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A 13 month annual by straddling month end in the shop is fine. Just don't fly it out of annual... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This morning I put the first flight on my new cowling. I'm pleased with what I've seen so far. The CHT's are better, the carb heat definitely works better than the original carb air box heat. The next few flights I'll get myself current and take some more data then go after performance numbers to see if I gained some speed. David

With all money and effort put into the panel, why not fabricate a new piece of powder coated sheet metal?

One of the good things about cheap gas is that if your wings leak it is not costing you as much. Needs to be factored into the decision as to whether to reseal!

Ok, I'll play. Letter from Mooney, written in my best Nigerian English: I am sending you this leter to make you aware that I am in posesion of a Money Aclaim that was liberated from encampment in Kervill Texus. If you send me $750,000 Us dolars, I will arange for you to recieve this valuable item. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow, all useful tips! Thanks guys! Say does anyone have an OEM oil temp gauge that they want to sell or know where to get one? If I went the way of the 830, which is clearly an easier and cheaper install since my 800 works flawlessly, I'd need to fix my OEM which is starting to go bonky. This was one of the other reasons I was thinking of upgrading to 900 as ive found these gauges are hard to get replaced. Or is this not the case? Aerodon? Thanks for sharing Maurauder, Like your experience of having gone from a 700/800 to an 830 then a 900, as I know how I am, if I really like the 830, I might just want to do the 900.. Now if I could just find an installer that will install a 900 without having bought it through them, I would probably go the 900 route, grr another snag. Decisions decisions. But fun ones!

John I've done an FS450 and EDM700 to an EDM730 in 4 hours. It involved re-pinning the FF wires into the EDM700 harness, then plugging the existing 3 harnesses into the 730. But no panel alterations were required and no new transducers installed. At the right opportunity we will install the MP, RPM sensor and Oil P to turn it into an 830. Note that the 830 harness comes with a 20Ga power and ground vs. the 22Ga in the EDM700. It also has a choke on the power / ground and no data cable. Other than that, the harnesses and probes are the same. EDM900's are a different story and I've seen the debate about whether you can 'upgrade' or whether you have to replace everything. My opinion is that if the EDM700 was properly installed and the wires and probes are in good condition - use them. Go through the parts list carefully, and if the old / new part number matches, then re-use. If not, replace. Or use the opportunity to start again and recoup some of your costs by selling the old units as a system. You have a relatively newer plane, I would be tempted to keep the OEM gauges and install an 830. Will keep your costs down and reduce rearranging the panel. If I had an older plane, the 900 is a great opportunity to get rid of unreliable tachs, etc. and free up some panel space. Don (And full disclosure, I sell JPI's but I am not biased between and of their models)

I was enroute to Houston and DFW Approach amended my clearance to the VORs to keep me away from all the traffic. The best part was that as another plane (2001 Baron 58 according to n-number) closed on my tail by 15-20 kts at the same altitude ATC offered them to either slow down, climb 2,000', or descend 2,000'. He chose to descend and still didn't pass me before Houston Approach started vectoring us around the big airport (IAH). I was burning 9.1 gph LOP and he was probably gulping 22+. Gotta love Mooney efficiency! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What has surprised me is the number of times I have seen traffic at my altitude or within 500 feet and basically on an intercept course. Eventually I see them, but ADSB shows them much further out and gives me time to avoid.

