Hi Aaron –
Congratulations on your purchase! I was looking for a Seneca III early last year but everything I was finding had some unusual damage history (one had hit a deer, one had fallen off its jacks onto its props, etc.) In the meantime, I located and purchased a 1978 Aztec. It had a clean history, but the first year has been expensive in terms of clearing deferred maintenance. I feel your pain.
If you can get through the first year, I think it will be worth the time and money – I’m enjoying my Aztec. My impression is that the Seneca will have lower fuel burn and be faster than the Aztec, so you’ll be in good shape for long flights.
I found it helpful to work with a shop that specializes in Aztecs, even though they are a long flight from me (Diamond Aire in Kalispell). I have them on speed dial for questions, and the airplane spent a month there for a passenger door rebuild and a slew of other work. Then my first annual was two months at my local shop, where they replaced almost every hydraulic line, the motor mounts, all the corroded exhaust parts, etc.
If you can find the folks who know the Seneca inside and out, they will know the gotchas for that model and year. You may also have issues with parts availability during the first annual, at least I did. I found that Acorn Welding in Canada does a ton of Aztec work and was able to build a tailpipe for me that was unavailable from anyone else. I bought a fair number of parts from an old-school fellow in Connecticut with no website or email. I just got on the phone with him and listed everything my shop couldn’t locate, and he checked his supplies. The problem wasn’t the engine itself (which is a standard Lycoming) but the Aztec-custom parts like the exhaust. I bet there’s similar solutions for those hard-to-find Seneca parts.
-Frank.
ps. I lived in Dayton for a few years in the late 80s, and my first training flights were at KMGY.
