Our Cheetah and her story ... (continued)
From June of 1999 until it was sold in April 2003, we put over 400 hours on the airplane.  Maintenance was fairly routine, except for the two new cylinders that were needed at the 2000 annual (850 hours SMOH -- one cracked cylinder and a failed SB388 wobble test).  The one nagging mechanical item was a squeaking right brake that, despite two new discs in the meantime, was never any better or any worse than it was when we first flew the airplane at McMinnville.
N365PS instrument panel -- 2002
N26383 instrument panel -- 1992
When we bought the airplane it had an ADF (Narco ADF141), transponder (Narco AT150) with encoder, a loran (Arnav R-20) where the glove box had been, and an audio switch panel (Narco CP136).  Strangely, though it had two VHF navigation radios (a self-contained Narco 122 with glide slope, and a Narco 824 with remote VOR/LOC indicator), it only had one communication radio, a Narco 810+. 

Since then we made the following changes to the airplane's equipment:
--  Added Bendix/King KY-97A digital COM radio;
--  Added E.I. digital EGT/CHT/OAT gauge, replacing vacuum gauge on right side;
--  Added New 1-1/2" vacuum gauge located on left side of panel;
--  Replaced worn mixture cable with Alcor vernier mixture control;
--  Replaced vacuum gyro instruments with new or overhauled units;
--  Arnav loran removed.  Used glove box has been purchased but not yet installed.

I have no idea how well the Arnav loran worked.  I never even turned it on, because my Lowrance Airmap 100 handheld GPS did everything so much better and easier.  I had the loran taken out when the KY-97A was installed (using the loran's antenna), and it now sits on a bookshelf at home.

Despite their less-than-stellar reputation for reliability and service, we never had any problem with the Narco units aboard this airplane since the audio panel glitch on our first trip.  Nevertheless, we decided to purchase a Bendix/King unit for the second com radio.

In 2002 our mission profile changed.  Our son, his wife and our grandson (soon to be grandchildren) moved to Phoenix, and after a couple of trips from Washington State to Phoenix we realized that in order to make the trip as frequently as we would like, we would need an airplane with more speed and range than the Cheetah.  Soooooo, we put down a deposit on a lovely K35 Bonanza, and regretfully, the Cheetah was sold in April 2003.
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