The fact that in (the certified world) cheap things are expensive. Literally cheap things. Take for example a brake fluid resevoir for a PA-28 – it is literally a cheap tin can that was sold in millions containing something like 3-in-1 oil in nearly every hardware store and Halfords equivalent the world over. Attach a couple of brackets to it and a fitting for a fluid line, and even a rusty second hand one with a dent in it – a tin can that is worth a few cents at most – suddenly costs you over 200 euros.
Maybe not the worst thing ever, but worst GA thing last week was the amount of oil that spilled out of the TSIO-360 when I removed the filter… I think I’ll tilt the plane forward next time, and then use a zip-lock bag or similar around the filter anyway. I wonder what will happen when I remove the oil screen… Roll of paper towels is ready…
alioth wrote:
The fact that in (the certified world) cheap things are expensive. Literally cheap things.
I have a rule of thumb that (for rotary anyway), you need to add a zero to the normal price of things. A Robinson R44 fire extinguisher is 10x what you would pay normally, just it has an engineer’s sticker on it
the amount of oil that spilled out of the TSIO-360 when I removed the filter
I think Spruce sells a widget for this but…
I take a 2-litre plastic water bottle and with my trusty Spiderco cut the bottom off it. Then cut away part of one side of the bottle so I can slip it under/around the filter. Slacken the filter by +/- half a turn with a wrench first so I can finish unscrewing it by hand with the bottle in place. The filter and any oil are caught in the bottle. No fuss, no mess. 
Thank you, kind Scotsman. I much prefer such ingenious ideas than overpriced tools that sometimes work (aka the Spruce stuff). This will surely work even better than my ziplock bag idea, and will be reusable.
There are also various non-aviation ideas such as form-a-funnel but the pricing of a bit of silicone is aviation level. Yet they might inspire someone who needs to work in a tighter space than I (for example the Lycoming 360 – that one is “the worst” ;)).
So now my “absolute worst thing” is not knowing how much oil I should expect to leak out when I remove the oil screen for inspection ;-)
And the fear of what I might find in it, not that I have any reason to expect to find anything…
Speaking of funnels to add oil, my favourite one is a Phillips 66 X/C oil bottle with the bottom cut off. Besides the convenient shape, it also screws directly into the Lycoming oil filler tube.
Great that.
Same that oil is widely available in the UK
Not reading one’s post after pressing Submit
Speaking of the oil bottle, in order to be able to cut off the bottom, one needs to empty it first, and how will one do that if eg it is too windy to pour the oil in? The widget which has a valve in it is much more useful and works with normal Shell bottles. I also have one for Exxon Elite but that oil is discontinued.
My 12-pack of XC came with a funnel. I think it is “just a funnel” as in it doesn’t have any special anti-gust properties, but I haven’t checked. The first 7 bottles get emptied in the hangar anyway, so that’s how the sacrificial bottle is obtained, I guess. ;)
