All Activity

I don't know about all the trouble with spam here I've been on here for years and even now I have no spam ads showing at all The only ads I ever saw were before I became a "supporter" Now? I never see an ad.

One thing I have noticed about the Skybolt 2700s is that the beveled portion does not sit as flush as he Camlocs. This is true both on my fiberglass cowling and on the metal battery access door in the tail cone.

David, This has been a long time coming but the end result is coming together nicely. Did you place metal strips into the fiberglass to give support to inhibit camlock wear? Nicely done. John Breda

If you remove the stall warning assembly, given that it is difficult to remove, I would replace the microswitch rather than spray it with contact cleaner. Electronic switches have contacts plated with gold or silver to reduce oxidation and they open and close with a wiping action to remove any oxidation that may occur. Eventually, the plating wears through and the base metal will be exposed and oxidize. Spraying with contact cleaner (if you can get any to the contacts -- most of these switches are sealed pretty well to prevent contamination) may temporarily remove the oxidation, but it will come back eventually. I have a zero tolerance for failed electrical components -- if it fails once, I replace it. Also, be sure to mark the position of the switch unit before removing it so you don't have to make a lot of test flights readjusting it.

I have used Sky-Bolt camlocks since my rebuild. I have the large 4000 series on the rear edge of the cowl, and the 2000 series (but with the large flange which I think are renamed 2800). I have some small nylon washers which I place on the camlock which keeps the camlock from falling out of the cowling low edge (smaller ones are used between the top and lower cowling). It hase been several years and do not know part numbers, but call Sky-Bolt and they will walk you through it. John Breda

You can a make glare-shield out of fiberglass fairly easily if you are careful. I will relate what I did to make the upper interior cabin panel in my F, now transformed to mostly a J with Ovation interior. Since it is highly modified I had to modify or make interior parts. One such part is the upper interior panel of the cabin door. My F model door has been reskinned, and fitted with a rounded Ovation-style window, but is not as tall as the Ovation window. Also the compound curvature needed to be changed to fit the door and interior. After many trys of hand layups, I decided to use the pane itself as my mold. I fractured the fiberglass panel so it could be screwed in place on the door. I covered the door and exposed airplane parts with clear vinyl wrap, then screwed the now flexible fiberglass panel in place. Being careful to keep things clean, I hand layed-up layers of fiberglass to make the panel as guided by the panel which was screwed in place. When dried, the panel was worked as needed. You can either use cheap boat yard grade fiberglass, then when the part is finished, use is as a mold to make a fire-proof version, or use fire-proof resin initially. You can place linear supports, use duct tape, or whatever is necessary to support the lay-up part until it dries. Protect avionics, seats, upholstery, etc. with sran wrap or similar. Fabric stores have rolls of plastic wrap of various thicknesses. Use your manual skills and creativity and you can get exactly what you want. John Breda

That Piper must be pretty noisy with that huge gap in the door seal.

Rejex is what my painter recommends. Easy to apply, once a year.

I paid $785 this July for a thorough wet wash, fuel gunk removal, paint polishing, oxidation removal, paint sealant application, and spinner polishing from a professional aircraft detailer. Same process as waxing but the "sealant" used is also a polymer. Very satisfied with the results. After considering the cost of "ceramic" coatings, I decided to just do this after each annual. I also didn't want to do anything to interfere with future planned paint touch up work.

My airplane is hangared and I've coated it twice in eight years, so that's about right. On my vehicles it seems to last 3-4 years. They're usually garaged but spend more time outside than the airplane does.

I subscribed to AvBrief. I think it’s got better content and writing than AvWeb flash. It is early days though.

There is a Starlink sale right now. Hardware is about 50% off. This is timed with changes in their plans and terms, so all old advice may be slightly incorrect right now. I think the core requirement of having a the "Mini" antenna and a "priority" plan for airplane use is still true.

Location too of course Using your example I believe Rejex will last at least a year and WAY less expensive and very easy to apply. It’s lasting 6 months on our cars in Fl and they are taken through the car wash several times a month. I believe the overwhelming majority of the benefits of professionally applied Ceramic coating is the paint “correction” I believe in my day it was called cut n buff or similar.

No, he left out the comma. It should read, "according to Google, RadarScope or . . . ".

Always good to confirm it’s not the generator or something else in the system. If you do end up needing the Zeftronics regulator, I spoke with my friend yesterday and he decided to convert to an alternator, so I can get that one I had back if you want. Just let me know. Billy

Thanks, @EricJ and @Hank. I am flying with a 2-blade on an E model. I think why I ask and why it bugs me is that I'm supposed to update the yellow and red arcs on the tach and that means the tach will almost always show yellow or red in normal cruise. I HATE that because when you get used to seeing red and yellow as ok, then you miss real issues.

im skeptical of all of these types of products, but i don't see why it would be unreasonable, for whatever protection it affords, to last 3-5 years for a plane that is hangared. I fly about 200 hours a year and my plane spends less than 10 days outside of a hangar. If you are on a ramp, i don't believe it would last one year. UV and heat are inexorable.

Will definitely support AvBrief with attention and a subscription if it goes that way.

Maybe twice. But BIG difference between 3/16" acrylic and 1/2" polycarbonate. Acrylic seems to be 17 times the impact resistance of glass. Polycarbonate is 250 times that of glass or 14 times that of acrylic. Then you have over doubled the thickness, so at least double the impact resistance, so 28 times. But a GA windshield is not designed to handle impacts with large birds. Small ones, yes.

Your agenda isn’t everyone else’s agenda. don’t do that.

There is also the online magazine The Mooney Flyer. They have archives back to issue one, so there is a lot of reading and good info. https://themooneyflyer.com/

Thanks, I called Zeftronics yesterday. They were very helpful. They don’t think it’s the regulator and gave me a series of tests to do. I need to get that done first before I make any other moves. I’ll let you know.

If you just had the paint correction done, with zero coating/wax on top, the plane still would've looked amazing. The coatings, whatever type they are, will add some depth to the shine but also protect the paint so it looks amazing longer. They certainly make the surface more slippery so dirt and water don't stick. More importantly, Mooneys are supposed to be slippery. I think if you keep up with the re-application as per PermaGard's recommendation, your plane is going to look way better than most others on the lot, for a long time coming

Again, Thanks to all for the constructive input! I am looking forward to being part of the Mooney Community! I do understand that I will need thorough training in the Mooney by a certified Mooney CFI, which I have (he flies his own regularly for business in the aircraft world and it is the same model as mine). I am a mechanic and controls electrician my whole life and understand precision and proficiency. I will not drive or fly anything that I do not have a full understanding of operation and control (Unfortunately for us, many people drive high performance cars and toys they have no business being in and after causing a major accident that is when they find out the limitation of the vehicle). The plane will be updated to a modern engine monitor/computer as well as the latest ADS-B and GPS units. I will continue to train and even after that take periodical trips with the CFI to reinforce the fine details of precision flying. This is very important to me to always strive to be the best at what I do, there will always be better people, but there is no reason not to continue to learn and grow. Definitely going to have the plane 100% for IFR and get the rating in my plane. I definitely will not fly on purpose in bad weather, but I want to be ready and comfortable if I encounter it. It will be cool to read all of the experiences of Mooney pilots in this forum as well as in other formats. Better to learn from others than to learn the hard way!

Thanks. I was reading your post incorrectly. It's early.