Jim F

Why not jack it up put plastic bags under and around ach wheel and let it back down and just tie the bag up as high as you can. Should be good for a foot of water.

Hi Scott, I have a GB no intercooler no Merlin waste gate. I bought it with 1250 hours and now it's at 1750. I think the minor setbacks of a warm running engine can be easily managed. When I first bought my 231 I went through and sealed every leak in the baffle and baffle seals. I set the fuel flows on the rich side and I clean the fuel nozzles every 100 hours. I also put a JPI 830 so I could see the cooling degrees over time and all six at a glance. On hot days I just climb through the first couple of thousand feet at 130mph There has not been a top on my engine, one cylinder off before I bought her who knows why. I pulled one jug due to a crack in the exhaust port but I would say that crack was from a void in the casting. I can't speak to how much cooler an LB runs but I do plan on changing when I get it overhauled. If you like the 231 then get one, if your worried about the GB and you can't get past that get an LM or move up to the 252. From my experience if a GB is flown right and maintained right it's a great engine. My background, I have overhauled hundreds of engines and set twice as many TCM fuel flows Jim

So it sounds like your engine slowly went rich. No roughness and when you rich end the mixture it got rough. Your FF indicated normal. You say you have a steam gauge and then the fuel flow is really a pressure gauge from the flow divider and marked in GPM. Information needed: is the mixture arm on the Bendix fuel servo hitting its stops? Is the air filter clear? I don't think this is it but checking is easy check the mags to see if they are tight. N201MKTurbo recommended and again it's easy run up, at 2000RPM what is the EGT,FF? Lean to peak, what is the EGT,FF? Boost pump on, what happens? Caution the engine might die because it went to rich. The fuel servo should compensate for the increase incoming fuel pressure. i am thinking that you fuel servo went rich. The servo has two diaframs one has incoming fuel( from fuel pump) and out going fuel ( to the flow divider) A leak in that diafram would make you go rich. Now that said I think this senerio would make your FF increase. The other diafram sees incoming air(before the throttle plate) and MP On the engine monitor: With our engines there is a lot going on and information is critical to keep us safe and the first part of troubleshooting. I am to the point that I think twice before flying without an engine monitor. Jim F

What did your fuel flow do?

What was your fuel flow? Is the FF from a fuel totalizer or FF gauge( analog gauge)

Hi Peevee look close. The scoops are all inside the cowl with no opening/scoops to the outside air flow. That mean all cooling air and intercooler air comes through the same 231 openings. Jim

I also needed to know how the rocket cowl worked. I found this on the web. It must be a rocket upper cowling.

Hi Floridaflyier Why is the pressure side of the dry vacuum pump plumbed into the oil separator? jim

Hi Brian, Make sure your crankcase breather is clear. If it is kinked, plugged or restricted then the crankcase pressure builds up from blow by it can pop the crank seal out. Jim

Hi 231LV, I have the same delema on my 231 at 1740 hours. My concerns are hoses, turbo, accessories, and cylinders . The lower end of the TSIO-360 is bullit proof. If the boutique overhaulers uses a TCM fuel system I think you get the LB throttle body but verify that. In my past I have done a lot of work with boutique engines and the balancing and porting really makes a huge difference. For this reason I will not be going with a factory reman. I am planning on Ly-con, Victors, or Eagle engines. Jim F

Hi Kevin, I am with Paul that the fuel flows need to be adjusted. You and I have the same engine but I don't have the intercooler. Our fuel system is very simple with fuel moving through brass plates that must be adjusted correctly or our engine won't run right. Start with getting the fuel flows set correctly. Once the fuel flows are right you can try other possibilities but always start from a "known good" jim

1800ft x 20ft <70kts. On touch down retract the flaps light on brakes until it's below 59kts

Hi Mooney_Mike, yep that route looks good. Carson City is good but make sure you reserve a car. Let me know if you need more info let me know. I will be at the races Monday through Sunday. Jim F

Hi Mooney_Mike A rough look at the MEAs the northern is 12.5 and southern about 10.5. Yes the southern route goes to Las Vegas then NW to Reno. There are some restricted areas ( Area 51 ) north of Vegas you need to get around. Jim F

Hi Mooney_Mike, You can go ether the Northern or Southern route and let the weather be the decision point. Both times that I have gone east bound I have taken the Northern route and on the way back once Northern and once Southern route due to Weather. Stead where the races are is closed during race week. Reno International is the closest but check with Atlantic for the overnight fee. Carson City is South of Reno 20mi and you can rent a car. I have been going to the Reno air races for 15 plus years and hang out in the box seats out in front of the bleachers. M20Kid came out last year and hung out. You will love it. Let me know if you need more info Jim F

