Andy95W

You can probably negotiate something reasonable. I love ripping out old wiring, but I won't do it if it's inaccessible. With the instrument panels out, I'd take 2-3 hours labor and gladly put in a lot more to do a nice job. Might depend upon how big a shop it is.

If you've got the instrument panels out, Fred, you should definitely pay your guy a few extra hours to remove any/all unused wiring, IMO.

I put the pilot's side fuel cap on the cowling when I take it off. The copilot's side is obvious when you board the airplane (i.e., the hole in the wing) but the pilot's side is easy to miss. How do I this to be true? Because I've forgotten it. Twice. It's undoubtedly the stupidest way to lose about $15 worth of 100LL.

Totally agree. I tried it out at OSH last year and was very disappointed. They overcomplicated the crap out of it. And the price is too high. Unfortunate, really.

So, when the KI-300 is finally released, should it be considered brand-new technology or a long-in-the tooth 3 year old that is practically the same generation as an Aspen?

Actually, the Service Letter says to run it at 1800 rpm for 15-20 seconds, then go to 1000-1200 rpm and pull the mixture. From your original post, it sounds like you run up to 1700 for about 20 or 30 seconds "and then immediately pull the mixture." Regardless, thanks for posting the SL. I'm going to start doing that as it's written.

Erik- it seems like you didn't read my post very closely- the peron who did the test (not me) showed pictures that said it did not repel any ice.

We (MooneySpace) already did test it. One of our members with a FIKI airplane put some Rain-X on the landing light lens. It did not repel any ice, either because it wore off or was simply ineffective.

I would discuss the situation with him and not sign off any sort of inspection if he didn't want. I would simply log all of the work that I accomplished and release the airplane back to him.

Welcome to MooneySpace, Josh.

Of course! I use the emergency extension Johnson Bar every time I go flying!

1.) Internal gear inspection per the AD. 2.) Greasing annually, as you said. 3.) Removal for overhaul at George's Electrical Service (who I believe are still probably the only ones who do it) 4.) Shimming the friction brake because the springs were getting weak. For that one, I flew it down to Ronnie at Dugosh (it was the mid-90's) and he disassembled it an put in a couple of standard AN960-10 washers as shims. Didn't charge me anything- great guy. 5.) Installation of 2 diodes that Bill Wheat gave me from the factory to keep my alternator conversion from tripping the overvoltage relay (long story I've related in a couple of different threads.) Of course, re-rigging after each of those. But again, I am not disagreeing with you that it is a very robust and generally maintenance-free system- just not as simple and easy as the Johnson Bar. And the gear retraction test at Annual is even simpler: Retract, check gear door closure and warning horn, extend, check green light. Check preloads and you're done.

Not going around in circles, just different people using different definitions for the same terms. And at the end of the day, if you're happy with your price and product and AL is back flying, what does it really matter?

Not trying to be argumentative, but it's definitely not a wash. I've owned both, a 1967 M20C with electric (Dukes) gear and a 1964 M20C with Johnson Bar. The Johnson bar is less maintenance, both short and long term. I disassembled, repaired, and reassembled both landing gear systems. I agree with you, the electric gear is neither difficult nor significant in terms of maintenance requirements. But it is more than the Johnson Bar.

My carbureted O-360 runs less than a minute, at idle, around 800-1000 rpm. At full power I doubt I would roll 100 feet before the engine quit.

I found a picture of Chris working on his airplane.

For the Interav alternator conversions, really the only STCed replacement is the Plane Power: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/voltagecontrols_regulator/planePowerSAL2.php It is top notch, and unlike the InterAv setup, completely controllable and self-contained so you get rid of the big capacitor on the firewall. It costs less than $200. Even if it turns out to be something different, it is definitely an upgrade to the system. The InterAv alternator itself is pretty bulletproof and can be overhauled relatively cheaply. If it was me (it actually was me 6 years ago!) I would order and install the PlanePower voltage regulator and check all the wiring from the regulator to the alternator. Repair anything that has an old or ugly connection. Set the voltage to 14.2 volts. If the overvoltage happens again, send the alternator out for overhaul. Good luck, please keep us posted.

If we make this really political the administrators will lock the thread like Little Timmy... Jus' sayin.

First off, I am not disagreeing with Cliff. What I find odd is that 40 years ago, most maintenance shops were doing field overhauls. (The shop I worked at 20 years ago still had all the tools but hadn't overhauled an engine in years.) Those shops didn't have test stands, "club" propellers, and calibrated gauges. They installed the engine and told the owner to go fly using the manufacturer's break-in procedure (i.e., fly the hell out of it over 75% power at full rich.). The regulations didn't change, but the interpretation did. Odd.

Thanks for doing this, Greg! If I lived 5 states closer I'd be there!

Fred and Dev- I will take some pictures as I do the project and post them in the Vintage section so we don't get a lot of peanut gallery comments from modern Mooney owners about how crazy we are to fly around with our baggage doors unlocked. I've already seen some things I want to do differently than the MAPA log. I'll explain those, as well.

It took re-reading FAR 43 Appendix A, but I agree- the FAA hasn't updated its list to include interior lights, or really any other light bulbs besides landing and position (nav) lights: ---------------------------------- (17) Replacing bulbs, reflectors, and lenses of position and landing lights. ---------------------------------- It's a darn good thing the hangar fairies are so good at it!

Does that mean you're going to buy it?

It only affected my iPhone and iPad using Safari. I also have Foxbrowser on my iPad, and that worked fine. Everything is good, now. Had me scared at first, though!

I believe the later model Mooneys don't matter if the baggage door is locked or not. Perhaps someone can provide the answer to that? For the mod I posted for the pre-201s, the baggage door must be unlocked for it to work.