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We just completed "Phase 2" of a 3-Phase modernization of our 1965 M20E. The first phase was redoing the panel last year which included a JPI 930 install, CIES senders, all new circuit breakers, new Garmin GMA 345, new Garmin GTX 225, IRANing the 430W, new engine controls, all new switches, a new, powdercoated and laser-cut 1-piece panel, new headset plugs, new antennas and digital coax, and a few other odds and ends. Phase 2 is the interior, and we chose to go with AeroComfort due to their stellar Mooney reputation and first-hand experience with one of their planes and oh man am I glad we did. As most here know, Hector is absolutely fantastic to work with, and the whole project was on-time and on-budget. We did a full interior with them and dropped the plane off at SAT to let them do the install. Along the way, we installed Alpha Aviation inertia reel seatbelts, replaced all the insulation & soundproofing with new, and had a custom leather wrap done on the yokes Hector recreated from a picture. I'll let the pictures do the talking... PICTURES BEFORE / AFTER COMPARISON

This thread and your screen name reminded me of this potential answer to your question:

Ah sorry Hank! Here you go:. Hector normally adds a lot of padding to the yokes when he leather wraps them, but I didn't like how that looked, it made them look bloated and lose the nice crispness of the contours. I really like how these came out. My only nitpick was the Mooney logo in the center is too big for the space, Hector said this is as small as they can go without losing the detail of the head on the stitching. If I had known that, I would have not done the stitching. Minor, minor detail though

Personally, I find the fuel consumption of an A-10 to be in the range I call "bankrupt before takeoff." To say nothing of its limited passenger and baggage space. (Have you seen the way my wife packs for a weekend away??? I'm the one pushing a full luggage cart around at the Mooney Summits!) So I will be staying with the mighty M20-C Ranger instead. Unlike the Warthog, the acquisition cost did not cause financial ruin, although both are dwarfed by long-term operating expenses. Go Mooney!

One goes to the injector bleed and the other back to the pump. Best picture I could get for you from my 67F set up. The injector bleed runs up in second pic and then connects up top in the first pic to the spider. All of these installs though are a bit different and over 50yrs they get even more different. At what altitude does it stop adding inches? I usually run mine 26/26 and around FL190 is when it starts to drop out.

FWIW in the high teens my turbo J LOP will do 170 KTS on 9.5 GPH for 17.9 KMPG or 20.6 SMPG. About the same mileage as my F150 while going 3 times faster.

That is not a great comparison as there is no airplane better than the Hog.

Urs, where is the corrosion and what type. I am suspect of the premise that you’ve been told that it is currently airworthy, but that you should plan for it not to be in the future. Spar caps, stub spars, and other wing components are replaceable and much easier to ship than a complete wing. Whether the factory has parts is another question. Any non twisted vintage metal Mooney wing should work that would include C, D, E, F and G model wings.

My bet is that if you keep it soaked with Corrosion-X and keep it in a hangar there will be zero, as in no further corrosion. It will still be flying when you aren’t. Idea is of course to keep it dry. I used to maintain helicopters that were often flown over salt water, they had magnesium gear boxes and magnesium and salt water don’t mix. Corrosion-X honestly pretty much stopped all corrosion, but it’s not a one time application, for max protection it’s a yearly application. We sprayed the gearboxes whenever we washed them, the corrosion occurred in the seam where they were bolted to another component as it was bare metal there, the Corrosion-X would wick in by I guess capillary attraction.

