What Saratoga year parts are interchangeable?

I've got a 1996 Piper PA-32R-301 Saratoga II HP that my A&P discovered corrosion on during annual. Most of it was discovered on the door frames but there appears to be corrosion on the internal fuselage everywhere the screws held stuff on.

My question is how old can the donor piper parts be?. In other words, if I find a 1980 PA32-301 will the fuselage parts match?

Thank you!

Comments

  • My guess is that you're going to have to compare the parts manuals from the two airplanes to find out for sure.

    Scott Sherer
    Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
    Aviation Director, Piper Owner Society Forum Moderator and Pipers Author.

    Need help? Let me know!

  • I've got a piper parts catalog that runs from 1980-1995
  • Piper is well know for not reinventing the wheel when it comes to parts. However, that does not guarantee your restart PA32 will be similar enough to purchase an entire fuselage group.

    Vero Beach answers the phones. That’s where I would start honestly. Explain the issues and tell the engineer what your plans are. He/she will be frank about your idea and that should help a ton. I suspect they are closed for the next week though.

    I own and fly a 79 PA32RT-300T. Previous aircraft are a 79 Archer and 76 Arrow.

  • Jsmith, can you send pictures of the corrosion? Where are you based?

    Eric Panning
    1981 Seneca III
    Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)

  • What does the tail cone look like? Has the spar been inspected? KBCR is Florida the panhandle of Florida but 33 nm from the coast so not in direct salt spray.

    It looks as if someone sprayed primer over active corrosion in one picture. Some of that might be cleaned up and doubled as a structural repair.

    Does not look easy

    Eric Panning
    1981 Seneca III
    Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)

  • Is this plane new to you? New A&P? That corrosion has been there a while. Pretty shocking how advanced it is given the age of the airframe. Seeing that, I'd be going through everything with a fine tooth comb. I'd be surprised if that was the only corrosion.
  • Yes, bought the plane last year. Piper/Flightline Tallahassee did the pre buy and annual then charged me ridiculous sums of money to fix things the former owner said weren’t broken. This is the first annual since. The plane apparently flew a lot in the Bahamas in its former life. The A&P thinks the corrosion is limited to the interior where screws held interior panels in place. I know I got screwed on this but AOPA said I probably would not win in court. So, here we are. Plane is at RJ Dauhn where they specialize in repairing corrosion.
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