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Update: Bottom line, the problem still exists. We checked the timing and did think it was off a little so we adjusted that. Fired it up and first check had the same result. (-150 Left and -40 Right) We shut it down, discussed a few things and decided to try again. This time it was perfect, about a -35 mag drop on each side, or what it always did in the past. Took it up and all seemed good. In flight mag checks were equal and uneventful. Landed and did a check before shut down and got a -65 on the left. Went back a day later and got the same (-150 Left and -40 Right). Borrowed a different timing box, bumped them slightly and felt they were perfect, same result and this time the inflight test was bad on the left, like it was a week ago. Swapped bottom and top plugs thinking the issue might move to the other mag. It did not. Same result, but what is interesting is I did the second start up 30 seconds after shutting down as before, and got perfect mag drops again. This got me thinking heat and resistance was an issue. Pulled all the plugs and did a resistance test, twice, and got these readings. Seems that 5B is reading low and 3B is high but all the rest are really close. I found this online. "Champion Spark Plug Company’s Engineering Manual gives the nominal value for their resistor type of aviation spark plugs as 1000 - 1500 ohms" Anyone have real world experience on what is good and bad readings for a Champion plug?

Most experimental have "normal' tail numbers. NX is allowed once the design is over a certain age (30 years?); when an airplane uses NX, the word experimental can be removed IIRC.

Easy mistake to make. I’m a bit of a car/Porsche geek so that’s why I caught it. Not trying to be pedantic, I just thought it was relevant to the discussion about the conversion. As far as I know, the TSIOL-550 is the only liquid cooled powerplant ever installed on the M20 airframe and it required some fairly involved modifications.

I think for the switch guard the 3D printed ones that @Flyler is doing will hold up ok since once they are screwed in place they won't need to come off. To answer your questions though, the inside faces are vertical and the thickness is 3/16".

Ugh, such a nice bird. Wonder when this all started. Hopefully it is repairable. Mine has been corrosion sprayed many times. Hope to keep the reaper at bay ;o) -Don

Very much appreciated Don, but mine is mid-wing on the left wing. I saw the pics, doesn't look good to my untrained eye. The plate is corroded and looks like it may be into the aluminum spar, but they need to remove the plate to know for sure. The steel plate wasn't corrosion protected from the factory, so there's dissimilar metal to metal contact. The shop is gonna correspond with Don Maxwell and will send the pics to him and copy me on the correspondence. I'll post the pics when I get them.

This might help: -Don

yes, that is what is happening at our airport with rent. The claim that they aren't market rates is somehwat of a canard. the metal boxes were built for 35k 50 years ago, and the land and hangar was built with taxpayer money. The base cost to build and maintain should set the market for a public owned product, not as much as you can get. we are seeing 20% increases in rent yearly 5 years running

that should be all that is measured....

Is it the spar splice plate inside the cabin in front of the rear seat? Mine was replaced and I have a pic if you want one and I have log entries.. -Don

The paint and hat naturally make it look even larger.

Those programs and rates look pretty darn reasonable. Sounds like a nice vacation trip...

First learned in a tailwheel, owned nothing but tailwheels too. I think accident rates largely are based on common sense / IQ which is mostly baked in and doesn’t change

You expect the same fed that caused inflation to admit to how bad it is?? Really?

After a long time flying, I finally got my tail wheel endorsement! I highly recommend it to any pilot as a skill improving experience. I recently read an article that said pilots who learn to fly in a tail dragger have an accident rate 60% lower. I wonder if there is an accident reduction for pilots with tail wheel endorsements? The article did not say... I got the endorsement in a J-3 Cub and a Stearman from here: https://ww2flighttraining.com/. Kevin is a great instructor and takes you to several grass strips in the local area so you can get more diversified training. He made it fun and interesting. I don't think you can find anyone better.

Fair enough. So they are going to inspect your plane for two full eight hour days at $200/hour? Damn.

The STEC is a rate based autopilot and gets its info from the STEC turn coordinator so you don't need a G5. The heading bug you have should still work.

This is a template for an adaptor plate I made on my CNC router for a Cygnet trim switch. The final was in 0.090 aluminum. It would be real easy to make the switchboard out of aluminum, I can't quite see - are all the inside faces vertical or tapered? And thickness? (I'm not a fan of 3D printing, always seems too fragile for the real world) Aerodon

You’ll need to get a real avionics place to be sure, but the gpss should be fine between the-375 and the stec30.

In South Florida, it's due to monopolistic practices. The main player sets rental rates based on "market rates", which is laughable, They ARE the market. And for $1450 a month, up from $900 just four months ago, you get a 50 year old rusty metal box with roof leaks, no insulation, substandard electrical, rolling doors that fall off the tracks, and more. Oddly, there are brand new Cat 3 hurricane rated hangars that rent for less money nearby. But that airport is one of the few that doesn't have the big players running things. The game plan is to jack prices to drive out the little guys, and then claim there's no demand for tee hangars. Then they demolish them, and put up large jet hangars. The cities are all onboard with this, because they get a cut of the fuel sales. And they'll sell a lot more fuel to a Global Express than to a Mooney M20C. And after the crazy rate increases, there is more turn over, and more empty hangars. Many tenants are still at the airports, but they've out on the ramp now. So it's not really true supply and demand. It's extortion, using our tax dollar supported airports against us.

The spar splice plate is steel, it is against the aluminum. If the corrosion is in the steel not too big of a deal. Drill rivets, remove steel plate. Clean plate, reinstall. If corrosion is in the aluminum it's a bit trickier. Get in touch with a mooney structure guy. Call Don maxwell shop. Get pictures. I just finished a 6 yr project. Left spar cap and aft stub spar replacement. Did it all myself with consultation with the structure guy at maxwell.

It depends on what type, where it is, and how much... please share details and quality pics when you get them. And yes, definitely consult with Maxwell before choosing a path.

Thanks

Well, part of the issue is in the 90s, they removed fuel and food from the index. WTF?!

CPI measures a lot of things that may be skewing it. In my personal experience, there is currently very noticeable inflation for day to day life.