Fellow Mooney Pilots, I wanted to post and let the community know about a great way to use your airplane - Volunteer Flying. I recently joined the Patient Airlift Services (PALS). I'd encourage all GA pilots to join this group or one similar like Angle Flight. http://www.palservices.org/

WOW! What a fabulous example of an immaculately kept E model. You can just change your name to Lucky Dude and count your blessings! I would ask myself..with the obvious priorities & resources of the previous owner, maybe he knew something ..why he did NOT put in a 201 windshield. Even his professional background and NO to a 201 windshield. I'm an owner of a '59 A model and bought a 201 windshield and after a lot of discussions and thought, opted to not put it in. There is not a single annual that goes by that I'm glad I did not. (ask yourself..how to simply top off brake fluid and change vacuum system filters, inspect wiring, ground connections, hoses...etc) I also don't think there is anything wrong with the original classic lines of the airplane - especially the short bodied - pre J's. Also the shorter bodied Mooneys have less wetted surface than the stretched later models and thefore inherently less drag.. No body ever talks about this. I put in a single piece, original sloped 1/4" tinted & UV guard windshield from LP AERO and it's great - for my needs. I also did a panel upgrade on my A model and you couldn't pay me enough money to do the same job on a Mooney with a 201 windshield in. Just imagine lying on your back in the cockpit for hour after hour making the required connections and all. Now, with all that said, you have no panel up-grade to contemplate. You're a young dude and knotting yourself up into any required odd shape to work behind your panel maybe no concern. It is your airplane! ENJOY!

Shop around for the installer. These are not rocket since to install. The wiring harness is mostly complete, well labeled and only requires crimping the sensor end terminals. The install manual does a good job of covering each sensor and it's mostly a process of connecting red wire to red wire and yellow to yellow. It don't require an avionics shop if you have an IA who I will take the time to refer to the manual. I did both my 830 and 900 under my IA's supervision and everything worked correctly. I know a few others who have done th same.

I am definitely going to do the 900 route. Just found out from LASAR quoting the OEM gauges, are about $800-$1,000 each when they fail and can be hard to find. the probes and senders for these range from $250 to $4600 each!! So to get out of that race, Im skipping the 830 step. And I like getting that extra 6lbs useful load potential. So im going 900 new install, taking out most of my factory gauges and probes. Maybe I'll keep my upgraded 800 as a backup to my primary gauges as I have now, although I'm sure I won't need it after I get used to my 900. If anyone needs any factory gauges or OEM probes to these units, pm me as mine will be coming out soon. Thanks everyone!

Additional data points... 1) Back in the day raw EGT data was considered less important because of variation in location from field installed sensors. 2) Modern Mooney installations have a single EGT installed in the exhaust where it sees the 3 into 1 flow. Essentially seeing half the engine, not just one cylinder. 3) POH procedures use the single EGT to lean in the climb. The simple EGT gauge is marked with a blue box. Keep the needle in the box during the climb. The box is 100°F wide and includes 200°ROP in the range. The modern gauge is actually marked in °F. 4) The act of standardized installation has made exact use of raw EGT data very useable. 5) The act of performing engineering work and publishing it in a POH has made it useable . ------------------------------ 6) High EGTs are often caused by fuel still burning as it exits into the exhaust. The run-up mag test demonstrates this well. Kill one mag all four (or six) EGTs rise. A leaky valve or faulty plug would stand out compared to the others. 7) The O360's carb has two fuel nozzles. The main one is always flowing. The secondary one is supposed to flow when at WOT. With good FF and EGT data the secondary nozzle should be visible. I could never detect it with the factory installed gauges in my M20C.

If you live in the Houston area, Avionics Unlimited in Conroe is one of the best. Address: 10015 Military Dr # C, Conroe, TX 77303 Phone:(936) 788-7333

I flew my plane to Don Maxwell's with the intention of having the 201 style windshield installed. After talking with Don and looking at a few with the mod I opted to replace my two-piece windshield with a one piece. Tons cheaper and is basically a drop-in replacement. I also personally think vintage Mooney's look funny unless you also install the 201 cowl. For me, I think it screws up the lines of the vintage planes.

