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  2. WOW! And I thought I was the cynic! There are plenty of alternatives, they are just ones that have not previously made economic sense when Mooney was an actual factory and going business concern. Now that it is not, and the fleet is shrinking to a volume level that will no longer support factory parts without actual aircraft production those alternatives will become more common. Namely, salvage and OPP. Some simpler parts may see PMA, but only those with low engineering and production cost. I predict that the Mooney owner market will bifurcate into those with enough money to 'pay the piper' (LASAR) and those who will shift to salvage/OPP. Some will, as you allude, just sell and move to another better supported aircraft. This is not an unprecedented progression in the life of any product; especially one that has been around for over six decades! Eventually, like other now 'rare' makes, there will remain only a few airworthy 'museum pieces'. How many Beech Staggerwings remain? Yet, those that do still manage to 'find' parts, one way or another.
  3. Sorry for revisiting… When you photoshopped the image, it might (?) appear that the prop governor oil line B-nut is blue (aluminum)? Comparing the color to the fitting in the case, which looks to be black (steel). There was an AD to replace the lines with aluminum B-nuts with lines assembled with steel B-nuts. I was a victim of this… during my AD/logbook verification, the logs said the AD was complied with. But, one of the local (friendly) RV mafia consortium paying a visit to my hangar noticed the blue B-nut and was kind enough to mention it to me. I queried the previous owner and the story was that yes, the line had been changed per the AD, but later inspection showed that the line was chaffing, which is an issue if you don’t order the line specifically to fit the Mooney. So the mechanic put the old line back on with, I’m assuming so as to not ‘ground’ (!) the aircraft, and that he would order a new correct line and change it at a later date. Which apparently never happened. Previous owner reimbursed me for the new line. Picture from 2010… When I removed the line, I found the generator mount bracket had a broken ear. It had been welded, but broke again. The new mount bracket was a lot thicker metal.
  4. This beauty visited our home field some years back and was taking folks for rides. What’s important about this photo is the signage in the background.
  5. This is why you need to crank for a bit BEFORE you advance the mixture AT ALL! That is the 'clue' to if there is fuel/vapor remaining. If there is still fuel/vapor from the last shutdown the engine will fire. If it does NOT, then SLOWLY move the mixture and introduce fuel; it will fire when you get to the proper fuel/air ratio. The ONLY reason to run the boost pump/prime is if the engine is stone cold and you need to get fuel in there. Otherwise, you're going to flood it. This advice is for fuel injected Lycoming IO-360s ONLY! I have no experience with carbs or Continentals
  6. If it’s warm, treat it as hot, don’t add fuel. If it’s warm never even fires at all, then you can prime it. Always try the hot start first if it’s even a little warm, because if you add fuel as in a normal start, you can’t go back.
  7. Not really. Just the start up costs to set up the PMA system and then engineer the parts from scratch, as we wouldn't have access to the original drawings, would negate any profitability even before the first part was started, with, in reality, what would be a market of something less than 7000 (because not every Mooney will need every part)- And, even a non-profit has to cover expenses Besides I'm way too old to start something like that. It is what it is. Pay the piper or sell out and buy a Piper (or Cirrus) :-) There are no viable alternatives
  8. I don’t think I’ve seen the disc stop block oriented forward like that on the nose gear before. It’s the block right under the index pointer. Is that correct for your model? Edit: Just confirmed. On nose gear that block should face aft to provide better support for the shock disc. On the mains they face forward. As I recall, these are LASAR mods.
  9. When I overhauled my IO360A1A, DIco had welded that area and tapped the hole. It was a straight thread and the fitting was a pipe thread. I bought a straight thread fitting ewwith an O-Ring seal and it worked great. The previous overhaul had installed the pipe thread fitting with sealant. Not good. May be why it was cracked. This could be the source of your leak. Remove the fitting and check the threads on the case and the fitting to see if they match.
  10. Ouch! Reference the recent discussion about proper go around procedure, although this go around was to recover from PIO.
