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captainglen

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Everything posted by captainglen

  1. The RPM indicator should have an arc marking that shows the do not operate range to avoid a harmful harmonic vibration from the crank counterweight. The rough idle with carb heat applied is normal; apply a prolonged carb heat shot on downwind before reducing power. The primary symptom of undetected carb ice will be an uncommanded engine shutdown when the throttle is closed. After flying other aircraft it is common to flare the Mooney 2 to 3 feet to high because it is slung so low. At alpha floor (prestall) as the warning horn sounds a high sink rate develops; then it kind of plunks in. A little practice and you will begin to feel the ground effect just as you start the flare. I am sure you will love your Mooney.
  2. I will address the hot mag problem first. Early C models use a shower of sparks system and can not be started unless the ignition switch is activated to the start position. Later models have an impulse coupled mag in the left position and rotating a hot mag past the point where a loud click is heard can result in an inadvertent engine start, injury and even death. Others have noted the possibility of an open P lead but it is even more likely that the ignition switch is to blame. Check to continuity of the P leads and check that in the off position both leads are grounded which will adjudicate the switch.
  3. A small exhaust leak or even some lower cowl back draft could have caused the detached hose to draw in exhaust gas. Back draft occurs when the cowl flaps are closed which explains your normal taxi, run up and climb. Larger exhaust. Small leaks usually occur around fittings; to find them wrap the fittings with the thinnest aluminum foil you can find and do an extended high power ground run the leak will burn away the foil. Cracks in the muffler/heater can usually be found with a detailed visual inspection.
  4. Always check the part number against that specified in your Mooney Parts Manual and check if there is any airworthiness directive on that part not incorporated in the Mooney Parts Manual. When ordering aileron links last year if the seller did not post a part number I would ask. Even if a part fits it might not be the right part and installing it may undo an airworthiness directive. In my case there were two sets of parts that fit, one airworthiness directive compliant the other not.
  5. You are probably overthinking the problem. The fuel pump has no pressure regulator and puts out a fixed volume per stroke. As the pressure climbs it will eventually overcome spring pressure. The carburetor feeds the engine the fuel it needs for any given power setting which at idle is quite low and the float valve remains in a nearly closed position causing the pressure to increase. If the carburetor were at fault and fuel flow too low you would have high EGT. Your POH start checklist just asks you to verify you have fuel pressure after engine start; your runup checklist asks you to verify all instruments are in green arc. If these conditions are met the aircraft is fit to fly but if any non green arc readings are observed in flight this is to be considered a non airworthy condition. As the springs in your brand new fuel pump wear in the idle pressure will come down.
  6. Automotive windshield wiper hose is rubber and will leak in a very short time. Aviation Tygon can work well but requires replacing all the fittings. Approved silicone tubing is the best choice for replacement although the wall thickness and O/D is much larger than the other two choices. Remember that a leaky Britin P/C autopilot can cut into your instrument vacuum making your horizon and DG unreliable.
  7. I would be a little nervous that they posted no pictures of the interior. The extensive instrument panel modifications leave a little to be desired. Although the six instrument PFD and the C/B panels are nice locating the manifold pressure and RPM to the far right is less than the ideal location. The old Garwin instrument cluster location is less than ideal and these instruments due to age are quite problematic (will replace mine soon). The dual Glideslope is great that ADF will have to go. It is good that the one piece windshield is not speed sloped which means you still have access to the back side of the instrument panel. It looks like an older S-tek autopilot above the two NAV/COM's it is not a Brittin PC (positive control) pneumatic autopilot. There is a lot to work with here IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT.
  8. This my current antenna location; it may not be aesthetically pleasing but it is low drag, has unobstructed visibility to ground stations from wings or fuselage and gets good ground plane effect from the belly. The previous owner removed the coax leading up the tail to the mounting plate provided under the cover with the slot in it.
  9. 1964-M20E I am glad for the practical experience in knowing a proper antenna system will give me proper range with a splitter. N601RX Yes I understand that I will loose 6db of signal to each receiver but want to maintain at least 50 miles of range which seems to be possible in principal. DVA My antenna is mounted on the belly just FWD of the tail cone, I do have a 2nd position to mount another antenna for a thin wire antenna in the vertical stab but running the cable is a major undertaking. I think I will try the splitter and if I can't get 50 miles at 5,000 feet I will run the extra antenna.
