Av8

Bought a '78 J closing in on 4 months ago after months of looking. Agree - it's hard to find "everything"... also found that asking prices and what someone was willing to take varied greatly. In the end, bought engine, airframe and am embarking on an interior & avionics upgrade cycle. with now closing in on 60 hours with the plane, have had brakes issues, fuses pop, and a few other minor issues - but overall got what I wanted - a plane with a "young" engine that performs to the numbers, a straight airframe at a price that makes having to put more $$ in to her tolerable. It's a passion/hobby not an investment as many have commented. Finding a plane with a modern engine analyzer, and modern avionics tough - solid AP and everything else can be replaced was the advice I got from many along the way. best of luck to all. Hopefully with oil prices coming down we'll see al little relief on Avgas... haven't seen it yet

Hope this goes well tomorrow - unfortunately won't be able to make it over from KINT - until I "age out" of coaching youth sports my weekends stay pretty fulll!

Install quickdrain - but don't leave a piece of hose connected to it between oil changes - vibration etc. will wear it out and cause leaks. I typically fly the plane, then hangar, drop cowls and start the oil draining - leave it overnight. Come back next day and swap filter, add oil, fly again. I like the soda bottle and other ideas - I just bend the box that the oil filter comes in to create the same thing. I've only changed oil on my J twice - but haven't disconnected hoses etc. like pictures above - less you take apart the fewer opportunities to put it back together wrong...

I've been using fore flight / had a stratus 1 & now stratus 2. The stratus 1 was definitely first generation - on 3rd return to sporty's due to issues with power cord insert point failing - they offered to refund 100% or apply to Stratus 2. Stratus 2 works as advertised, easy and tight integration with fore flight - only issue that it's captive to fore flight. The ability to put up the A/I on iPhone as a backup alone with weather on the iPad is pretty cool - and definitely cost effective backup. I've found fore flight to be very easy to use and intuitive. As bluetooth/transmit from iPad to panel continues to mature it will be come a G vs. "anything else" decision - and get used to the differences. I've just downloaded Garmin pilot, and it's definitely an adjustment - but I'm going garmin upgrade to the panel and will be transitioning. IF anyone is interested in a Stratus2 PM me - mine is for sale...

I had what sounds like possible similar issue - trim warning light, however my electric trim was not working at all. Despite suspicions of problems in the tail - issue was a loose wire in AP disconnect switch on the yoke - this was replaced and then all back in good/normal order.

The guys at Causey are sound Mooney shop. 2A5 in liberty NC

So N6201Y is still in "break in", and ran in to a problem this week - both directions, different days so don't feel like it's a "fluke". Wanted to share here in hopes there might be others experience to add before I start the troubleshooting journey... In the clouds both directions had the circuit breaker "pop" on my G430W (com1/nav1). The KFC 200 was tracking heading/altitude and never missed a beat. No other electrical problems noticed, no other circuit breaker pops, alternator charging normally throughout, no electrical fire "smell" (thank God). Switched to Com2, iPad in the lap really not a major event, though I did divert and land on the "outbound" leg. busted altitude on divert, but maintained com with ATC (did not declare emergency) & shot an ILS off of Nav2 - good training (silver lining) and ended no issue. Weather on the flight was generally "VFR ON TOP" with some buildups in the 20k+, I was cruising at 8k, a couple minor diverts around buildups but not much, went through a few patches of clouds - not towering/cumulonumbus. was rain (I was above except on divert to KDAB) and there were thunderstorms present all more than 50 miles away - Florida in the afternoon. First thought was static electricity since buildups/thunderstorms, even though not in close proximity. Away from home - hopeful for VFR conditions on the way back so no getting involved with troubleshooting immediately (besides had meetings to attend) Flew in VFR conditions for about an hour - no issues, so launched back toward home. About 3/4 of the way back inbound "home" and have same issue - in the clouds,(again - flying through top of a layer that extended from 8-9 to 10, occasionally 12 - I was at 11) this time no rain, no thunderstorms anywhere - circuit breaker pops. smell, wait, reset out of the clouds - good - enter clouds - pops again. Finished out trip with Com/Nav2 & iPad no problems So this weekend will be spent starting the troubleshooting journey... any leads/anecdotes to share are greatly appreciated. to the good the M20J flew at 11k, full throttle x 24k rpm leaned 25 ROP - 9.5 gph 462 NM in 3.0 tach time from tie down to hangar. Still "new to me" and breaking in - the glass panel/avionics upgrade quote is starting to look less "expensive" through this experience (as per prior post - I bought straight airframe/factory new engine + hartzel top prop + aged avionics and negotiated accordingly with plan to upgrade) - the engine and airframe are what I bought and so far so good there. again - thanks for any feedback/insight.