  11. Thanks everyone for the discussion. I went back and looked at the video again and keyed-in on the fact that the Lycoming basically floods itself after shutdown. So in my case, if I pushed the mixture forward too quickly (don’t remember if I did or not), the motor didn’t fully light-off because it re-flooded. If that is indeed true, my previous “Plan B” to do a normal start 2nd, because I’m assuming the cylinders are ‘dry,’ actually exacerbates the problem since the cylinders are actually crazy flooded by that point. So now my question becomes: is there some sort of a rule-of-thumb anyone uses in choosing between boosting first (as in a normal cold start), or a hot start after the plane has sat for a period of time after a flight (e.g. out-&-back). I understand a hot motor and an obviously cold motor, is there some clue as to whether there’s still fuel / vapor in the fuel lines and the cylinders, or if it’s all evaporated out of a ‘warm’ motor?
  12. I imagine any time the nose wheel bounces and the leg goes "boing" in rebound against the stop, the moment it imparts will unlock the nose gear momentarily. A shock damper would really help with that phenomenon, if it does indeed happen.
  13. I agree with Ross @Shadrach. My 1978 J had one; my 1994 J does not. If I don’t get a greaser landing, the pitch down when the mains touch can bang the nose wheel down. It was much softer on the 1978 with the shock.
  14. Good idea to remove it. It’s questionable to modify the wiring for the factory gauge if it is still the primary indication.
  15. Clean thoroughly with mineral spirits, spray with dye penetrant developer, run engine to get 150 dF oil temp, shut down and look for oil trail
  16. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/287250
  17. Flew to Indy with my wife on Friday. Winds were benign. At 7500 with max MP and 2500rpm at 10gph groundspeed was 150knots. I am very impressed with some of your planes ability to achieve speed numbers LOP. My plane runs very cool (290-330 on cylinder temps), BUT starts stumbling below 9gph. Return trip this afternoon had turbulance at 6500 with a weird almost invisible layer that forced my higher. Wind was gusting from south and could not get over 145knots on return. Return flight took ten more minutes. I'm good with that. Andre, your 914 is beautiful. Love the paint. I was at a local chapter Pcar event and a member had heavily modded his 914 (spending over six figures!). It had Martini Racing colors. He also put a 911 type six gauge set up that was painted blue of exterior on the surround. A gorgeous example. He also has a 356 Super.
  18. That's a lot easier than buying the whole turbine to begin with, isn't it?
  19. Brian is worth every penny!
  20. Yesterday
  21. That is easy...just write a big check. We are complaining about part costs...how about replacing hot section of turbine
  22. I had a contract on N562BG located in California. Sounded like a good deal. I had Brian Kendrick do a very detailed Prebuy inspection. Cost me $5000, if you are considering this airplane, contact me.
  23. I removed the shock from my F model when I received a new nose truss from LASAR that did not have the upper boss for the shock. Maybe it served no useful purpose according to Mooney, but it definitely dampened the rebound in the nose gear suspension. I have a parking pad for the nose gear that essentially has two rounded chocks for parking locators. The nose gear suspension behaves completely differently on the rebound going over those chocks without the shock. Maybe it doesn’t matter, but it’s way less refined then it was with the shock. My shock is still flying on the nose of a C model near Stuttgart. The owner is based on grass and prefers the dampened nose gear on turf.
  24. I do similar to MikeOH on a hot start. I pull the mixture at 1,000 RPM to shut down and when I restart I slowly push the mixture in (without touching the throttle) while cranking. It typically catches when the mixture is the richest. The is a Youtube video demonstrating this.
  25. Try this one - cropped a bit, adjusted contrast, circled with red oval. You'll have to take my word for it that it is the only oil to be found on the engine or anywhere under the cowl.
  26. What 47U suggested. See if the inside of the flywheel has a slime of oil in there. I had this happen after overhaul, in my situation it would occur every 30 hours…..it takes that long to build up enough to splatter.
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