  10. I currently have 2 Comm radios only one with NAV but will be adding a 2nd NAV with Glide Slope. I have a 3 way splitter and as an avionic technician but am a bit worried about reduced range in tracking VOR stations. I understand why most owners choose a splitter over a 2nd antenna or even a 3rd with separate G/S antenna but I am my own mechanic and avionic technician. Has anyone had experience with flying a with a splitter after upgrading and if there is or is not serious reduction in reception range.
  11. Mike, are those Jaeger plastic side panels? I am considering buying a set in beige. Whatever your interior they really look sharp! I will get the armrest upgrade for the pilot position only because on long flights I do notice some left arm fatigue.
  12. Nobody, I like that little story. Does size matter? When I had my F Bonanza 4 place I was always a bit proud of the interior room, the bench style front seat and how much leg room the rear seat passengers had. I was however always jealous of the Mooney owners who got nearly the same performance with only four cylinders and lower fuel bills and fewer cylinders to fail compression checks. Now the only thing I really miss in the bonanza was how much gentler it was in the flare.
  13. Once again this community has been invaluable to me! I now have the correct boost pump installed and the correct fuel pressure gauge and can now move on to cosmetics and make the airplane look pretty. THANK YOU ALL.
  14. Mooniac you are right that is the gauge I have. Hank your gauge illustrates two problems, wrong gauge and wrong boos pump since the pressure goes up to 22 when the switch is on. I have observed that if I switch the boost pump on too soon before starting and do not shut it off that I vent some fuel onto the ground. Not only will I check the POH but the part numbers in the original type certificate and the standard instrument marking section of the manufacturer equipment list (I have a copy from FAA records. Thank you all so much!
  15. I thank you so much for the feedback especially those with actual experience at high altitude airports. Yes I have experienced the trees at Big Bear first hand in a 90 horsepower 150 when weather forced me to reverse course before reaching the lake. Those of you who have provided charts and graphs illustrating the non linear nature of altitude performance were exceptionally helpful and your charts and equations mirror the curves in the chart I made up. I recently observed my climb rate at 10,000' as 300 FPM with the OAT at 70 Degrees and a gross weight of 1860 lbs. I tend to keep my weights between 1670 lbs and 1820 lbs which is a big help. Although the early morning takeoff advice is something I will adhere to with religious conviction I will try airports at a lower elevation and work up in baby steps. After all the best pilots not only have a yellow streak a mile wide, they are proud of it.
  16. "Are these legal to replace in my C in the USA?" The answer is a conditional yes. The Mitchell Modular Gauges are PMA, not TSO. TSO gauges meet the FAA technical standards and can be installed in any aircraft. Any mechanic can install a PMA component fill out a 337 but a IA must approve the 337 before it is submitted. Technically the IA is required to determine that the installed component meets or exceeds the manufacturers specifications. In other words you will need an IA with some guts. I installed only one PMA unit in my plane there are no others previously installed but my IA trusts my avionics abilities as an A&P.
  17. The engine overhaul manual for the O-360-A1A manual specifies a low pressure pump with a 4 PSI to 6 PSI output. The Facet boost pump puts out 25 PSI. The fuel pressure gauge green arc is marked from 14 PSI to 30 PSI. Is anyone knowledgeable on this subject. I could find no service bulletin or AD that affected the output of the engine pump only the replacement of single diaphragm pumps with double diaphragm pumps. If the 4-6 PSI is correct then the pressures I observe in cruise flight are normal and the instrument markings are for boos pump operation only. HELP!
  18. Has anyone here executed a takeoff in an M20C from airports above 5,000'. I am considering flying to both GCN 6,609' and L35 6,752. The takeoff charts for the M20C only go up to 5,000'. I have used math modeling to come up with a chart up to 7,500' but I am reluctant to use it without knowing that others have successfully operated from fields in these elevation ranges.