Hello all, I figured I should update the 7 year old topic regarding donations to Mooneyspace and how to upgrade your membership to "Supporter" status since there has been some confusion regarding this shared with me lately. Anyone that makes a donation of $10 or more will get Supporter status on the site for 12 months. While $10 is the minimum more is always appreciated! The average donation is $25 which seems to support the site nicely. In the past year we upgraded the hosting package to a dedicated virtual server at a 400% increase in hosting costs and the forum software we use has raised their subscription pricing many times over the years. However, we have kept the same $10 minimum donation since 2009. Supporter level will give you: No ads on the website - note that you will still see ads when using Tapatalk as that is separate software from our forums. Ability to post in our classified sections to list personal aircraft/parts/items for sale. Note that this is *only* for personal items and we do not allow businesses to use the forums as a sales platform. 5x Increased storage space for uploads such as attachments in your posts (1GB vs 200MB) To donate you can use THIS LINK. If you wish to mail a check or if the link does not work please send me a message on the site for my address or direct PayPal email address. I would like to give a BIG thanks to all of the members here that have supported Mooneyspace over the past 13+ years. It would never have been possible without YOU! Craig

I used this one: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/maxDimUnit.php?clickkey=7737 It is FAA approved, so it is 100 times better than the $3 dimmers on Amazon…

The Tuscaloosa class D airport is just being slammed with exec. jets today with the football game between Texas and Alabama. I flew to Mississippi this morning to get my AI replaced and on my return I was vectored by Birmingham approach before being handed off to Tuscaloosa tower, which doesn't usually happen. Many more arrivals to TCL today than BHM. Looking at flightaware, they are using multiple holds west of TCL to sequence arrivals. They've closed rwy 12-30 and are using it to park jets. They are asking Jets if they can park on the grass. Crazy. Here's the view from taxiway D when I returned.

He did the headliner, which also involved painting the vents, installing a new speaker grate and a new overhead lens for the dome light. I don’t have any pictures of just the headliner but it looks awesome, as high quality as the side panels for sure. He did not do the glareshield, that was done by an amazingly talented friend of mine. It’s very well done!

Examining the light jacket the zipper metal end is gone and the teeth are apart at the same distance as the marks on the hull. The jacket is so light that it didn’t stop the door from closing or create any excessive noise. She just mentioned to me when she opened the door. Thanks again

Thank you! They did an amazing job. It took a little less than 4 weeks start-to-finish, and that was with Labor Day. If Labor Day hadn't been there, we would have been a day past 3 weeks. Hector quoted me 3-5 weeks when I took it in, so he was right on the money. I've seen a few with the bicycle grip, it looks kind of tacky to me, but it lends some grip and covering without spending the $1k and downtime, so to each their own on that trade-off .

Too bad they put a guy in the pilot's seat It even has my new Com1 antenna, installed in 2021.

Why my neighbor is selling his Skymaster and moving to a 182. It is the wrong plane for $100 hamburgers. It was the right plane when he was hitting IFR over the mountains at night every week back and forth to BNA.

Of course and except for insurance which I don’t know because the company was paying for it, in all honesty the cost of ownership of a 210 and a J model Mooney seem similar, now the acquisition cost surely is much higher for the 210 depending on which Mooney. It’s a six cylinder engine vs a four cylinder being the biggest difference, because everything else is essentially the same, just it’s bigger. If you think about it there are no more additional systems on a 210 that aren’t on a Mooney, there is an inspection AD of the main spar which isn’t unusual for older aircraft, Bo for example. I just don’t have any need of a 210 myself, in truth it’s becoming hard to justify a Mooney to just fly to Lunch which has pretty much become the majority of my flying. If it’s looked at logically aircraft selection is all about the mission

I had my Ovation done by Hector last April. He is a master craftsman. It looks like we have the same color carpet and logos on the mats.

Cost of ownership over time may also have some effect on development decisions .

Situational awareness.. Same as a moving map. It can also useful in some abnormal/emergency situations, say engine failure at night (emergency) or a night landing with no runway lights (abnormal). The potential distraction doesn't bother me. OTOH, I find HITS very annoying and turn it off.

