Matari, Thanks for your interest and concern. Some minor corrections of your conclusions.
First this is my first annual. The former owner paid $5k plus every year for his annuals from the mechanic that I wish to expose. The ship should have been in the best condition possible at that rate. I am posting this so others may learn. I am under the capable hands of a licensed A&P with helicopter experience.
Collective was rigged wrong and now perfect thanks to my mechanic, Bayard, Dennis, and others on this forum.
Leaking gearbox was because of the loose bolts on the transmission case and not mounting bolts. This should have been taken care of along time ago.
I agree with you that somebody should give the other people around here a heads up about the A&P that dropped the ball repeatedly. Problem is the IA helped me a great deal and was very particular years ago. I don't know why he is turning a blind eye to this guys work. I told him about it and he said "no it couldn't be his fault, somebody else worked on it after him"... I told the former owner and he won't even acknowledge me at airshows and won't acknowledge receipt of emails I send him with pictures. I think he was a victim.
The corrosion on rotors is not out of tolerance and blade balance is not an issue since the paint is being replaced not added. I thought when I initially sanded the corrossion off and it was still hopping on take off that I did have a balance issue, but after discussion with Bayard I serviced the oleos and a lot of that went away. I found the oleos hadn't been serviced and some were empty of gas and one was frozen and hard to cycle. All great now. After I still had a little hop I thought I had to get the blades tracked until I bought the damper bleed tool from Enstrom and WOW difference between night and day. I've had to bleed several times now to get all the air out. There are no leaks so it must be trapped air from almost never being serviced, even after the lamiflex bearings were replaced just before it was delivered to me. Prior to me bleeding the dampers the right way it never flew so smooth. Not 7 years ago when I first flew it, the time I flew it before purchase, and the day of delivery after the lamiflex bearings were replaced and a claim made that it was balanced to .1. It wasn't. I still think I want to buy a PB3 and permanently mount it to have an ongoing analyzer of vibrations, but that is down the road. I may have to have the tabs adjusted a little also since there is a little bit of cyclic feedback.
I am not using the zinc phosphate based primer on the rotors just on surface areas where the existing primer, obviously not a good job, has flaked off. All the research I have conducted is that the zinc phosphate has replaced the zinc chromate. The aircraft paint shop on the airport, which is part of a very anal shop that works on high dollar corporate aircraft doesn't use zinc chromate, they use zinc phosphate based primer. The same stuff I am using is available from Aircraft Spruce, look it up. Rustoleum Self Etching Primer and Dupli-Color Self Etching Primer. Both used by the RV builders for years. The corrosion on the support tubes is not pitting I think it is more stain than anything else, but it needs to be touched up. I think the grease and grime that has never been cleaned off in 7 years just ate the primer away.
So with that information you can see that all is within spec and all is within legal and safe bounds..again thanks for your concern but with the help and guidance of all the folks on this forum, my A&P, Bayard at Enstrom, Roger Sharkey at Sharkeys I think I am at the best I can do since nobody around here knows Enstroms except the one that screwed it up for 7 years. I wish I had someone close. I know Olivers, who previously owned this helicopter is out of business, but I have spoken with the owner and the one after him and they are near Chicago. I am hoping to make my way up there this summer and let them look it over. At near 6800 total time on this helicopter I think I'm in the running for having the highest hours for a privately owned Enstrom. Maybe not, but the books sure show this one has been around.