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  • non-BH question ----

    A friend is having to move his toys to a new location. he has an "extra" airplane that he wants to sell instead of moving it.
    It is a piper pacer project. He says that its about 95% all there. Looks like a previous owner cleaned and primed/painted the fuselage. I dont know how long ago it was painted--
    dont know th equality it was done with. (if it was blasted ) I dont see any obvious problems with the tubing. (I could fix any if there were)
    Its a whole airframe. he wants 2000$ for everything but the engine. Havnt looked at the wings yet. He says the motor is there-- a core of some kind--- a lyc-0290. he has taken a few
    things off but basically in one piece. He has another pacer he is restoring and he was going to use the engine for spare parts.... but he said he might sell the core with it for 2500...
    (dont know core condition yet. he says both have logs.

    does this sound like a fairly good deal ? Call me a NUT--- but I dont mind the idea of building the BH AND restoring this thing at the same time ! The piper COULD go fairly fast.
    My cousin has flown one like it and said it was a nice plane to fly and pretty fast. I see there are several nice STC's for them too.

    Any feedback on this ? Also it is just across town--- so no 1000 mile treck to get it.

    Tim

  • #2
    My feedback....pass on the pacer project. Spend any and all the time (and funds) you can on your bearhawk project. Your bearhawk will be in the air sooner with your mind focused on one project. Who really needs a pacer when you have a bearhawk anyway!! FWIW

    Comment


    • jaredyates
      jaredyates commented
      Editing a comment
      I agree. Different answer for a flying Pacer.

  • #3
    I had a nice Pacer when I started my Patrol kit. I ended up selling it about a year into my build because flying / maintaining the Pacer was cutting into my building time too much. I could see building two planes of the same design at once but going back and forth between two different planes seems like it would really add time to your build. That said, depending on the condition of that Pacer it might be a good deal. But if you look around at project Pacers they really don't go for much.

    The Pacer is a good plane but doesn't compare to the Bearhawk. Although my dog seems to prefer the Pacer to my Patrol. He liked having the whole backseat area to himself (I removed the back seat) and having the back door that he could jump in and out of. He doesn't seem to be a fan of riding way back in the baggage area of the Patrol when nobody is in the back seat and he doesn't like the indignity of having to be lifted into and out of the back seat. But then he doesn't care about things like short field performance, cruise speed, efficiency and easier ground handling characteristics.
    Rollie VanDorn
    Findlay, OH
    Patrol Quick Build

    Comment


    • Bcone1381
      Bcone1381 commented
      Editing a comment
      Rollie, Your dog cant understand why you won't remove the back seat and let him climb in thru the cargo door.

    • Bdflies
      Bdflies commented
      Editing a comment
      If I had a dog that enjoyed flying and shared his opinions, I'd remove my back seat and build him a nice padded Doggie platform to ride on.

      Bill

  • #4
    One draw back, a friend of mine said parts are getting hard to find for her Pacer O-290, cases especially. She is considering one of the STCs for the 320 or 360.
    Scott Ahrens
    Bearhawk Patrol Plans Built
    #254

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    • #5
      A beautifully restored pacer with all the bush mods is worth maybe 35k. You'll have more into the engine and fabric than that.

      Pass.

      Comment


      • #6
        So he said it's 95% done? Well, there only 90% left to finish then!

        Comment


        • #7
          No--- I was told by the owner that it was about 95-98 % complete. It looks like it is not too far from being ready to cover. Have not seen the wings yet.
          I did some research on the o-290's. Seems that those who have a good running 290 are keeping it and hoarding parts----
          Those who have a questionable one - are just converting to o-320. which seems to be a simple bolt-on deal (and a piece of paper).
          The nice thing is that 320 's seem to be the most plentiful engine used now.

          One thought is I might bring it back to flying condition and later sell it as the bearhawk gets to the point of needing an engine. 520 aernt plentiful or cheap.
          Same with 360's (at least lyc. 360's)

          If I can get it inexpensive---- I think its a Don Corleone deal.
          Will get to review log book tomorrow.

          T

          Comment


          • #8
            Originally posted by fairchild View Post
            No--- I was told by the owner that it was about 95-98 % complete. It looks like it is not too far from being ready to cover. Have not seen the wings yet.
            I did some research on the o-290's. Seems that those who have a good running 290 are keeping it and hoarding parts----
            Those who have a questionable one - are just converting to o-320. which seems to be a simple bolt-on deal (and a piece of paper).
            The nice thing is that 320 's seem to be the most plentiful engine used now.

            One thought is I might bring it back to flying condition and later sell it as the bearhawk gets to the point of needing an engine. 520 aernt plentiful or cheap.
            Same with 360's (at least lyc. 360's)

            If I can get it inexpensive---- I think its a Don Corleone deal.
            Will get to review log book tomorrow.

            T
            You'll have twice, maybe 3x into it what you'll be able to sell it for.

            if you dont believe me, you'll figure it out about 30k in and have to throw good money after bad or just eat that 30k. Airplanes never make financial sense though.

            If you really want a pacer exactly how you want it, go for it. But as far as rebuilding and selling it to fund an engine, you'd be money ahead by taking 10k in 100s and burning them and THEN buying an engine than to restore a pacer.

            It's not that I dont like Pacers. I think they're the best bang for your buck out there. You can take them anywhere a 100k cub goes cause you have 80k to spend on avgas to fly the plane and can afford to fly the wings off it and be that much better of a pilot. It'll carry more than a cub to. They're pretty great on floats with the 160hp 180 is amazing but useful load starts to run out.
            Last edited by zkelley2; 04-18-2019, 05:30 AM.

            Comment


            • nichzimmerman
              nichzimmerman commented
              Editing a comment
              The useful load might start to run out anyway, depending on whether it has the 1800 or 1950 lb gross weight. You useful load may only be 5-700 lbs depending on how much stuff they added during restoraiton.

          • #9
            Sorry for the vague wording. that was 95+ percent all there. A complete airframe.
            I have restored tons of antique cars and a few planes. My attitude is that if you are trying to do it for profit you are in the wronge business. Im NOT doing it for profit. Just feeding
            the adiction. And along the way trying to feed it and minimise the expense. And part of that is not counting my labor. Only materials. Most of the time you dont make much profit---
            sometimes a little--- but if you can make a little and fund the next slightly more expensive project--- thats how it rolls. My cousin is on his 14-th iteration of that cycle. He started out
            with a 46 Aeronica chief. worked his way up to warbirds and jets. One restoration at a time. And frankly--- I dont see anything on a rag piper thats even moderately hard. maybe
            certain parts of the ceconite are somewhat--- but I think the BH is much more challangeing and taking more comittment--- and Im loving that so far...... just slow in some spots.

            As my cousin suggested--- I could be flying the piper while working o the BH. Nothing there not to like ! :-)

            Just my 2 Cents.

            I will get a title search done on it before any $ changes hands....

            Tim

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