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I have a spare GAD43e for anyone who wants to do this.... Aerodon

One needs to check the big vertical pivot bolt also for proper torque, wear and lube. Should be checked at 100 hrs/annual as per SB. SB has updated torque value also (lower than Maint manual)

The Mooney nose gear has numerous wear points that can result in sloppiness. If rigged properly, it will track straight down the runway, but the wear will cause a dead zone in the steering requiring more footwork to taxi straight. This is more a nuisance than an airworthiness issue and usually owners wait until it gets really annoying to fix it. Fixing it involves jacking the plane and moving the nose gear by hand to identify the places where there is slop and then replacing shims, rod ends and bushings as necessary. Don’t expect perfection: I’ve been told by reputable MSC’s that even new airplanes have some slop.

I had mine done this past spring at Sunquest in Everett WA. It took about 8 weeks. They do 40+ planes a year and do caravans for FedEx, Kenmore Air Harbor’s seaplane fleet, historic aircraft for museums and the Nordstrom family’s fleet among others. It wasn’t for CBs, but they took great care with the prep, layout, spraying and especially the touch up afterwards. My advice is to find a quality shop with a backlog of business and get on their schedule. They cannot afford to do a crappy job and screw up their reputation, and they cannot afford to take too much time since it screws up their throughput. Then, be prepared to pay what they want and ignore the posts that talk about how they got their airplane painted for $30K.

@AZOutlaw if the drop is not associated with roughness, then you almost certainly have a timing issue. The question is whether it’s internal or external. If this just started recently, I would guess internal. I would remove the mag with the excessive drop and and have it IRAN’d. Your engine monitor data will show an elevated EGT when running on a single mag no matter what. In your case, bad mag EGT is probably going to show an even more elevated EGT given that what you’ve described reads like the timing is retarded.

My only tip is that it gets easier every time you do it. The A&Ps advantage is practice — lots of practice.

https://www.savvyaviation.com/the-mag-check/ Read up on some of the Savvy information...you can find several articles online. General gist, your EGTs should be rising on one mag as the fuel air mixture burns slower and so more fuel is left by exhaust stroke. So if you have one cylinder that's dropping off when running on single mag then it's a plug or wire issue. If you have a bank of cylinders dropping off or not acting the same it points more towards the mag. A lean of peak in flight mag check stresses the ignition system more and sometimes help pick up subtle things you might not pick up on the ground. I had a failing mag that initially passed the mag check on the ground, but failed miserably in the in flight mag check. Initially looked like 3 different EGTs not doing what all the others were so I thought maybe plugs as they were getting worn. But when I cleaned and gapped the top right plugs, then it was more obvious that the bottom left plugs were more off...common denominator was the right mag...replaced with a Surefly and haven't looked back! If you get a chance to upload data with the Savvy mag check take a screen shot if you need help. I'm sure there's plenty on the forum that would help steer you in the right direction!

Probably 8 hours on the plugs. 25 minutes on the wires and the clean injectors. 6 hours on the rebuilt mags. Plugs are Champion RHB32E, massive and yes, we checked resistance. I honestly can't remember if he checked them all though.

Nope. Ideally, no drop between left and right if the mag timing is perfectly synchronized. Should always see a drop between both and a single mag.

I have these and they both tell me the same thing.

I have built in O2. But use an O2D2. I have it Velcro'd to the glare shield. I want it in my line of vision to make sure it is delivering O2 pulses.

Airborne mag check and engine data would also help

And small Continentals also. My M20K is boost pump off for take off.

What type of tach do you have….where is it reading from? Some electronic tachs read from each mag vs a common point like a gear. If you have pickup on each mag, perhaps try to swap them to see if problem follows.

Thank you Marc, I have a JPI EDM 800 but I can look at the EGT's closer tomorrow. I thought I would put bottom plugs on top too, and tops to bottom, and see if the problem switched to the R mag.....then it's a bad plug.

How many hours on the plugs? Massive or fine wire? Champions or Tempest? Have you checked resistance on each plug?

Thanks Hank, but I have brand new wiring as of today. I think they're good.

It started before the mags were serviced.

Check the wires to each plug. I had one go bad on a 2-year-old wiring harness. Mag drop started out like yours, and became greater in several flights.

Huh I thought them being different was normal, but I guess not...

I went to artcraft in smx earlier this year. I had a vague idea for what I wanted and they did a great job. Part of the time was in dealing with some light hail dents. It took two months, and I think they were maybe a week or two over the expected time. They accomadated me dropping in randomly and were quick to answer questions. On pickup I noticed they mounted one of the main brake lines different than the other, not sure if it would have been an issue, they also painted over the static system drain buttons under the plane, but I'm glad I checked everything thoroughly and they fixed all the issues quickly. I'd highly recommend going to them.

So, it’s either plugs, wires or timing. It could also be the internal timing of the mags. Did this drop start before or after you had the mags serviced?

Call LASAR and see if they will rebuild it and install new shock discs. Add a new steering horn and a couple of hemi joints and it will last another 50 years.

No need to. We have enough regulations. The AIM and other “guidance” is the FAA’s explanation how to best comply. The problem is pilots who thing “not regulatory” means “can be ignored.” FWIW, my views in the subject: AIM is Non-Regulatory