A new Skymaster Owner enters the forums

[mshac]

Greetings to the membership! I've only recently become a 337 convert, coming from a long history of owning Barons, 310's, Bonanzas and the like.

I bought a 1978 P337H that was owned by a doctor for 32 years. The maintenance looks good - maybe I won't complain as much when I pay my doctor bill next time.

The Pressurized Skymaster II has boots (in good condition) and a hot prop on the front, but no hot prop on the rear. I guess the exhaust naturally keeps the ice off the rear prop? It has a provision for a hot plate, but none was included with the sale. Anybody have one lying around?

First trip home was 540nm on a 132 heading flown at 17.5K. Flight averaged 205 knots and 28 GPH. Plane could of performed even better, but I ran it well rich of peak as I'm told I should with turbos. Even some slight leaning would have saved 2-3 GPH as my TITs were low at about 1350 vs. a 1650 max. As I get to know the plane, I'll try different leaning strategies.

Aircraft was purchased with a known fault of the rear alternator not charging. Once I was home, I pulled the front cowl and checked the voltage regulator (VR). It showed good DC voltage on the red bus line ("D" line) and the blue field line about a volt less, as it should be. Every thing points to a bad rear alternator. Although...

Rear alternator was changed at the last annual and looks brand-spanking new, which makes me suspect a bad connection between the blue field wire coming from the VR and the alternator. I need access to the alternator, but can't just from removing the cowls.

The service manual refers to removing interior panels to gain access to the rear firewall service port, but doesn't give any directions on how to do it. I'm sure I could start taking things apart, but I'd much rather have photos or a guide so things would hopefully go more smoothly. Any advice in this regard would be much appreciated!

EDIT: Gaining access to the rear engine was a cinch. The problem is trying to work in 109 degree Texas heat (hanger is full again!). It was easy:

Three interior panels on the rear wall come off in seconds (they were velcroed in my plane), then the engine access cover has 8 3/8" bolts. Took maybe three minutes to gain full access. Photos in a later thread!