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I agree. All the cool pilots own M20Cs.

I smell something. Something like the fuel savings over 2000 hours pays for your replacement engine. Something else, at and below 75% power, for decades, Lycoming authorized operation at peak EGT. Something else, Lycoming no longer objects to running your engine LOP.

From a practical point of view.... 0) In the beginning there was the "reliable" compass. A pilot needed to look at it each time he adjusted the heading of his aircraft. Nearly all of the time navigating was spent looking at the compass. 1) in the last 50 years, The DG nearly put the compass on the ropes. Adjust the DG heading to the compass every 15 minutes. 2) in the last 40 years, The HSI with an internal compass correction made looking at the compass a strategy for error detection. Check heading on HSI Prior to taxi to verify the operation of the HSI. 3) in the last 30 years, Loran made the compass somewhat more obsolete. if the compass broke it could be found somewhere near the panel, if the pilot could remember where it was last mounted. Compasses had a visible air bubble in them at that time. 4) in the last 20 years, GPS made Loran look like a Radio Shack TRS 80 computer with a giant floppy disk. The compass air bubble (CAB) was visibly larger as well. 5) in the last 10 years, More than one certified GPS in the cockpit, running from independent power supplies, and/or battery back up made single GPSs obsolete. SBs that are 40 years old, that rely on hokie demagnitization techniques, are good to have, so, when you are training for the IFR rating, using the compass to demonstrate your skills, you can show your instructor your position on the globe, by how much the compass lags or leads, your turn to certain headings... There is also a question on the written that covers that topic as well. On my M20C, the compass lived in the shadow of a metal tube, making long, compass based, turns nearly impossible. Expect to pay a lot to be able to fix the compass to perfect condition, or consider purchasing another GPS with it,s own set of batteries. Emergency navigation in and around NJ... If lost with only an operating compass for navigation, fly Eastish until you reach a large body of water (Atlantic Ocean).. - If the air is warm, turn left. - If the air is cold turn right. Airports will appear in the windshield. Characterize these statements as usable humor....if you would be so kind. Thank you and best regards, -a-

Dont forget that per the STC you need the 11K? Hartzell -BA prop and the IO390 must b installed by a Lycoming authorized shop for an extra 5K in labor. (according to the Lycoming rep). So, even though the A3B6 engine is going to cost 2K over the cost of replacing the A3B6D, the 390 is going to be about 13-15K over the A3B6 cost. If you are replacing the prop anyways, then the cost difference is significantly less. The IO-390 has a 210 HP takeoff limit for five minutes, and continuous horsepower is 200 HP and 27.2" manifold pressure. No mention of WOTLOP operations or air racing. So, at 7,000' and 75% power, an IO-360 is generating 150 HP and 10 GPH, the IO-390 is generating 157.5 HP, and 10.4 GPH. At 12,000' density altitude. you can only make ~63% power, which is peak EGT, 126 HP and 8.3 GPH, IO-390 is 63%, 132 HP, and 8.7 GPH. Our prop had lots of life left, and the Lycoming A3B6 was ~5K more than overhauling our old engine, we went IO360. YMMV

i just had a complete garmin upgrade,,my gyro has only 30 hrs on it completely overhauled,to new highest mod,this unit was traded in,shop is now closed,call helocopter transport services,at martin state airport in maryland,they will gladly sell it just to recoup,some investment,its in mint cond.....ask for derrick to give you a price,hope this helps,beware there are units on ebay,i paid 2400.00 from duncan aviation to completely overhaul this unit,i know this works great,dont waste at least one thousand dollars on a unit that may fail,your life rests on that unit,,,,

It is easier then stated above to test the autopilot. With the airplane on the ground, engine off, master on. To test the servo clutch, just turn on the left switch, you should hear the clutch engage and feel the autopilot restrict the movement of the ailerons. Test the servo by rotating the roll knob all the way to the left, the yoke should rotate slowly to the left, then rotate the roll knob all the way to the right, the yoke should rotate to the right. Do this before you do the above tests. If the clutch doesn't work, try wiggling the connector on the disconnect relay (on my 77 J it is way up on the firewall behind the vacuum manifold) to see if it causes the clutch to engage intermittently, if so fix the connector. Try the disconnect switch on the yoke, you should hear the disconnect relay click when you actuate the switch. Does your electric trim work? The electric trim and the autopilot clutch both go through the disconnect relay. I have had the disconnect relay fail, the connector on the disconnect relay box fail, the connector at the servo fail, and a broken wire in the cable that goes to the servo. I was able to fix them all for no money, just my time. My autopilot currently works perfect (knock on wood)

I contacted Autopilots Central in Tusla as some of you suggested. I asked if there was something I could do first to localize the problem before sending the AP in. Barry there gave me some great instructions which I will try first. If I need to send it in I will definitely send it to them. I copied his email. I thought it might be of interest to anyone else having similar issues with their AP. Alan, Go to the roll servo. Unplug the connector. There are four pins, A, B, C & D. Pins A & B are the engage solenoid. Pin A is ground and pin B is 12 volts or battery voltage. If you put your volt meter on Pins A & B at the same time, you should read approximately 12 volts DC with the autopilot engaged. If no voltage you have a bad controller. If you do have 12 volts, bad servo. Next, go to pins C & D. This is motor drive. If you engage the autopilot in the heading mode, while your volt meter is across pins C & D, if you move the heading bug, you should get varying voltages of 0 - 10 volts DC. This will go positive and negative according to witch side of the lubber line the heading bug is on. If you have no voltage, bad controller, voltage and no motor drive, bad servo. Good Luck Barry