There are two check valves in the turbo lubrication system. One on the pressure line and one on the sacvange line. The flow arrow needs to point toward the turbo for the pressures line and away from the turbo for the scavenge line. I have seen damage check valves that block or partly block oil flow. I would agree it was most likely alignment but you need to look at all possibilities. Jim

Hi Chris, I would bet it's up front because that's there the majority of the noise makers are. On main gear doors usually the vibration will increase in a bank because cintifical force is pulling the gear out of the wells. One more check when you fly to look at the airframe you can do is with one finger load the yoke right then left, down up, same with rudder but use your foot. The best way is have your copilot do it and you close your eyes. I know it sounds weird. This would be a rodend sloppy and the control serface causing the vibration. Big hitters on the airframe are loose panels, gear doors, flaps. see ya Jim

Ok check and wiggle all of the baffuling. Your comment that you feel it a little more with more airspeed could match baffuling as the pressure in the upper plenum increases slightly with airspeed. You can take a black sharpie and blacken the bafful where you think in might be hitting. Fly and then uncowl and look for the witness mark. More on where you feel the vibration. Get the plane in cruise and trued up. Pick your feet off the floor. Touch the center windshield frame member. Can you reach under the left side side panel and feel the frame member? Touch the seat tracks behind both seats. Touch the pilots yoke then copilot. I don't believe that engine mount sag on the ground translates to inflight sag. New mounts do a better job of engine vibration isolation but do nothing for any other induced vibration. Good luck jim

Hi Chris, i am a little late to the game. In the photos the pilots right side showed that the bafful was hitting the engine mount. The air pressure in the upper cowl will push the bafful aft. For test you can slide some rubber in between and fly to see if it's better. I have some questions on when the vibration shows up and where you feel it most. Do you notice it in your feet when they on the cabin floor or in your gut? Frequency, does it feel one to one with the prop, higher, lower? In cruise cowl flaps closed or open a bit. Which is worse in cruise pull up push down. Which is worse in cruse bank right and left. Which is worse check nose gear doors, all of the lower belly panels, and that the flaps are up tight both sides Regards, jim

Hi Brandon, There is a little bit of art to getting everything to fit up well. First remember that the top cowl presses down on the seal so if you make everything align with cowl off then when the cowl is on you will get bulging and air loss. On the rear right and left overlap to the horizontal sections above the rocker covers these should stay free to move on each other because of the top cowl compression. For hardware there are wide head pop rivets, solid rivets with backer strips and for seal to seal you can find a low profile wide head aluminum screw sets. Think about the high speed air coming in the cowl openings and if that airflow can grab a piece of baffle seal it will. Over laps should be set so air flow holds the flap down. If you get a bulge in a straight section you can cut down the center of the bulge and overlap based on airflow. I found a pic of the wide head screw. Jim F

Hi Chris, Good choice on the fine wires. If it was my money I would do fine wires. I don't think anyone answered your gap question. Use the tool in the picture the .019 should not go and .015 should go. Most likely you won't have to adjust the gap on the fine wires. 5/8 and 3/4 B-nut harness both are water proof you can see the seal as part of the insulator. The timing difference is interesting as the timing difference is the mag to engine and I can't guess why there would be a difference. Maybe interference on the accessory case. Dont abrasively clean the fine wires you only remove the lead. Also there is a polarity to the mags spark. When you pull your plugs and you have them in the spark plug tray you swap #1 bottom with #2 top and continue when you get to #4 swap #4 bottom with #1 top. When you don't do this on massives you see football shaped center electrodes and thin side electrodes. Fine wires are not really a problem on this. Enjoy your new investment. Jim

On the unlimited Stevo Hinton in Voodoo qualified at 475.027, Check mate at 444.121, Dreadnought at 440.432, and Sawbones at 421.318 sport class is stacked this year, Jeff Levill qualified at 403. And John Parker 389 Talked to M20kid today and we are meeting up on Saturday you know you like fast planes so get out to the races

This is the closest thing they had to a Mooney in WW2. M51 I think... Reno starts 9/14 through 9/18 see you there... For perspective these two P51s are going north of 510mph in this shot.

Pretty sobering As Clarence said the engine failures was a big percentage. Would be nice to know which ones were fuel exhaustion or preflight miss. Chris the strut link that holds the wheel facing forward and still move up and down failed but there is also a snap ring to hold the strut in the cylinder. Double failure is interesting. One more thing, the pilot error of flying in to objects was just crazy. It looked like clear fields in the area and the pilots chose another landing spot.