About 90 days into owning a J I will share some of what went well, and what I might do differently re-winding the clock. To the good: Spent time focusing on what was right for the "mission" - at the start was looking at Bonanza A-36. After flying A36, F33 an Ovation and a J model concluded that the J was the right plane for me. I fly solo or with 1 passenger most of the time, longest flight is just over 600 NM and wanted to be able to get there non-stop. Sold a 172 a few years ago, and was not interested in a 182. Nothing against Cessna. Focused in: Given some good advice buy a newer firewall forward, solid autopilot. a straight, NDH, well cared for (hangars!) airframe will last longer than we will. Paint, interior are easy upgrades to preference. Avionics - I was hoping for "older is better" to do upgrade. This runs against conventional wisdom but most of these planes have KLN or 430/530 or older king equipment. Having been through repeated issues in my sky hawk I was willing to budget a significant panel upgrade to modern technology vs. 30+ year old wires, etc. and chasing intermittent issues. An airplane is not an investment - it's a toy and/or transportation - don't listen to any talk about investment value... All of that said found a '78 J, factory new engine and Hartzell top prop less than 3 years old. Original paint, 10 year old interior both in good shape. several owners but NDH and logs looked thorough and credible. Difficult thing - plane was several states away and wrestled with going on-site to do pre-buy - chose to have the pre-buy done remote and ferry plane in. Because of his reputation, and the fact that he was "in between" the plane and me - I chose to have the pre-buy done by Don Mawell. Don Maxwell did a fantastic job with the pre-buy/annual inspection. His e-mails/phone calls gave great confidence in the mechanical condition of the plane. There were many things that "owners get used to" that Don pointed out and we talked through with regards to repair or not. This ranged from stiffness/lack of lubrication to dents/dings in the airframe, condition of shock disks, tires etc. Having had the plane for 90 days, purchase + pre buy + annual + a few purchases & repairs I have to say overall I'm pleased with the transaction. I'll share a few things I "missed' or would do differently. 1 - buying "sight unseen" - I'd go this route again, but I did miss a few things. No Shoulder Harnesses - complete boof on my part that this was still an option in '78 Avionics - any rebuildable/core-replacement items - get the serial # and last date of O/H (see more below) condition of interior, paint etc. - pictures do ok, but there were a few "I thought it looked different in the picture" moments 2 - Actual experience may vary... So the "long time since resealed" fuel tanks are looking better than feared, but I have had an attitude indicator failure - timing is everything, no comments from ferry pilot on performance and I flew about 10 hours with no issues with it. My comment above however would have led me to negotiate stronger - the serial number on the KI 256 was in the 2,000's and it was 10+ years since last O/H. Call any shop, none will swap the core on a serial number that low. Because I was looking at older avionics, I didn't dig in to this as much as I should have - though I had hoped to get a year away from the purchase before plunking down serious $$ for a panel upgrade, I'm reviewing quotes on which way to go, replace the A/I, go Aspen or full boat Garmin upgrade... The plane fly's remarkably like the J model I flew in my evaluation and the numbers it achieves very much like those in the mooney pilots evaluation of the M20J. http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20J%20Evaluation/M20J_evaluation_report.html Overall the plane is just what I was after, functional, meets my needs @ a reasonable entry point that I can love and shower disposable income on for years to come... The transition from Archer/Skyhawk to the Mooney has been very easy. Within 5-10 hours I was very comfortable both in the pattern and flying IFR xc. The mooney pilot evaluation report and write-ups on mooneys in the links above are very true to what I have experienced. Best of luck to all considering purchasing a Mooney. Thanks to those who have posted their experiences from whom I have learned, and hopefully I can contribute a tiny bit to the pilot/owner knowledge on this board in the future.

I'm a new M20J owner after much research and digging around. I've seen maintenance manuals on line for older model mooneys, and references for J's but dead links or otherwise dead ends. Anyone have lead on getting either pdf or purchase a Service & Maintenance model to support... SN is 24-594. Thanks.

Last week I made the first voyage that defined my recent purchase of a J to support business travel. Kint - kfxe - 600NM straight line, with deviations for weather both ways was over 1300 NM round trip, 9 hours and less than 85 gal avgas Round trip So much more relaxing and flexible than commercial, took less time, and did I say much much more fun! As a former Cessna owner really enjoying getting to know my "new to me" Mooney - starting to understand the meaning of Mooniac !

I'm in the US - and I agree with comments about engine age - mostly concerned about a hangar queen - more if an hours/year flown thought. It appears to be a buyers market - so taking the time to dig in to the many J's for sale

Thx- I'm actually looking at 2 78s as acquisition targets, and an 83. Remembering that 12 yrs or hours = tbo. I'm looking for low time/age engine and king 200 AP. Everything else can be upgraded? Any input suggestions from those who have been down this road greatly appreciated!

I've been doing the same analysis - though breaking J models In to 2 groups - older vs mse vs ovation and having a hard time justifying higher acquisition cost for a newer mse or ovation - my mission is SE US 150-600 NM flights so the speed delta doesn't really change the day a whole lot. when a late 70/early 80s J low time engine good AP can be had for 80k ish, vs 125-175 for newer J or O, it's hard to pay 50-100k more for 20kts ?? That's a lot of maintenance /upgrades or better yet - avgas. What am I missing ? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been using ff/stratus 1st gen since it came out. Have had 3 units fail where power connection inserts. Apareo never returned voice or email inquiries but sportys has been quick to ship replacement every time - no charge even though last time was well out of original warranty. Have been told this is a weakness in the first gen, fixed or at least greatly improved in the 2. I'm curious what will happen as the iPad revolution matures, 430/530 line continues to age out and 2020 gets closer - what will happen to costs and features, will sales volume pick up and prices move down? Will hardware continue as garmin is promoting as getting more stable with software upgrades driving feature and capability down the road ?