ABS Service Clinic

Today I attended the American Bonanza Society service clinic at Livermore.  Basically the service clinic is a maintenance inspection performed by a group of very highly experienced mechanics who also have an extraordinary amount of type specific knowledge in Bonanzas and Barons.  I was a bit apprehensive as I've heard of folks walking away multi page squawk sheets and worse, severe doubts about their airplanes.  Luckily I was pleasantly surprised, and even a bit elated that my plane received a reasonably clean bill of health.  There was also a representative from Continental there who inspected my engines, ran compression tests on them and borescoped the cylinders.  The results surprised me in that both engines are, according to him, the picture of good health... especially considering their age.  I mentioned the fact that I had found a few pieces of ferrous metal in the last oil change and showed him the photos on my iphone.  He wasn't very concerned about the small amount shown in the photos and agreed that it was most likely slight spalling of one of the lifters.  He suggested waiting until the next oil change and if a similar or more amount is found again, to perform the lifter inspection.  Here were the compressions:

Right Engine:

1:76/80
3: 74/80
5: 74/80
2: 70/80
4: 74/80
6: 74/80

No abnormal wear, no rust and cylinders looks good.

Left (critical) Engine:

1: 66/80
3: 70/80
5: 72/80
2: 70/80
4: 72/80
6: 74/80

I was actually surprised to see such good compressions on the left engine considering this one has been consuming significantly more oil than the right engine.  Apparently my oil consumption on this engine at 1 qt every 4 hours or so is not abnormal for an engine with 1350 hours on it.

The other squawks:

Right flap actuactor bushing at attach bolt needs tightening
Lube: door hinges, elevator attach bolts, rudder trim attach bolt, left wing bolts
Lifter inspection:  if I decide to do this after next oil change, expect 4-6 hrs labor
Nose gear downlock tension too low at 48lbs, should be 55
Main gear down lock tension needs to be over center, not enough tension on down lock wire
Slight chaffing on the righthand outboard landing gear door
Right hand uploack block roller clearance to high at 40 thousands of an inch... should be 20
Strut not hitting upstop on right/left bolt... needs adjusting
Nose gear shimmy damper needs fluid
Nose gear stearing yoke bushing should be replaced
Steering idler arm bushing should be replaced in the retaining collar
Aft retract rod attach bolt needs tightening, potentially replace LS4 bearing on steering rod

Lube to use: LPS2
Boots: Ap303