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It is a very good option, but in the short run it is thousands of dollars versus hundreds. In the long run probably a much better investment, but unfortunately I am dealing with short run dollars!

Tempest are great. I've been using them exclusively for years. They have the pre-lubed gasket, which is nice, but are generally very good filters.

Thank you so very much! That eliminates one concern. Now I just have to find a replacement or someone that will overhaul mine. Century Instruments in Wichita doesn’t handle the 52D177 anymore and I am very hesitant to go back to the other place as all 3 of the faulty replacements came from them. I will continue to work this problem through a couple of other avenues and post my final results. Your tracking down the fact that my AI is not an incorrect application is an immense contribution! Thank you!

Already received reply Hello, Thank you for contacting Vector regarding the disputed charges billed on INVOICE 772951. A credit request has been submitted for the disputed charges and is in process. We will notify you once the process is complete. If you receive an Account Statement indicating past due charges from this invoice, please review the Adjustments Pending Approval section of the Statement showing your request is still in process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you. At least that division of customer service seems competent.

Shocking! I made a round-trip to Houston, VFR both ways! I've usually been above a pretty solid layer with no ground visibility. This is crossing the Mississippi, looking towards Natchez on Tuesday. Coming home today was smooth sailing at 9500, just had to duck out of an MOA that two F-35s entered about 4 minutes after me, and about 15 minutes after Center confirmed that it was cold . . . .

Hi all. A quick update from my last post…the Camping trip was awesome. Then December happened and ive gon downhill rapidly since then, but I was able to spend Christmas and New Year at home. Im writing from my hospital bed in UCLH , london. I left home a week ago with a mild infection knowing I would not go back. Im At peace with it all, it doesnt scare me. I have had a hell of a life and done so many, many things. Im concerned about how Andrew will cope without his protector beside him, but know that our friends and family will look after him for me. ive got about a week to two weeks left. They are keeping me comfortable and im in very little pain. I have enjoyed immensely being part of this community and meeting some of you at the Mooney Summit. Its an amazing community with such strong bonds around an amazing machine. Andrew will post “The End” when it happens and live link to the service if you want to tune in..The only thing I ask is that you dont use the phrase “his passing” or similar. It makes me sound like a bowel movement. @Oldguy has all my contact details. Andrews email is andrew@andrewdunning.com. love and god bless. Andrew

Bob said that he very much enjoys the work and will continue to do it as long as he is able. He has also moved to McKenzie, TN, which is midway between Nashville and Memphis. He has worked on many EDO-Aire units and had no hesitation about mine. He did say that it would be a two week turnaround due the rotor of the Edo. I think he can turn around the Kings in a couple of days. In aviation terms, two weeks is the speed of light! Especially when it involves avionics. I’m delighted!

One way to push back on that is to make it an issue for the customer, e.g., complain to the FBO or the airport manager. If it becomes a hassle for them to deal with mis-billings, then they'll put pressure on the billing company from a customer perspective, which has more weight than us. Complaining to the regulator, the FAA, may have weight as well. The AOPA is already aware, so I don't know how much more that helps or not.

I think @dkkim73 said it more eloquently, but here’s my take (and I frequent KCLM in the summer)…. It’s not my job to have to dispute bills that are junk. There are clearly many way to park/land at Kclm that should not result in a bill (friends hangar, rented hangar, FS taxi back, etc). Why is it suddenly my responsibility to police the company billing me with the possibility of a lein on my airplane if I (OMG) choose to ignore a bill that’s completely bogus?! I should send them a bill for my time spent in researching and replying to their trash billing. At least Id have a reasonable justification for my bill. Think they’d pay?

The Century 41 Autopilot was a common factory installation on both J's and K's at the end of the '70's and the early '80's. I have a Century 41 on a beginning of year 1980 M20J. Our planes came off the assembly line a few months apart. Back in Nov. 2023 you commented on MS that you had a Century 41 autopilot so that matches up with your recollection. If you currently have a 52D177, then you have the vacuum operated 2 Cue Flight Director. Contrary to Century Instruments (Wichita) assertion, the 52D177 is an approved Attitude Indicator to drive your Century 41. The 52D67 is an unlighted basic Attitude Indicator. You need to talk to your avionics shop before ditching your Flight Director. It should be a perfect unit to drive the Century 41. Having a Flight Director is not the cause of your problems. I think it is due to the quality of the ones that have been sold to you. Yes the basic AI 52D267 will work but you will lose your FD cues. From the Century 41 Installation Manual.

