Two steps forward, one step back

This is what you see on the other side of the instrument panel, when the cowling is fully removed.

Last time I wrote a blog entry, things were looking up, and we had fixed the issue of the voltage light coming on during a take-off roll, which we prudently abandoned and came back in.

So, wise choice - replace the alternator, after all it was factory original and therefore 13 years old.
Having done so ("it's only money, and we do want our son to live to take care of us in our old age") we ran it up by standing on the brakes on the taxiway, to see if it did that fluttering of the gauges.  It seems to have passed, and tomorrow we take her out for a test - so if this seems to be the last blog I write, you'll have an idea that the test did not go well.

For good measure we changed out half the plugs - and ordered another four to replace the top plugs.  Now, if you look closely, you'd notice that it appears to have but four cylinders, so why 8 plugs?
Because it has two magnetos - one for the left, one for the right.  We chose to change out the bottom first, as they were expected to be (and they were) pretty worn.  That's cause they're on the bottom and crud tends to settle.  The next time we need to remove the cowling, we'll do the top four.  I am learning that a plane is built with redundancies for a reason - these tend to davie lives, as when something goes bad at 5,500 feet, you want to have that redundancy when landing becomes VERY very important.

Oh, how about a teaser for the next blog......look what flew in to our ramp today.  Each engine has it's own 53 gallon oil tank.  It's crew of ten was busy wiping down the engines based on the oil which sprayed out during the flight.  After they formed a line at the bathroom in our school, that is.  I guess even two or three hours in that baby makes drinking coffee a real challenge when it comes down to time to recycle, and nowhere to go.