philiplane

M-10 yes, M-18, no. Forgot about that one. No desire to fly anything that relies upon strings, wires, or fire to maintain flight.

There are far better resources in Hartford, KHFD. VIP Avionics. Ed and Dave are nothing short of amazing technicians. Honest and fair as well.

Some years ago, I put one of the first PFS systems on a 1968 M20F. What a difference! Well worth the money, especially when you will throw over half of that money at rebuilding the stock exhaust. Too many people run stock exhausts for far too long, by which I mean, to the point of failure. If your exhaust is over 20 years old or 1500 hours in service, you should consider replacing it before it gets a chance to kill you.

If your mechanic doesn't understand the effects of LOP vs ROP on all components, then you need a new mechanic. Exhaust systems fail due to age and thermal cycles. Peak EGT operations are what kill exhausts early. Any piece of metal exposed to 1400-1500 dF temperatures for over 1000 hours doesn't owe you a thing.

I'm perfectly happy to bash bad products and recommend good ones, and change opinions when products change. The broken flanges were found to be a manufacturing defect, as I reported, not an installation error. That is why it's important. They didn't know how many were affected. This has also happened on Bendix magnetos back around 1973. The ones affected had slotted mounting ears with porosity in the ear base. They would crack but not separate. The Slicks affected do not have the same style ear, but only a flange that is retained by a clamp, and that flange has similar casting flaws only on the left flange area, near the parting line. They're hardly comparable, Slicks have much smaller distributor blocks which contribute to misfire at altitude, generate less spark energy due to the smaller coils and magnets, and have much lighter gears, bushings, and point cams. All these are a result of the "lightweight" design, which they once promoted as a virtue, but have since abandoned. My observations are based on a very large data set. I have maintained individual customer planes, and fleets of aircraft that collectively accumulate upwards of 10,000 hours per year over the past two decades. My high point was 2004 when I hit 15,800 fleet hours in a year. That generates over 60 of the 500 hour magneto inspections in one year. And 120 when the parts do not last 500 hours. See for yourself, more photos of failed Slick parts here: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Slick%20mag%20junk

I have flown all Mooneys, stock and heavily modified, including the Rocket & Missile conversions, except for the Mustang, and the M-18, M20A/B/D. Also flown Piper Aztec/Apache all variants, Piper J3 Cub, Super Cub, Super Cruiser, Colt, and Tri-Pacer, Piper Comanche PA24-180, 250, 260, but not the 400, PA28/PA28R all variations fixed & retract, Twin Comanche, all variants but the PA39CR Turbo, Piper Tomahawk, Cherokee Six/lLance/Saratoga PA32 & PA32R all variations fixed & retract, Seneca PA34 all, Piper Navajo & Chieftain, Malibu, Malibu Jet Prop DLX, Piper Cheyenne II and 400LS, Cessna 140, 150, 152, 170, 172, 177, 180, 182, 206, 210, P210, T210, 310, 337, Citation II, Citation 1SP Eagle, Citation V. Beech Bonanza V35B, F33, A36, B36TC, Musketeer, Sundowner, Sierra, Skipper, Travel Air, Baron 55 & 58, 56TC, King Air C90, E90, F90, 100, A100. Grumman AA1, Cheetah, & Tiger, Cougar. Aviat Husky with 200 HP. Maule M5 & M7, MXT-180. Columbia 400. Cirrus SR20, SR22, SR22TN, SR22T. Diamond DA40. Rockwell Commander 112TC and 114B, 115. Stinson 108. Extra 300. Aeronca Champ. Ercoupe. And some experimentals: Velocity, Jabiru, RV-7.

Slick has at least four Service Bulletins calling for inspections of mags and parts since 2006. These parts were failing at very low time in service. Dozens of mags I examined at or below the 250 hour threshold called out were within a few hours of failure due to problems with points, point cams worn out, rotors with loose tangs, distributor blocks with loose or worn out bushings, carbon brushes wearing out and snapping off, and partially stripped gears (due to the loose bushings). Several had already jumped a tooth and were out of time. Slick mags used on Continental IO-360ES engines had several failures of the hold-down clamp area on the housing. This allows the mag to basically fall off the engine and lose most of the oil in the process. A trip around the pattern lost 5 of the 7 quarts in the pan. This housing failure was not an overload or improper maintenance procedure, it was a result of poor casting and a void or crack. The several I saw had less than 500 hours since new and were on brand new engines. There are also problems with the coils, particularly in the output tab that the rotor's carbon brush rides on. Factory misalignment is quickly wearing out the tab, which mandates a $300 coil replacement. Slicks built before 2006 seem to be unaffected, but mags built or serviced after that date have questionable parts. I have seen no evidence that they have solved these QC problems yet. Champion bought Slick a few years ago, and they have been so wrapped up with the crappy spark plugs that they may not have solved the mag QC problems. Time will tell, we just need more people willing to be test pilots for Slick. If you operate Slick mags you would be wise to do the 500 hour inspection at 250 hour intervals until you are satisfied that the problems are gone. Worst of all, Slick parts prices are high enough that you can easily spend $500 at each 500 hour inspection for points, condenser, distributor block and rotor and labor. Throw in a coil and you are at $800, per mag.