All of the airplanes before the M20K had trim assist bungees. They function to bias the elevator neutral point in the direction of trim reducing the need for incidence change of the horizontal stabilizer to eliminate stick force at the trimmed airspeed. The K and after have a bob weight (to increase stick force per g) and a downspring that changes tension with stabilizer trim movement to perform the same function.

https://youtu.be/Q4MgLkTamP4 Documentation for the G100UL Avgas drip-evaporate-drip-evaporate paint testing. On a lighter note: What you see is definitely a breach of the protocol for practicing good fuel hygiene!

All the negativity probably ran @George Braly off of here (which would be too bad because I think we all need to keep open lines of communication until this is understood),but he’s continued to post on BT. He posted a drip-evaporate-drip test on one of his Beechcraft panels and said he will post a complete YouTube video of the test maybe later today. One interesting thing is that he was able to polish out the brown stains whereas others including @donkaye have been unable to do so. So, perhaps not all paint reacts the same to G100UL. Maybe the paint on George’s test panels is newer or something. I believe he said they were not original Beech paint.

Kathy and I never made it over there to go on a flight with you. We will do that when I catch up to you on the other side.

Tear down completed. Crank good, gonna freshen it up with new bearings, rod bolts, lifter plungers, 1 pushrod need’s replacing. Lower mount bushings need replacement. Goes to show things can happen even when maintenance is constantly being done. We talked about doing the full OH but 3 to 6 months out and she won’t be hangered. I think just doing the IRAN is best for now. It will be as fresh as one can get. -Don

It surprises me that they sell for the same or less than a similar aged M20J. Only 55 J’s were converted to Missile 300’s by Rocket Engineering. And some have already bitten the dust (N52840, N5670M and N3515H to name a few that have been totaled fatalities). There are 3 Missile’s for sale on Controller right now. That’s about 6% of the Missile fleet currently idle and for sale which is 4 times higher than the overall active Mooney fleet. It just proves the adage that don’t expect modifications to add value to your plane and don’t expect to get your money back. I paid Rocket Engineering $65,000 for the Missile 300 mod back in 2000. Only do a major modification if you plan to keep your plane forever. I would be dollars ahead and it would be easier to sell if I kept it as a plain M20J. However I have enjoyed the performance and the accompanying “spending 50% more on fuel”! I will fly it until I can’t and then I won’t care.

Went up for some therapy after work yesterday.

I have been searching all forums and only read "it's not possible". Now I have it in my Mooney and it is working like a charm.

FYI - Bob Fields Inflatable Door Seals is offering a $75 discount on all Mooney door seals to Mooneyspace users at www.aerocessories.aero. Be sure to use discount code MS2025 to claim the discount.

I call BS! Sounds like a cam out of time with the crank

"They" don't "think" you owe anything. Their business model, possibly executed by some unknown dude (or dudar-ji overseas) on Upwork, generated a bill that, on the average, will net some %age of collections. They get a cut of that, so as long as it's not painful to them, they don't even know, much less care, if they're occasionally (significantly?) wrong. Same rationale as insurance companies kicking back pre-auth on medical diagnostics that are indicated. They bet that a significant fraction won't take the time to fight it (thinking here of real examples of non-urgent but important medical evaluations). Of course you can come up with justifications for this kind of crappy automation, that also helps them. Poor starving airport authority. As for "who should pay" (the simple refrain): If you think the net benefit of this airport accrues to solely to those of us who might fly in a few times in a lifetime, divided by the # of us, and not to other fixed entities (say the nearby cities), I would suggest your're perhaps not thinking broadly enough about the various economic dependencies. (Yes, I know you're not making all the counter-arguments, you just brought up an entry point for discussion, so the intent is general and conversational here, not attacking your worldview). Ethics and principles aside, there are also politics. WA state revenue models (esp. with the burgeoning cost of social "help") are obviously strained... so easier to nickel and dime transient cessnas than try to solve the bigger tax base issues in Clallam County. Want a real annoyance? Try to commute by WA State Ferries.... Talk about days of greater glory. And the Olympic Peninsula isn't exactly wealthy as a whole to start with. You would think there are enough wealthy retirees there that they wouldn't fleece passers-by to prop up infrastructure. D

I wonder if it violates the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act... it doesn't seem right for a company to attempt to collect payment in these type of situations. The burden shouldn't be on us to even respond to bad billing like that.

