Andy95W

@hoot777- there really isn’t a baggage door “kit” for our vintage airplanes. If you want to be able to open the baggage door from the inside, you’ll need to modify your mechanism yourself.

Did it take you two weeks to compose your answer, or were you just angrier than normal yesterday morning?

Those people are probably already doing their own maintenance and just not putting it in the logbook. What we’re talking about is a means to help the conscientious owner legally log maintenance, and provide him a means to learn some things as well.

That’s cool- I was stationed at Fort Campbell 35 years ago. Did one of my student cross countries to OWB.

That’s why it would be similar to a CFI’s complex endorsement. If you forget to put your landing gear down, nobody’s going to sue the CFI that signed you off to fly a retract gear airplane.

That’s weird- Zep doesn’t smell anything like bananas to me. But I’m also one of those odd people that can’t stand the taste of cilantro.

Rich- you and I are thinking exactly the same, I was writing up the same recommendation when you posted this. It would be like a CFI adding a tail wheel endorsement or complex endorsement to your pilots license, it would be a simple signature and statement from an A&P/IA that you were authorized to perform a specific maintenance task on a specific aircraft type.

Good catch!

Replacing the flap bracket should be pretty straightforward. For the wing, you’ll probably want to contact someone like Don Maxwell. His shop can probably do the repair or recommend a shop that can. His shop will also be able to tell you if that one extruded aluminum angle can be replaced. I doubt you’ll need a whole new wing, but the cost will be significant either way. I think there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to get a ferry permit to fly to a repair location, but nothing more than that. Sorry you have to deal with this.

Please post pictures, and the part number of the seal. Thanks!

Unfortunately, the M20E gauge won’t work. The fuel pressure range is different (0-30 psi vs. 0-10).

I just tried that today on my Garmin G5 and it worked. Thanks Lance, that’s really helpful and I didn’t know that before!

It’s probably a fine instrument. But if you ever decide to install a Garmin HSI (either G5 or 275) you’re going to wish you’d gone all Garmin. They end up talking to each other and backing each other up. The AV-30 HSI doesn’t have glideslope capability, which is a shame, because otherwise it’s probably a nice unit.

Only the Apple ones, Hank.

I like option #1, but done in dark blue and a light grey for an accent color.

You’re absolutely right. Fact is I’ve wanted to install bladders ever since I had my first Mooney back in the 90s. If my wife signs off on the expense, I’ll have to turn in my CB membership card.

@DCarlton- I was hoping you’d chime in. Your post (with pictures) was one of the main reasons I started considering bladders. Thank you! If I go with bladders, I’ll likely be emailing you and your mechanic questions during the process. My dilemma really comes down to patch my tanks for about $400 and about 20 hours, or $10.5K and 60 hours for bladders. (I’ll do the work myself.) Patchwork is a little deceptive, though. I’ll definitely have to do it again in the next 5 years, and maybe twice more.

No. The amount of fuel per cycle is actually very small, but when coupled with compression and a well-timed spark it burns very efficiently and produces power and heat. Again, if there is no compression the small amount of fuel just isn’t sufficient to sustain combustion. I suppose once it reached the point in the exhaust that the other cylinders’ exhausts met, it would probably burn there- but that point is well past the location where the EGT probe lives. Additional proof: if you do a magneto check with a fouled plug, that cylinder’s EGT will drop to zero, even though fuel is passing through the cylinder.

A quick follow up: Jimmy Garrison got back to me, he said he would add about $2000 to the appraised value of a bladder modified Mooney, and maybe a little more. (He’s a top-notch guy, BTW.) I think @Schllc opinion is probably correct, a majority of the added value is likely that it would make it easier to sell. And it turns out my tank reseal is 24 years old, so I’m not sure how that will affect my decision. Thanks again.

Thanks to everyone for their input. Lots of good opinions given, and it sounds like a good bit comes down to personal preference. Jimmy Garrison’s valuation guide used to give an actual $ figure. Does anyone have that? My information is about 15 years old. Thanks again!

Not true. A stuck exhaust valve would result in no compression in that cylinder, and the fuel/air mixture would not ignite. EGT would drop significantly.

This question is to try to determine the added value at resale for a fuel bladder installation in a vintage Mooney (M20C/E/F/G). Particularly if anyone here recently bought or looked to buy a vintage Mooney, how much value would you give to one that had bladders over the original wet wing, if any at all? Secondly, what detraction, if any, would you take away from a Mooney with 20 year old resealed tanks, but patched? Hopefully Jimmy Garrison @jgarrison can give some input as well. And if any of you hadn’t guessed, my 64 M20C was resealed 20 years ago and is just now starting to leak in 2 or 3 spots. I’m considering putting in bladders so I don’t have to continue patching and (hopefully) to gain some resale value. I’m probably going to sell my airplane in about 5 years or so. Thanks!

I’ll second what everyone else has said- only getting 2 years out of a Concorde battery is not normal. It has to come down to only a few possible causes: - over or under charging (Concorde provides a table showing proper charging voltage) - a parasitic drain while the master switch is off - the test that the shop is doing is flawed somehow Good luck, keep us posted!

There was a seminar a few years back where the guy explained it really well. The oil filters need to fill from bottom to top, otherwise the oil dumps in the top of the cooler and then gets sucked out the bottom which leaves the oil cooler mostly filled with air. Of course, that doesn’t do much for cooling the oil.