Jim F

You can use a J-hook pic or a small diameter door hook

I think the 231 and Encore are the same part. Here is a pic, its aluminum and should be painted

YES, Air racing Formula 1 requires a cable between the cylinders bases to the engine mount. Back in the 80s a blade failed, and the engine tore loos from the mounts. The engine was hanging from the hoses. Without the weight of the engine, you are no longer controllable. Jim

This week I had a similar problem but with the bulkhead fitting 4 ft aft. After 44 years the line pulled out of the forward side of the bulkhead fitting. As PT20J states, this is the line that heads aft to the reservoir in the tail access panel. When the brake pads wear, and the brake pucks move out a bit there is more hydraulic fluid in the caliper. The master cylinders will pull hydraulic fluid from this line and the reservoir. If air gets into the system, it's a challenge to get out. When you reconnect the line, you can try to push hydraulic fluid back to the reservoir by pushing in one or both caliper pucks. this will push fluid back to the reservoir. On my K the slope back to the reservoir is not all uphill so I need to work it a bit. I will put a slight vacuum on the reservoir plug fitting to pull the air into the reservoir. My guess is that the line shrunk a bit, and the factory ty-wraps were too tight, and the line slid out of the bulkhead fitting. Jim

I would check for an intake or exhaust leak.

I would make sure your baffle seal is in good shape and not leaking air past the fins. As most above state, setting the fuel flows correctly is a must for our 231 engines. If your CHTs are getting to 460dF you will be doing(paying) top overhauls every 300-600 hours, so rethink that part of the POH. Crazy part on PoH is there are written when our aircraft was new, but they have zero updates on a better way to run your engine. This is where MS can help save you and your engine. We have learned an incredible amount over the years on proper fuel flow set up and heat control to extend cylinder life. High heat & high pressure kills our cylinders. Thank you, Mike Bush, and Paul Kortopates (he is here on MS) for helping get the word out. My GB(no intercooler/no waste gate) fuel flows are set to 25.7gpm at 2700RPM, 40inMP. I takeoff and climb at 100% power to altitude (normally 16K-17K). That gets me a TIT of ~1425dF, and CHTs 300dF - 330dF This max fuel flow is 1gpm higher than the TC SID97-3G calls out (24.7gpm) but is an accepted change first pushed by RAM aircraft and everyone that knows our engines. If my CHTs in the climb are approaching 380dF on a hot day I increase air speed. If its 110dF OAT I am climbing at ~500ft min. My engine is at 1950hrs and two jugs were changed before I bought it(@1200hr) and I have changed one jug for a crack in the exhaust (due to a casting void). Jim

How about the rear black swoosh on the tail being purple metal flake and rear red swoosh being lambo burnt orange. Man I like both the burnt orange and purple together. Rear Bear

If you know that you have zero fuel in the cylinders, you know that the mags are grounded, the mixture is ICO, and the throttle is at idle you can pull the prop through by hand and see if you have compression. I would also do a cold compression check. I don't think I have ever heard of a valve sticking after a teardown, but they might not have pulled the valves during the IRAN. The broken spring is interesting and if you have one, I would pull the rocker cover and inspect all valve springs. good luck and let us know what you find Jim

This is what I do, and I agree that it seems to be the simplest. I made a foil lines bobble wrap cover for the cowl and I stuff the trouble light with an 100W incandescent bulb in the pilot's cowl flap. When i turn on the JPI all cylinders are ~60dF. If I am on the road or I got stuck out in the cold I swing buy a hardware store and buy a 3inch flexible dryer duct and stuff it in the cowl flap and the rental car exhaust. In 20min the entire engine is warmed up.

Any idea what sealant Cirrus uses on their tanks?

Maybe some context on where this is from? Is this a logbook entry? There looks to be a couple typos, there should not be a (0) zero in front of 360 and there should not be an (0) zero after 360. The K & L are model numbers, B stands for Big main bearings on the crankshaft/crank case, MO no idea.

Agreed jlunseth, I have my JPI830 on the Pilot side right above the throttle quadrant. It is easy to keep the 830 in my scan. As Kortopates teaches, on my take off roll my scan is all JPI data in the green, and again mid takeoff roll ~63MPH when I am checking that I have 50% runway remaining, I scan the 830 before liftoff.