If I were the disgruntled customer and was notified of the facts, I would offer to pay you for the "repair" that did not work. If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I can see you guys have a great sense of humor. I love it. 1- if someone wants to speak Texan I am all fore it as some of my family live 20 miles from Dallas. 2- Nice pic but if she goes swimming in the pool remember to drain about 400-500 gallons from the pool as it will over flow and I am seeing too many water damage claims these days. 3- I been running numbers all last night (Hotel living gets boring) there is no way we can fit her in a Mooney, I am always over MTOW and let's just not talk about CG. 4- I do speak some French as my Wife is French and I am a great mix between Canadian and US lived in both counties love them both. 5- I just hope the Wife likes the Mooney as in my book it will fill our needs perfectly but she keeps talking about a Beech Duke we saw on vacation WHY!!! She keeps saying we need a 6 PAX aircraft but yet we are always 2 sometimes 3... Women!!!

Just built my homemade $100 ads-b receiver. This puts into perspective how many planes are around even on a weeknight. This is from Wing-X with the $100 Stratux receiver. Surprisingly I got signal on the ground. -Robert

I used to think I really wanted a 201 windshield however I am sure as heck content with the windshield that I got. Unless the speed is a really big deal, I think the reduced amount of time you might spend grounded and lower mx costs are the overruling factors. Just think about how many people you'd trust to pull your windshield off to do avionics work if it came to that.

I also shoot LPV approaches as my 530w auto cycles to the next portion of the approach. My recommendation is to fly a few LPV approaches and you will see that they are just as easy to fly as an ILS. Sent from my Galaxy S5 via Tapatalk

Twin .50 cals in each wing??

You should show him pictures of your panel, Chris. He'll double his budget!

LBB is only 3282, Texans always stretching things

Already Foreflight is hardcoded to only connect to wifi sid "Stratus". So those with Stratux have had to go into their wifi config and trick Foreflight into thinking its Stratus by changing their own name to Stratus. -Robert

I'm thinking it is only a matter of time until foreflight releases an update and the Stratux will mysteriously quit working. Of course the Foreflight update will contain some firmware to update the real Stratus units so they will continue to work.

Is that said tongue-in-cheek. Lubbock is almost 4000 ft.

I use Flamemaster B2. P/N CS3204B-2 inside and for the lower panels. And then close the top access panels with non-hardening sealant p/n CS3330B-2. Maxwell also recommends a top coat of CS-3600 but I've not used it. Best prices seem to be from Skygeek.com. Be careful not to get sealant into the nuts or you'll break them off their backings when you run the screws. You won't notice until the next time you remove the screws and the nuts fall into the tanks. -Robert

I believe it's red, Italian and very expensive...

Yes, but resealing a leaking tank isn't a very difficult job. Every 5 years take a few hours to paint some more on at $0.1AMU vs $14AMU. That's my equation at least. The need to strip it down and start over again is uncommon. -Robert

Oh dear, here we go 1) Weight penalty is not really a factor for my passenger load-1 child, wife's weight is significantly below FAA standard pax weight, and I'm slightly above. 2) Price premium-1 time expense that I saved up to fund so this didn't (majorly) factor in. 3) Losing the tabs was a bummer, but for me I mainly used the tabs as a mark to buy less fuel at a remote FBO that has high fuel costs. I can almost always fly with full fuel and my pax load (even with bladders) 4) I'd patched my tanks only to have an issue pop up again on another panel which didn't endear me to a sealant solution 5) I fly to a handful of grass strips. Could be an old wives tale but I've heard that this is hard on wet wings. Maybe this only applies to old seal jobs like I had. 6) 2 reseal stories scared me: 1) reseal only 2 years ago was having problems and 2) quality reseal followed up by painting at a shop that incorrectly stripped the wings which resulted in leaks 6 months later. Obviously the reseal wasn't the cause but I'm not sure I'd keep my sanity if this happened to me (planning to paint in the next year or so) Probably the biggest reason: 7) I couldn't find even 1 person that had bladders that wasn't happy with them. It seemed that the people most unhappy with bladders didn't have them (point that Jetdriven made many, many times). This seems to be the most "permanent" fix for a problem I've seen for the plane. Hope this doesn't start a war. I know people can pick apart each of my reasons and that's ok. These were my reasons -Kris

I may know a Good Rocket that might be coming up for sale!!!!! Its only ever been beaten by one C Model....

