MB65E

How it normally works and most comfortable... The core and base layers are the most dense, followed by a soft outer layer of foam. I'd go denser all the way thru. It will get softer overtime so hopefully it will last longer. -Matt

Welcome! Lots of great people here. Thanks for sharing your story about the Velocity. I'd love to build one one day. -Matt

Wicks Aircraft sells the memory foam in the below dimensions. Probably extremely similar to 3M and Oregon aero. http://aircraftproducts.wicksaircraft.com/viewitems/cockpit-equipment/seat-cushion-foam -Matt

Oregon Aero can build your cushions to spec. They will quote leather, but probably no better at leather than another shop. However, They have a 3inch portable soft seat with a back. That might be a good place to start with. They are expensive, but probably the most comfortable. I had some old foam I saved from a citation re-rag. It's not Oregon Aero's memory foam, but it's super nice. I built up the seat back with some dense foam, and slapped some low back sheep skin covers over the seat after some trimming and limited sewing. Overall there is about 2.5 inches more foam in the seat pan than there was before. Much better angles that I played with.m too. It's light years more comfortable. 4.25 hr legs with ZERO Burn, or numbness. Stock fabric store original mooney foam lasted only about 40 min before I couldn't feel my right leg. My airplane partner is maybe 5-5. I'm 6-1. He still needs a cushion. We have the crappy Nelson flight seat, but will most likely do the nice Oregon aero soft seat cushions in the future. I had about 3 weeks of working in my spare time and $300 total in the project. New rollers, foam, sheepskins, glue, and paint. I think the 3 inch soft seat with the 2in back retails for under 400 each. The stock back is higher than you would need in the stock M20 seat. They can trim and re-sew the cover. I actually like their fabric, very rugged, useful. If you just wanted to slap te soft seat in there, it would be way more comfortable than stock and about 1/8 the cost of a full 4 place seat re-work at a shop. I wrote about it last year when I was excited it was finished. I'm glad they are as comfortable as I wanted them to be a year later. -Matt

I was there for at least 20 min at the booth. Airplane partner spent all of the 20 inside the new 2 door, with a nice gentleman that owned a stranded g1000 non WAAS ovation. They were in there and nobody stopped by. We both gathered ideas about how to make our E cockpit nicer. Adding a pull handle on the door frame would help ingress/egress. The mock up had it. Not a single person said hello during the 20 min. But how hard is it to get one of the guys/gals to say hi and talk airplanes?... At Oshkosh, and no one wanted to talk airplanes???

Big Congrats too!!

I want one! To bad they cost so much. I love the demos they do at Oshkosh and on YouTube. Luscombe with 800's on it. C90, keep it light. It will be maybe half as cool as the Just for 1/3rd the cost. It will work in the hangar with my dad's Sonex too!!

Just wait till it cools off guys... I bet prop shops get slammed during the summer!! -Matt

Todd at American Propeller will treat you right. They have done 2 MT's and a MAC in the past for me. The truck leaves only on Tuesday so that's the only catch. I missed the truck by a day and had to wait a week. That's the only thing that went funny on the last MAC overhaul I did with them. Everything else was really nice. Nice shop, -Matt

Thanks, on some installs, the new mounts sag the first 20 hours. But yes, If the mounts are over 5yo, make sure the old ones are not the problem. One nice thing about the old fish mouth cowl, there is nothing for the spinner to be out of alignment with. ;-) Good Luck, -Matt

I'd remove a fitting, or see if you can depress the tiny ball on the zerk fitting to relieve pressures. The last service may have pressurized the hub. Our prop was spitting grease post annual. I only use one or 2 pumps now. I used to wait until fresh grease came out the back side... My prop shop said that during the overhaul, I had enough grease in the hub to last another 10 years. All this stuff is over serviced anyway. Get ready, because I can guarantee the next overhaul will be more than his quoted $1800. We had 5k in a recent overhaul on ours. Our propeller had the wrong shaft in it, worn pilot hole on the hub, corrosion on all the races. The blades are from 1967 and still made it through the inspection. -Matt

Cool Cloud app, haven't seen that one yet. I like it, "for the sake of the puppy" Lol, not the kid or the wife. Fly safe, -Matt