Plane in Asia and needs to come to SoCal. Wow you brought yours from Europe! Cool ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To answer my own question (and in case someone stumbles upon this thread): The larger Parker Hannifin (Cleveland) assembly 30-65 includes two O-Rings 101-02700 (MS28775-222).

Except that Lycoming has already published a Service Bulletin that doubles the oil change interval when using unleaded fuels. I think that double the oil change interval is a significant increase. And once 100LL is gone, synthetic oils will further increase oil change intervals, as they did in auto. We went from 3000 mile oil changer intervals to over 15,000 miles.

I believe I have found a very satisfactory solution thanks to @Will.iam. He recommended Bob Bramble at aerolabaviation.com. I just had a very nice conversation with Mr. Bramble and I will send him my AI as soon as I can.

Thanks I contacted them and they are sending me a sample. I appreciate your help. Curt

Regardless of the words used, I see this as double billing when your plane is in the hangar of the private business that is already paying for that work space.

What is aggravating about this is the burden placed in your lap to do the legwork to fix the data quality issue that their low-cost automated money-printing process created. I wonder if you could go through an administrative process to make complaints through the airport, municipality, or by bringing in some state advocacy. WA has its bureaucracy, but is pretty responsive at some levels (e.g. sometimes county) and if you frame it as a "little guy getting pushed around by corporate bottom-feeders" it might resonate with some people. Out in that part of the state it's heads or tails what political card you draw with any given public servant. I wonder if you can make a legal argument that the government is responsible for reckless or harassing billing practices via their contractor.

I use the 3M Perfect-It series polish to remove fuel stains and restore paint to like-new. I also use it on existing paint that will be spot-repaired and blended. You want the existing paint as clean as possible before blending in a repaired area. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/collision-repair-us/featured-products/random-orbital-polishing-system/?utm_term=sibg-aad-na-en_us-lead-g_a_o_rops-cpc-google-pfx-na-brand-jan24-na&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACgp1ZoT1QO_SfSoRHwwEF5c4yYqb&gclid=CjwKCAiAnKi8BhB0EiwA58DA4bNR8OyTSgQLl5z2I1sm98ijyxyWFp8zvrnJRqER0Cc4Pamb15mFoRoCx0cQAvD_BwE Most shops don't use this because it's not cheap. A kit with all three polishes and the corresponding buffing wheels is about $300. But nothing works better.

The Mooney M20J SMM says to use a wash primer -- which I believe is a self etching primer -- before applying an epoxy primer. So, I assume that's what the factory did. I've got a lot of paint chipping off the leading edges of all surfaces and various flat rivet heads that are not smoking (Interestingly, the paint is adhering well on a few rivets that are smoking). My paint guy says he sees that a lot on Mooneys. I'm having it painted at Sunquest. They are highly rated and paint Caravans for FedEX and seaplanes for Kenmore Air among others. I'm beginning to understand why my paint job is going to cost north or $40K when others seem to get it done cheaper.

That quote is from the M20K SMM. I was comparing the J and K because one has the bob weight (elevators hang down), and the other does not have the bob weight (elevators line up with horizontal stabilizer).

If you have a bob weight, then you don't have a M20J and so the M20J SMM does not apply.

If you’re in the San Diego area WE could do it but these are much too delicate to loan out.

The OP is looking for input from someone who has installed a new muffler on a J recently. A post from that person would actually be helpful.

I dont lend them out

My autopilot is the Century 41. Because I am currently out of state taking care of my mother, I don’t have access right now to either my plane or the logbooks, but internet pictures confirm what I already knew.

What they found on tear down: Spalled lifters happen in the last 60 hours. Last year when we did the #4 cylinder, we saw nothing on the faces/cam. 821 hours since the last IRAN - this is the current condition. Basically, No NDI (non destructive inspection), and no crank polish/line boring will be done. -Don

How you are handling yourself at this time, and for the last year and a half or so, is remarkable, and quite an inspiration for the rest of us. I enjoyed meeting you at the Mooney Summits, and our online interactions here. We will all miss you, Andrew.

Here is a possible answer. 5 gallons methanol, figure about 35 pounds. Tank and installation figure another 12 pounds so 47 pounds off of payload. $12,000 installation cost is a little off the wallet payload. Then you have the corrosive nature of methanol, more maintenance costs. Simpler, cheaper and greater payload/range to burn high octane. 47 pounds is a 45 minute reserve in most SE airplanes.