That's a Kelvin-helmholtz wave cloud. Indicates a zone of wind shear. I think it's just an illusion that makes it look like two twisted clouds. I believe it's just one with the top layer moving faster than the bottom. Pretty cool cloud.

Looks like an issue with the chemtrail dispenser, sometimes the nozzles get twisted.

Rant of the day: AA flight to ATL. Right after takeiff, everyone belted to their seats....the seat screens come on and the PA loudly blasts a two minute sales pitch for the AA credit card. Grrrrrrr! Leave me alone, or at least let me shut it off. The idea of shoving products onto a restrained audience really rubbed me wrong. Of all the credit cards I might want, AA has gone to the bottom of my lis,t as in, no way, not ever! I wouldn't think of doing this to passengers in my Mooney.

hahahahaha aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha I wish...

The CF on my panel is a 3M CF Vinyl. I couldn't find the material that is on the left side of my panel and I didn't want to paint the new right side panel I had made a couple of years ago. I then found this carbon fiber vinyl and thought it looked really nice. One day I'll redo the left panel to match and have that nice CF look on my whole panel. I appreciate all the comments and feedback and look forward to sharing my data on the cowling soon, good or bad. Thank you, David

Hmmm... I still think the sweet spot is 500 hours. I don't want the infant mortality risk of a new engine even if I paid for the overhaul myself.

Another point to consider, there is about 6lbs weight difference between the factory gauges + 830 and removing them and installing a 900.

Just to add a little more color commentary to the discussion. Here are three pictures of my JPI evolution. The first is the 830: The second is the 900 with the old color scheme: The third is of the 900 with the new color scheme (it's purdy): Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That sure does sound like a lot of money and a lot of pounds gained! But I guess if you're wrestling with leaks it may be worth it. Disclosure: I have no experience with leaks thank goodness, or bladders!

You can also expect to recoop about $500 by selling the factory gauges you remove assuming they work correctly. When you factor that in with any future cost of having to maintain the factory gauges the cost becomes very similar. The extra panel space is a bonus, especially on the older models.

My 1975 F has it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I upgraded my 2 year old 830 to a 900 about 1-1/2 years ago. I got a really good deal on the 900 at the time and then sold the 830 and original gauges. I did the work under my IA's supervision so labor was minimal. After selling the 830 and old gauges I think the total to upgrade was under $200. The prices of the 830 and 900 have both changed quite a bit in the last 2 years and I could not come out this good if I upgraded now. Factory limits cannot be changed on the 900, but it has what Jpi calls alerts that you can set to any value your desire. It primary voltage source is a wire ran back to the master relay. It has a secondary input that can be wired to the avionics bus. At Sun-In-Fun 2014 Sarasota was selling the 900 with 2 tank option for $2895. I have not saw them that cheap again.

I keep a spray bottle with mineral spirits to wipe down my right side gear door. My mechanic told me to quit obsessing - Mooneys leak. Lee

As I pointed out "I know there are many who would disagree" and I would love to have an accurate fuel measuring display but at this time I do not so I do what works best for me. Checking my caps is part of my CIGAR as they are easily seen from cockpit and I have calculated my fuel burn to be within a couple of tenths of a gallon on an over 3 hour leg (repeated many times). your comment about leaks or other factors only supports my approach even more. if I know that I still have an hours fuel in tank 1 and there ends up being a problem with tank 2 that causes a loss of power...well... I still have an hour to get down safely if tank 1 is dry end of flight. I just cant see the fault in this reasoning but it is good to have these discussions because I always learn from them. I have also determined what each of my gauges in the old Garwin Cluster is showing but I don't trust it to be accurate so I use the stick the burn and the time and never push my legs.