Just with a dermel tool (misspelled in my drawing) cutting wheel, Here's a picture. -Matt

If he is worried about it coming out...You can cut a diamond shape as the slot, then insert the removed portion back in the diamond cut out area. That way it can't ever back out and there is even torque on the washer/mount assembly. Think of it as a locking key. Did this several times on a 400hp Pitts. Never had a single issue with the shim. I'd loose about zero sleep with it on a 200hp 4 cyl. I can draw it up if he doesn't get it. -Matt

Have Saber Dave make you a tool set for the gear. Get a nice game plan going with your IA. Brief eachother daily. Set some goals. Look at mag times and replacment items ahead of time. Look at accessories, exhaust, and other consumables that take time to repair or replace first. ELT battery dates, etc. The inspection itself doesn't take long. Waiting for the darn ELT battery when it didn't ship like they said it would is a waist of time. Agree on a rate upfront. Makes it easier in the long run if the guy is like me. Can't think of anything really mooney service item spicific other than the gear tools. Expect it to take longer than you think and you'll be happy. I had 49 hrs in my last owner assisted annual. Let's just say The owner received an education! Lol. -Matt

I don't skip it at annual... I recently pulled a T182T oil suction screen that had the original gray painted copper gasket. Lycoming original from 2006. Really? It's super tight on the Mooney, but it's worth it to check the box during the annual. On some of the aerobatic sumps, I really hate doing. There is a plug in the sump that can become dislodged. On these I think you are doing more harm than good. I still do it on these. But... -Matt

Thought of you today Chris!! Cool shot. They all made it home, wiped out all HYD systems, manual extension failed as well. Belly landing in Tunisia. Dave- made it safely back Homefront Oshkosh after 39 tach hours. Squawk free!! I'll tare into the annual in November. Let me know if you need any forms or dimensions made for a stock e cowl. Might do the rear spar/flap SB depending on if my stop drills were exceeded. Nice seeing your airplane finally! cheers, -Matt

Well the oil pan quit leaking. Oil filter housing profile gasket is next. Thanks for the discussion guys! -Matt

They are drain holes for the water to exit the air scoop when you fly thru rain. -Matt

Well, I don't think that happened recently. If you can tolerate the tire hop, you could leave it until it wares more. Kinda stinks, but I don't think it's unsafe. -Matt

Thanks, makes sense. After all the running around today, I was about ready to use the aeroshell 100+ I had in the trunk for the Mooney. -Matt

So this weekend I dove into my oil pan gasket replacment on my 94 318i German road oiler. I'm glad I make a living at working on airplanes and not cars... I have always run M1 0w-40 synthetic oil in it. With 175k I wanted to switch to a 20w50 synthetic due to some possible valve guide ware. The search basically ended up with nothing except royal purple at $10 per qt. No thanks. So lots of guys run Shell T6 rotella synthetic with the pre y2k ZDDP zinc content. All of the old oils had much more additives in them than they do now. Prior to 2000 regulation has cut the ZDDP in half. This got me thinking... Does anyone know the ZDDP content in our aircraft engine oils? I'm wondering if this is the simple reason our tappets are turning engines into scrap metal. Probably should have used the search function. -Matt

Wow, that's cool!!

I think my favorite was Jim Wright's & Steve Wolf's H1 racer they built together. It was a work of art. Another sad story of the airplane taking the builders life way before their actual death. There is a certain obsession some of these builders have. It eventually fully consumes them. But enough depressing talk... Big Steve Wolf fan overall. Howard, DH-2, Spartan Executive, and Staggerwing are high on the list too. It's gotta have some wood, english sheetmetal skins, and polished something. Wait a minute... all of those have radials on them too. I don't think any aviator could ever pick just one favorite. Maybe a weekly favorite... Or daily favorite. Maybe I could pick a favorite in each row at Oshkosh. Its Just not possible!! But, you gotta love the one you're with! -Matt

Morning Jack! Welcome!! During your hunt, the search function is really helpful. Just about everything has been discussed that I can think of. Make sure you look at current airplanes that are flying. Barn finds and hangar queens tend to have some serious issues as the airframes age. Everyone here is really helpful. The attitudes and comments make the site entertaining. All the best! -Matt