Tempest fine wire plugs virtually eliminate the lead fouling issue. Team them with Bendix mags and your problems are gone. If you still have an issue, your idle mixture is set too rich. Most lead fouling problems have been a result of Champion spark plugs with high internal resistance. People keep cleaning them and use the ridiculously overpowered bench test to declare them "good to go". Then they run like crap in the plane after a few hours, and people blame the lead in the gas rather than the crappy spark plug. Champion has denied this problem for years. Yet suddenly and with no fan fare they changed their internal resistor design to a copy of Tempest's a few months ago. There is no news about this. They simply removed all evidence of the old carbon pile spring loaded resistor from their site, and replace it with a description of the fired-in resistor. It's not noted as a product improvement, or new and improved. If you didn't know better you would assume they've always been made that way. The higher efficiency and lower maintenance, plus the extreme longevity of fine wires make them the best value. They pay for the difference over massives in fuel savings alone in 300-400 hours since you can lean about 1/2 to 1 GPH better with them versus a massive electrode plug. You can see some studies on this by RAM Aircraft. Fine wires generally last about 2000-2500 hours. Massives last about 800-1200 hours if they are carefully rotated to even the wear between negative and positive firing pulses.

Large and sudden oil loss from a single cylinder is rarely a simple ring problem. It is usually a hole in the piston, caused by pre-igntion. You can have broken ring lands from detonation, but even so, the oil loss will be much slower. Holes in the piston crown cause compression to go straight to the crankcase, where it blasts out the breather, taking your oil along with it. This can empty an 8 quart pan in a matter of 15 minutes. Other possibilities are a broken-off valve head, which again, punches a hole in the piston with the same results. Broken valve heads occur when people re-use exhaust valves (even though they are required to be replaced at overhaul) instead of installing new ones. Detonation occurs due to ignition & fuel system problems in combination. Pre-igntiion occurs from faulty Slick magnetos that have jumped internal timing or cracked distributor blocks, or burned distributor blocks from high resistance Champion spark plugs, or from Champion fine-wire spark plugs with broken nose insulators. The only one of these an improper overhaul could have directly caused is the re-use of old exhaust valves.

I have Bendix mags on my own planes. On the other hand, customer planes equipped with Slicks help pay my kid's college bills.... GO SLICKS!

The Acclaim is not like any other dual alternator Mooney. The alternators are brand new designs for this model. As for the "troublesome" drive couplings: they fail because mechanics do not have, or do not use the correct tools to install them. Improper installation causes partial disbonding of the elastomer to the housing, and it will fail under heat and full load some time later. It will work at low loads and fail under torque. When these couplings are installed correctly they will outlast the alternator, and usually the engine as well.

If the regulator keeps steady output of 28.1 to 28.7 volts and sufficient current above 2000 rpm, there's nothing wrong with it. It can't force the alternator to make current at low rpm, that's a function of rotor speed, Less speed, fewer amps, and less voltage. Everything described sounds perfectly normal.

flashing interior lights point to a failed diode in the alternator. This is very bad for avionics.

That's actually a little better than expected for that alternator. You should see 28.5 to 28.7 volts in normal operations with a fully charged battery, under full load, above 2300 rpm. Acclaims came from the factory with a Kelly Aerospace (now Hartzell Engine Technologies, HET) ES series lightweight alternator. It is 8 pounds lighter than the old reliable TCM 100 amp unit. Like all electrical generating units, lightweight is never better than heavyweight. Kelly produced it to help with the forward CG issues Cirrus & Mooney had with the turbo IO-550 with a/c. They rarely make the 500 hour brush inspection before failing. It's best to check the brushes at each annual, or no more than 250 hours. When the brushes get worn or the braided contact wires shred, the alternator will work OK but it puts strain on the regulator. When the brushes start arcing, it usually kills the regulator first. These alternators are also known for weak rotors. There is a resistance check that is done as part of the 500 hour inspection. If the alternator has been replaced since mid-2011, it will be a little better. If it has been changed after that date with the HET alternator, it should make 500 hours with no problems. It is still recommended to replace the brushes in these lightweight alternators every 500 hours. They will not make 1000, and when the brushes go, the alternator and regulator need replacing to the tune of $2000 plus labor.

a completely blown sniffle valve will only add less than 100 rpms to the idle speed.