Hi Don, What Paul said. That is why I said full power and not full throttle. With the manual waste gate if I push more throttle, I get more power. The popoff valve (upper-deck over pressure valve) looks like it opens at 43-44in based on the max MAP readings that I have seen in the past and they can stick. I set 37in on the takeoff roll and adjust during my scan during my takeoff roll. I see 38-41in during my climb to altitude. The manual wastegate makes MAP part of the primary scan. The JPI830 is blinking red at any MAP over 40.1in so it gets my attention pretty quick. Jim

Great writeup jlunseth thank you I think I can add to this discussion. I have an 81 231 with a GB, fixed waste gate, no intercooler, and 1961 hours since new. I purchased the AC in 2010 with 1200 hours and it had two cylinders swapped out in that time. In the 761 hours that I have put on it, I replaced one cylinder due to a crack in the exhaust port that started at a void in the aluminum that was the stress pint to start the crack. I have always taken off at full power and climbed to cruise altitude at full power. Full power adds the extra fuel to aid in lowers CHTs in the climb. If you pull back to a cruise climb you will not get the extra fuel added for cooling. Fuel is cheaper then and top overhaul. With in the first year, I installed a JPI830, and I believe that for my AC the 830 is required equipment. It is just too easy to overheat the engine with the single point factory installed instrumentation. Can you keep a GB cool enough to get to TBO, yes. How to do that, well you need a little luck that the previous owner didn't hurt it too bad. If there is an engine analyzer on now grab the historical data. The LBs have a larger opening throttle body and the front intake tubes from the throttle body to Cyl #5 & #6 are a different part number and i believe they have a larger ID. I believe that both larger IDs must be to reduce the restriction is air flow. I reason I say it this way is that I have heard on this forum that LB run cooler, and I have a list of the GB to LB differences, but I have never seen an explanation from continental as to why these changes make the LB run cooler. At overhaul mine will be converted to an LB. I am blessed that I am the A&P/IA for my 231 and I am an engine guy. Back in the day I have overhauled >500 GA engines and maybe 30ish TSIO-360s, I have set >1000 Continental fuel flows. To dos: Engine baffle seals must be tight with NO leaks. All cooling air must go through the cylinder fins. You can have these replaced with new seal material. Fuel flows must be set correctly by a mechanic that in experienced with fuel flows. To set the fuel flows correctly I first ultrasonically clean the fuel injectors to remove the buildup on the metering orifice, once the injectors are reinstalled, I pressurize the intake and exhaust system with the pressure side of a clean shop vac to look for leaks. I spray soapy water to find, and leaks and I fix any leak. Now I set the fuel flows with a reference to SID97-3G low unmetered fuel pressure to at 700rpm to 6.5 +/-.1psi and at full RPM(2700) and max MAP(~40ish) the metered fuel flow of ~26.7gpm and this gives me ~1400df TIT. You can see that the metered max fuel flow I use has the added 1GPM to aid in reducing the CHT in full power takeoff and climb. I first heard about the added 1GPM from kortopates on this forum. This is the best single change that I have made to keep my engine cool at high power. (SID97-3G TSIO-360-G, GB 700 2700 40.0 6.25 - 6.75 45.0 - 49.0 16.7 - 19.3 135 - 145 23.0 - 24.7) I would recommend that you use Savvy to review your engine data. They do a great job giving input as to what areas need to be looked at. Enjoy Jim

Hi T.Peterson, I am in a similar position and am planning an overhaul mid 2025. I have an 81 231 and apparently the only 231 left without a Merlyn or intercooler. I am planning to install a Merlyn wastegate and a Turboplus intercooler before I do the overhaul so that I can do a PIRP on both. My position on the Merlyn is that a higher critical altitude would be helpful and allow me to fly 75% power in the flight levels at 2500RPM. Currently I need to be >2600RPM to get enough MP out of the turbo for 75% power. On the intercooler, my thought process is why did Mooney not put an intercooler on the 231 and why did Mooney add an intercooler to the 252/Encore (I know the engine is TCM). The 231 was a low-cost entry into the turbo market and in general the industry considers the 231 a hot running engine. After market feedback Mooney decided that the addition of an automatic wastegate and intercooler was what customers wanted, and I do think that was a great decision. Everyone with a 252 or Encore raves about their Mooney being the best option for their mission. On our 231s the compressor discharge pressure can get very warm, and that warm air charge can really push the CHTs up in the 400s on hot days with a slow climb. I look at any aftermarket add-on to see if the manufacture released a similar solution in later years. With the wastegate the fixed wastegate is a pain to deal with and has a low critical altitude, so the automatic wastegate makes sense. On the intercooler, the hot running 231 when you add an intercooler it has a much better CHT margin from red line. For me these are reliability decisions, the Merlyn will not be spinning the turbo at as high of an RPM so in theory it should last longer. The intercooler will have a cooler air charge and should lower the CHTs ~20d and the cylinders should last longer when running cooler. Remember after the engine change and intercooler add, if your aircraft is faster, you are producing more horsepower. Also, make sure the fuel system is set correctly once the intercooler is installed. The intercooler cools the air charge and at that lower Max MP(~36in) you need about the same FF as MP 40in on your non intercooled engine. Refer to the Merlyn and intercooler documents. I fly 75%HP, 100d rich of peak at 17.5/16.5ft, 13.9FF, ~30.0in MP, 1550TIT and I see 181Kn. After I added fine wire plugs, I am now able to run lean of peak, but I don't very often. Also, I love the fact that I can pick up ~2kn TAS per thousand feet, so I cruise high almost always. At 17.5 65%HP, 12.4FF I get 170kn. Fly fast, Jim