I'm sorry the useful load in your 150 is so small. I just brought a new 48" zero turn mower home in the bed of my Ridgeline--it was a snug fit, but didn't challenge the 1600 lb payload. Even after 16 years of ownership, it still amazes me how much "volume of stuff" I can pack into my C! Only 970 lb available, including 200 lb of me and 300 lb of fuel . . . Ive.not.bothered figuring the MPG of the Mooney, since I don't have fuel flow, and pump-to-pump can be seriously affected (in both directions) by the winds aloft. The truck constantly displays mog, and it's normally 25-26 mpg. Go Honda! Good luck with your airplane search. Keep us posted with your final solution.

Luckily, I haven’t needed to carry a 1/2 ton of dirt in the Mooney.

But it’s useful load a wee bit less than the F150. [emoji1]

F to C is not the same part number and I can’t speak to EASA. My suspicion is that as a governing body they are even more challenging than the FAA. From a practical standpoint, I believe the span, mounts and control configurations are identical. I seem to remember someone putting an F wing on an E model many years ago.

The C-210 would burn if I was in a hurry and about 7500 ft about 10 MPG, but surprisingly if you were willing to back it down to 150 kts and run LOP it would return 14 MPG or so, which is really very respectable. To put that in perspective a J model Mooney at the often quoted 155 kts and 10.5 GPH is 14.8 MPG. I just ran the numbers on a 500 mile trip at cruise the 210 would burn 2 more gallons of fuel than the J model Mooney, at the same airspeed. You can’t I don’t believe run 150 kts in a J model LOP, some will say they do, but I wouldn’t try at that high a power However if I slow to 135 kts at 23 squared LOP I burn 8 GPH and get 17 MPG in my J model, slowing down is the key to burning less fuel and significantly extends engine life. A Turbo 210 is a 200 kt airplane at altitude also, but not having flown one I don’t know what it’s fuel burn is at that speed, but surely not over 20 GPH, which still gives it 10 MPG? I’m convinced that yes it possible to make a fixed gear aircraft go quick by putting a big enough engine in a small enough aircraft, it’s going to burn a lot of fuel doing so and to be efficient your going to have to retract the gear.

Those fittings probably go to the injector air bleeds or the fuel pump. Where are your injector air bleeds connected? And where is the fuel pump pressure port connected?

It gave me a good chuckle, so I figured I would throw it out to the group. Maybe someone knows why it's their preference. I was flying into Ocala, FL KOCF yesterday from the North. The active RWY was 18, so my flight path was lined up perfectly for a straight in to RWY 18. I started listening to Tower, with no activity. I made my call previous to Delta entry, he asked where I was, etc. Seemed like they did not have radar. After 2 transmissions of him trying to find me, I said, I'm 8 mile final for 18. He said, sort of in a way that I should know this, "you can't just fly straight in". Ok.... what would you like me to do? Give you a juke? "Enter Right base for 18". Wilco. And so this is what he got. No traffic, no conflicts... let's just add a juke.

I accidentally hijacked a thread....will start a new one...thanks guys

Awesome thanks! Didn’t know you could search parts on Controller. I’ll try them Monday. I called a few places today showing parts on line and struck out.

controller.com https://www.controller.com/parts/search?PartNumber=D6502&SearchType=Start

These have been working great for my "friend". And it's a direct fit in my "friend's" 1984 M20J. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WF5RCKR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I stated in my reply to you that it’s a single piece wing. You stated that the cockpit is attached to the wing and cannot come apart. That isnt true which is why I shared that link with those photos. The wings can exist separated from the cockpit.

