, I'd suggest taking them a pink box of donuts one Monday morning. Although there may be some disciplined eaters there, nobody I know can resist a fresh donut now and then.
When you get time to tell the story of the steps required to import an airplane that's registered in Canada to the States, I encourage you to write it up and send it to Jennifer, the editor.
Is there anything else I can do for you?
Steve

Yeah that's my hope. I basically told them, make it as close to new as you reasonably can. "Starting with a known quantity" is how they put it. I'm very glad I prepared for this. Before buying my plane I saw a video by Shmindy on Youtube talking about her first annual on a 1950's 182. Cost her $12,000. So when I planned the budget for my plane I included a big chunk for the first annual.

LEDs are very nice, I also installed the WAT Chroma bulbs in the wing tips so the only non-LED lighting left is the belly strobe and the tail nav light. I was surprised that replacing the rotating beacon only saved about 0.4A but the increased safety (and quiet) is still well worth the cost IMHO.

Now to figure out my avionics budget

Some very needed fixes and some very nice upgrades. I love the LED lights as they give much better lighting and use less power. Shoulder harness is on my list to do for my plane as well. The nice thing is after the first annual it usually gets easier... if you can avoid upgrade-itis!

Sounds like you will have a very nice plane.

I bought my plane in August 2022 and it just came out of it's first annual. I don't have the final bill yet, but it's gonna be a big one. Thankfully I planned for this when I bought the plane. She was in annual for 3 weeks and I included a few special requests and a healthy list of squawk items. So all said and done, here's all the discrepancies and requested items they addressed:

• Replaced faulty ignition switch (allowed key removal in run position)
• Replaced worn scat tubing to airbox
• Fabricated and installed oil cooler winterization plate
• Repaired broken carb heat airbox flap
• Installed lower cowl air filter seal (replacing a homemade one the previous seller tried to fabricate from orange baffling)
• SB 1375A (replaced attach bolts and screws, no oversizing necessary, said bolt holes showed zero sign of wear)
• Rebuilt both main gear struts (seals failed in November and lower end strut rebuild failed to correct)
• Excess flutter in trim tab, replaced worn bushings and rewound cable on jack screw
• Replaced worn trim tab hinge
• Repaired rudder trim control
• Replaced ELT remote battery
• Replaced interior door handle and latch assembly 
• Removed nose wheel fairing
• Added full deflection markings on nose gear strut
• Removed old motorized rotating beacon and replaced with dual-color LED flashing beacon
• Installed front seat shoulder harness kits
• Installed LED Landing Light

And unfortunately this isn't all yet. They also identified surface corrosion on the propeller so we're going to send that in for overhaul. However,  there's a 6-8 week lead time so we've got my name in the queue and I can keep flying in the meantime. When they're ready for the prop, we'll take it off and ship it. I can expect another few weeks of downtime at that point.

So all in all nothing earth shattering. His comments on the engine were "Whatever you're doing keep doing it". Said the plugs looked perfect (yay for ground leaning), scope was good and compressions were all mid-70's.