  19. There are pros and cons to both courses of action. Alternators are lighter but reducing weight so far forward shifts the CG aft. Alternators are more reliable but produce more electrical noise that sometimes require expensive filters. Generators produce lower voltage at lower RPM while alternators put out well at idle RPM. Generator brushes wear out fairly quick making alternators far more reliable. Although alternators can put out far more current your existing aircraft wiring will only support 50 amps so the breaker will still have to be a 50 amp breaker but older Mooney's are not known for having high electrical demand. The simple to install kit from Aircraft Spruce lists as follows: SAL12-70 SAL12-70 HARTZELL GENERATOR CONVERSION KIT 07-01301 $779.00
  20. Always remember when considering that when considering speed sloped windshield the airspeed gain is tiny and you loose avionics access.
  21. The main reason for thicker plexiglass is noise reduction but in the event of a bird strike the thicker windshield offers more protection. Aero Plastics in the first paragraph of the installation guide states that the windshields are supplied oversize and require trimming. Aero Plastics will trim to exact size free of charge if your windshield is sent in with your order. I installed 6 windows in my Bonanza 35-F, the first took 2 hours and the rest took about an hour each; There was a learning curve. I will do the two windshields on my Mooney M20C and I expect no problems. A disk sander provides the best control and speed for the trimming. One more consideration is tint, My experience with green is that it rapidly becomes milky when exposed to UV unless covered from the outside I have no experience with grey but for traffic see and avoid as well as night flight I always prefer clear. The price at Chief is well below that of Spruce so that is who I will choose.
  22. The engine cluster in all Mooneys are cheap and unreliable and it is probably better not to try to replace them. LASER may have some new old stock units but you will pay through the nose and in a few years you will be back in the same boat. My oil temp has long since failed and been replaced by a separate TSO gauge But I am still getting used to looking up and to the right to read oil temp.. My fuel gauges now have to be tapped to verify their reading because they are a little sticky. Another problem is that even if they work perfectly they are 90 degree sweep gauges. The good news is there is a solution which I myself intend to implement this year. UMA makes a series of TSO gauges with a 1 1/2" square face and 270 degree sweep. If properly arrayed they have the exact dimensions if the cluster assembly. The 270 degree sweep makes them 3 times more accurate that the gauges they will be replacing. The one drawback is that the ammeter is non TSO but as an A&P I have installed a PMA Davitron density altitude / OAT instrument in my plane with an approved 337. I will use the connector from one of my junk cluster gauges so that when wired as an assembly I wont have to disturb the original aircraft harness. Of course as an A&P with extensive avionics experience it is easy for me but for you you will have to find and A&P with some confidence. The gauges run between $208 and $225 each for a total price of around $1,200. Lighting and custom markings available. The alternative as taking your chances with used cluster gauges.
  23. You will be pleased with all of the Mooney characteristics except for roominess. Although technically not a high performance aircraft she shares some flight characteristics like a tendency to be a bit difficult to hold at a particular altitude. Just 5 or so MPH slower than a Bonanza but far more economical in fuel and maintenance. The Bonanza lands like a dream but the Mooney is easily her equal which you would not expect being so low to the ground. The best advice I can give you is download the manual and learn every bolt and weld in your airplane; it will help to keep you from being cheated when it comes time for an annual. The Mooney fuselage is a tube steel cage with an aluminum skin; the wing and tail boom are all aluminum monocoque which means crash safety. The rubber disk suspension means the trouble of shock struts is gone. There are no inner landing gear doors like the Bonanza but the simplicity of the system is worth a couple of knots. Make sure your equipment list and weight and balance documentation are up to date because the Mooney is easy to load aft of CG. By the way the POH of most early Mooney models do not include weight and balance charts; some of us can help if your package is shorted such information. The early Mooney manuals also do not include emergency procedures checklists; I had to write my own. One more thing learn to do as much as possible yourself and find an inspector willing to do owner assisted annuals. I have the advantage o being an A&P so most repairs I can do myself!
  24. Do Not mess around get it to a mechanic ASAP. Something is bent loose or broken such as a weldment. If you were to experience an inflight failure with the flaps down there would be a large flap disagree with a tremendous rolling moment. You could recover if you retracted the extended flap if there is enough altitude which is unlikely on short final.
  25. Most airspeed indicators have a feature called a gust lock this a hard stop around 30 MPH to keep the wind from bouncing the needle and wearing the gears causing hysteresis. Put a slight pitot pressure let it out slowly and see if it stops hard or soft at 30, it should stop hard. If however you have any doubt have someone do a pitot test; you just don't mess around with suspected significant airspeed indication errors.
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