... corrosion on the main spar of the left wing. This should have been found on the pre-buy inspection but I guess the mechanic I used for that just wasn't looking very hard. Thankfully (and I really mean thankfully) the sharp eyed mechanic I have been using as of late found it. It appears to be intergranular corrosion along the top cap adjacent to the gas tank, rivets pulling through, shale like appearance, the whole nine yards. I also found what is probably an illegal spar splice near the wing root from many years past. I believe the corrosion is a result of the shoddy workmanship on the left wing since the right wing which has not been damaged is corrosion free. My mechanic doesn't even want me to try to rebuild it "as it is just a mess". Even though I am sad that my baby is grounded, I am very happy that my day wasn't totally ruined on one of my outings this past year. That is a testament to the ruggedness of these little Cessnas. The purpose of my message is threefold: 1) to look for commiseration, 2) to put feelers out for a rebuildable left wing, and 3) to warn others to look really hard at thse airplanes at inspection time (better yet, before you buy). As bad as the corrosion is, it is really hard to see. 
David Acker
9584A
. Thanks,
No, really, you speak sage advice. I was determined to try and buy my first aircraft without getting too emotionally involved. IMPOSSIBLE. I do believe when buying a 54 year old airplane that no matter how good of a pre-buy... I mean annual, it will still be somewhat of a crap shoot. I was counting on the mechanic to do a thorough airframe inspection so I would at least have a good honest airframe to start with, bottom line he did not. Therefore I am paying to replace a bad wing that could have killed me (or the many people who have flown with me, counting on my knowledge and experience to keep them safe). If using my experience as an example will save someone else from going through this headache , then I am all for it! I should have insisted on a more thorough inspection by a better mechanic. Luckily, the problem was discovered and will be remedied, and like I made reference to in my earlier post, in the great scheme of things it will be a relatively trivial expense. I will be looking forward to flying my freshly overhauled "A" to some of the Texas flyins.
I wound up getting my wing from Williams Airmotive out of Indianna, I was very pleased with their work! The old wing was really scary, I highly recommend that you insist on your mechanic removing the panels covering the fuel tanks and really give your wings a thourough inspection at annual! This annual has turned into a basic restoration. It seems that every time we pulled a panel, or took something apart we had to correct something. I am still in the process of correcting a lot of years of barnyard maintenance. Besides replacing the wing we also replaced the aileron cables ( they were connected with soft cotter pins instead of clevis pins), all of the wiring in the wing, and a lot in the cockpit with more to follow (lots of automotive and household stuff). I stripped the interior out, built a new speaker bracket and installed a new speaker, and will start on removing all of the old glue in order to zinc chromate the interior. Took apart the stiff fuel selector and cleaned it up. Spent an incredible amount of time it seems replacing fasteners, make patches, doublers and the like.