Oil turns color as a function of blow by, lots of blow by it turns black in an hour or two, very little color = very little blow by. Lack of blow by is desirable, but sort of uncommon as our engines being air cooled have loose tolerances, they have to as cylinder temp variation and therefore expansion is so great. Run one at water cooled engine tolerance's and it will seize. So why low blow by is the goal, it’s not often achieved. Oil does not turn color as a function of wear or breaking down etc, it’s carbon from blow by. Diesels turn oil black fast from the soot from the Diesel fuel burning. Ever drained the oil on an engine that runs on Propane? It looks just like it came out of the bottle, no carbon from propane so the oil stays looking new. When I sample I do so at oil change just get it as it’s about half drained. Military we sampled at time intervals but didn’t change oil, then we used a dip tube, like a soda straw just bigger. Personally I’d be very happy about it, low blow by is good, less acid build up in the oil, less carbon is good because carbon is abrasive etc. There was a study done a very long time ago that tied cylinder wear to oil consumption, meaning one that used oil had lower wear, assumption is of course the oil being used lubricated the compression rings on its way to being burnt. But if there is wear, oil consumption will soon follow, not excessive, but probably “normal” but in all honestly there doesn’t seem to be a normal oil consumption, average of course, but low time engine with good compression that make good power etc have oil consumptions all over the place and it just doesn’t seem to make much difference, they last just as long etc. But having cleaner oil for longer can’t be anything but good.

The wing is bolted to the steel cage. control tubes, plumbing, wiring, aluminum fairings, etc. must be removed/released before the fuselage can be removed from the wing.

Just to be a smart ass, I believe they are wired as a emitter follower, so they actually control the voltage to the lights.

Weld what? There are no welds in the Mooney wing. Deconstructing the spar in and of itself would likely render the wing a total loss.

@MisfitSELF Basically, they are there to 'drop' the voltage across them to control current to the lights: the lower the voltage on the bulbs, the less the current and, therefore, the lights get dimmer. The 'problem' is that the transistors get hot doing that! For example, if the transistor drops 10 Volts so that only 4 Volts gets to the bulbs (I'm assuming 14V buss voltage), and the total current for all the bulbs is 1 Amp, then that transistor would dissipate 10 Watts (10 Volts times 1 Amp)! It'll get pretty hot at 10 Watts.

I joined MS 9 yrs ago, and it was very active, still more activity than the Cessna forum I’m still part of. I sold my E right before COVID, but still come here hoping to get a chance to pay it forward, Anthony was always on no matter the time of day, Paul (GSXRpilot) was also very active, Clearance (M20 Doc) was another anchor here..All in all the members here are a great group so unless I get banned for some reason I’ll continue to check in several times a week

Remember that turboprop engines loose power with altitude. When they put a 1600 HP engine flat rated to 800 HP, it can make that 800HP up into the flight levels. So the engine is never running more than 50% power so it will last forever and you get good high altitude performance.

With your dog habit you may want to consider a Caravan or King Air

Pretty good article on the big singles https://www.aviationconsumer.com/aircraftreviews/load-hauler-bargains-pipers-have-an-edge/

I think they’re very capable. They sort of split the difference between a Bonanza and a Mooney in terms of space and efficiency. I’ve heard they are easy to wheelbarrow on both landing and takeoff. I’ve never had the opportunity to land one so I can’t say for sure. I had a buddy with a 250. He always carried some power into the landing. He gave me the impression that he disliked full stall, power off, landings in the 250/260. I always wanted to see for myself but understandably he wasn’t willing to let me experiment with his airplane…

What about a Comanche 260(b)? Has the Jumpseat area 4+2 seating and can carry a lot relatively efficiently vs a lance and should be better on the budget than a Saratoga vs a Lance. Just a thought.

It’s very helpful in imc on approaches and is something if you’ve never had you tend to discount, and even once you get it you don’t really catalog all the differences. Then you fly something without it and the real appreciation is evident. I would not say it’s a “have to have”, but it definitely a nice thing to have.

A liquid cooled automobile engine and an air cooled engine are two different things especially when it comes to ring end gap and other tolerances. That said, to the OP, why do you need your mechanic to get an oil sample? Buy a suction pump from Blackstone and pull the sample yourself and send it in yourself. Not hard to do. You are being badly served by your present shop.

That might work for now; but what happens when you get three more dogs.

@V1VRV2, any progress and/or update? Curious as to how you’re getting on.

I'd do KRHV D-> KTUS and plan on getting a clearance through the restricted areas over edwards. If you're high enough (+8500 ish) they have usually told me I could fly through. If i get denied that clearance, just go around the R-2515.