I have heard talk around FXE, PMP, TMB, and HWO that inspectors are looking for these while wandering the airports performing ramp checks, now that people have asked them if they're legal.

This is not puzzling, it's known to those mechanics with experience in late model airplanes (2001 and newer) with Continental engines. Or those who read the maintenance manuals... It's normal for gear drive alternators on Continental engines to having trouble keeping up below 1000 rpms. It's just a function of the load on the system and the rpms. At 700 rpm, your 100 amp alternator can only put out about 10 amps. Any draw above that will drag the voltage down. You'll only get full output above 2200 rpms. Below that, output drops on a curve. Below 1300 rpm, the alternator can no longer maintain 28.5 volts, and it will decrease to 25.5 at 900, and drop offline around 650 rpm. Cirrus uses the same base engine, and this condition is described in their flight manual. Mooney should do the same.

You should have the plugs and mags checked to see what needs repair or replacing. If you have Champion plugs, test them for internal resistance and replace them if above 5000 ohms. If you have Slick mags with more than 500 hours on them, they will need a 500 hour inspection and you should expect to replace some internal parts.

Age is indeed the dominant topic. Second only to the fact that general aviation is slowly dying, and that is the root of the price dilemma. There is no strong demand, and none is on the horizon as the population ages, and fewer new pilots come along. There is no way to sugarcoat this simple fact. Only the newest, best equipped planes are holding value. Because those planes are typically used for business, so their expenses are borne by companies. They are not weekend toys. I deal with this market segment and it is booming. But the rest is slowly dying.

Pulling the prop back to 2500 at speeds equal to or greater than Vy results in a speed increase of a few knots with no loss of climb rate. Climbing at full RPM is best limited to Vx climbs where forward speed is less important that absolute Rate Of Climb. This applies to all airplanes,some more than others. Twins benefit more from the RPM reduction since they have two engines.

Basic electric theory will teach you that excessive resistance is NOT hogwash. Resistors dissipate electric power in the form of heat. So if your resistance is higher than design spec, the current coming through the resistor is reduced, and the reduction exits the circuit in the form of heat. This is why you see burned springs at the spark plug wire ends, and why you see excess burning of the magneto distributor block rotors and posts. It is not insignificant and volumes of engine data can be found on Cirrus Reports.com. Many people are posting their engine data with reference to this Champion spark plug debacle. I am one of the contributors to the Mike Busch plug articles and I am intimately familiar with this problem. I worked with Continental Motors on thsi subject and after two years they changed over to Tempest. When the OEM's change long term relationships, you know there was a real problem.

Insight is the only place to send it. Typical repairs are $1000 with a two week turn around.

Just place 3/4" masking tape over the lines of rivets until you get good with the buffer.

EGT's above 1300 dF on takeoff are an indication of improper max power fuel flow. This is a fuel servo adjustment, not a mixture control adjustment. This is the one place where EGT is NOT a relative number. 1200-1275 is the normal full throttle full rich full RPM range for most piston engines, turbo or normally aspirated. Any lower and the engine will bog from over fueling, any higher and the engine will overheat. 18 GPH is a little too low for that engine. It should be closer to 18.5 to 19 at full throttle, full rpm, at sea level. Ignition timing has very little effect on EGT in this engine unless it is very far off. In which case it wouldn't run very good at all. It will run OK between 15 and 25 degrees BTC, but it is optimized for 20 degrees BTC.

The best products for restoring the paint are not inexpensive, but they are well worth the money since you'll save a lot of time. You'll want to use the 3 step system from 3M. They have compounds numbered 1, 2, 3. 1 is a machine rubbing compound that literally works miracles. It brings back the worst chalked finishes easily. 2 is the polishing compound that restores the freshly cleaned surface to a high gloss surface. 3 is the swirl mark remover that makes the finish like glass. You can also skip step 2 in most cases. These polishes use different wool wheels for best results. You don't need an expensive buffer, the $50 Craftsman 6 inch buffer can take the backing pads and wheels needed. You can also use this system by hand, if you have to. But the #1 compound really works miracles using a lambswool polishing wheel. Clean the wheel often with a spur, a blow gun, or even a screwdriver to throw off the old paint residue. You'll find this at auto body supply shops. You may also see it a Pep Boys in some locations, but in pint bottles. Expect to pay $45-55 for the quart sizes. I've been using this system for years in high end auto finishing, and also in refinishing 10 year old planes where we install new vinyl graphics. (1996 and up Cessna, and 1998 and up Cirrus normally use plain white paint, overlaid with vinyl graphics.) This system is specially engineered to restore enamel finishes. Once you've restored the gloss, a hand glaze compound or any good quality wax will keep it protected.