I find mine easy. Take off and climb, every thing full forward. Accelerate for cruise, set 29,5 inches, 2300, 10.1 GPH, relax.

Much appreciation for taking the time to report the outcome. So many of the threads are a big discussion to help the OP , then the OP gets what they want and doesn’t bother with their own input upon completion. If they all had outcomes we could probably build a nice AI tool to fix every problem on the Mooney. lol

I wouldn’t read too much into those percentage ranges. Most likely, the amount of each component is much more tightly controlled. Companies blur the ranges intentionally to avoid disclosing the formula which is a trade secret.

If They’re not closed correctly, they pop open on takeoff and fly open. It can crease them pretty good. The door on my F had a slight, but noticeable crease. I can definitely see people wanting to put a new door on to erase all memories and evidence from that experience. Plus, some of the newer doors have the emergency inside release.

Understand the set screw, mine takes about 5+ seconds in the air to retract completely so I could do the same, but it's just an extra step. Power, positive rate, gear up, flaps up works very well for me. Appreciate the concern, thankfully we are fine. We're in northeast Orange County in Yorba Linda so a long way from the fires in LA. We had some strong winds, gusting in the 40-50mph range but nothing compared to the 50-100+mph they had over in Ventura County and the foothills of LA where the fires are.

Actually, it is what you get and this is a brand new recently paved runway. They still need to paint the numbers and markings. Once you fly around here your standards have to adjust. But I agree there was a lot of FOD. But at least no dogs, chicken, goats or people… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Duncan is shipping my kit out today! For those curious, I purchased the flat pack. The price included a 3% cc fee, $200 STC fee, and sales tax so the total was $7926.77 (~$22 for shipping included). The Garmin GFC500 was priced at $11930.50 ( not including shipping as it depends where it is shipped from) for a 2 axis kit for comparison… The installation price is the same for both per my avionics shop - currently for my plane at around $4500.00 Garmin: $16430.50 installed NOTE: I already have G5 and GNC 355 so that cost is not included. The G5 adds about $4K to $5k more for a single G5. AeroCruze: $12426.77 installed. G5 is optional but I would want it too… Overall, ~$4000 difference -Don

Just a curious thought- Did the landing fees go up AFTER the contract was signed with Vector? Is there an "administrative fee" attached to the bill? who pays Vectors "cut"? The airport sponsor or us through a additional fee? As one who ran a Pt 139 airport for a short while you have no clue how "clueless" most city councils (cities are the airport sponsor in most cases) are on anything let alone running an airport. All they see is the ability to collect revenue and nothing more. Beyond that they have blinders on. In some cases the FBO leases the ground for the tiedowns and ramp from the city. In some cases not. If they do I can see them wanting to recover those costs If not, its a financial gain using publicly paid for property (the ramp, FAA grant). If the city is part of the later then they are complicit. Every city wants an airport, not many want to pay for same. We pay fuel taxes for airport improvements (ramp resurface), do we then have to pay again to use that improvement (FBO access fees)? Airports CAN charge a landing fee IF they want. Many cities don't so as to attract business to the city. Every city that accepts Fed funds has some sort of study compiling the value to the city that the airport represents. It is still my opinion that IF the airport sponsor accepts Fed funds to keep the airport alive then they should have to provide a set number of tie down spots, rest room access and gate access on and off the airport as a condition of Fed fund acceptance. If they want to limit access to their city through a private company (FBO) with an exclusive contract for the entire airport then then the "gate fee" should be controlled by the city council and not the FBO. If the city wants to charge a fee so be it. At least an elected body is the determining factor. If the city (another name for Airport Sponsor) wants to charge BOTH a landing fee AND a 'Gate Fee" so be it, It should be transparent that is the city doing it. having the FBO do it only transfer the angst away from the city (which is what they want as elected officials). I started a conversation with Baker many years ago about FBO fees and the locking up of airports to no avail. I've been an AOPA member since the 1960s and I support them just because we need all the voices we can get BUT I think they have gone too far into a merchandizing company than an advocate for GA. JMO As to the analogy of fees for state parks think of it as the park is a "destination" in it self and not just an access point to a city. Park fees are fine IF I WANT TO GO TO THAT PARK. If I want to go to a city I don't pay a fee to get off of a Federally funded highway to enter the city- DO I?

From a post on BT…not my video.

No, but I have tools I got in 1955