blaine beaven

On your next flight, perhaps try turning off one of the magnetos to see if that makes any significant difference over a few minutes? This could be a quick way to determine if you have a timing issue with a rogue ignition source.

Thanks. I’m in the process of chasing it down. As you note, it’s a process of elimination to try to figure out the root cause.

That was actually the reason for the photo, because my CO Warn light (the bottom in the row) was not on despite the CO detector beeping. This was in the climb. It will creep up like if I don’t have fresh air coming in. As soon as I get into cruise and close the cowl flaps it drops to >5ppm. Thats just a trick of the light, it was not illuminated. That light is a voltage annunciator.

When I did my panel upgrade I removed the annunciator panel. I no longer have vacuum, so that light is gone. The G3X can provide a number of other alerts. I had warning lights installed for the other needed alerts - see photo:

Do people actually use this method with a spreadsheet? Another option I’ve heard is to fly 4 cardinal GPS headings, record GS, and divide by 4 to get TAS. It seems like less math, but is it not as accurate?

I am amazed at how shiny your floorboards are.

In Western Canada I’ve used Canadian Propellor out of Winnipeg. I would not say that there was anything amazing about the service, but they did the job I asked of them and I’ve had no complaints.

Hi Don, I have a 78J with the stock visors that attach to the outside of the window frame. I’m interested in getting a set of yours. I’m in Canada, so I understand there would be extra shipping. Let me know! Thanks,

Now that I’ve got an engine monitor (G3X with EIS) I’m starting to experiment with LOP. But I don’t understand how you’re running LOP at 1000’ WOT. If I do that in my 78J with an IO360 I’m still making 27”. At 2500 RPM that’s like 80% power - and my understanding is that it’s not ideal to run LOP when above 75% power. I feel like this might be the missing piece of the puzzle for me, so I’m all ears.

An in-flight mag check is a different beast than running a tank dry. Imagine that you were unaware you were flying with a dead mag, and you switch the other one off in cruise. The engine goes dead - but not from lack of fuel. So all of the mechanical bits are still turning, and fuel is still pumping through the cylinders into the exhaust. If you turn the mags back on at that moment, expect a big backfire because you’ll ignite any residual fuel in the exhaust. The proper technique in that circumstance is pull mixture to ICO (to stop the flow of fuel, allow what is in the exhaust to get blow out), turn your mags back on, and slowly reintroduce fuel with the mixture until it starts firing. Hope that helps.

Are the Jet Shades really worth the $800 and up price tag? Was just looking at the kit online and it looks like it has too many pieces for an older Mooney

Make sure you are checking the spread at around 65% power. I did it once at 75% and it showed a spread of 0.5 gal. When I check the spread at 65% power it’s 0.0 to 0.1.

According to the parts manual, my plane was not so high class to receive "horse hair", but was relegated to "hog-hair"... The pictures I found suggests that it should all be aft of the rear vents, however most of it was stuffed into the front vent areas. Very odd how that might have happened unless the plenum was opened up during the avionics upgrade, and something got messed up in there. Of course, my avionics shop mentioned no such thing. So my plane remains rodent free, but now I cannot properly coalesce my rain water. I am not sure how I feel about this.

That's what I thought too... I could find no poop, or fur, and it just smelled like old, dry grass.

My 1978J was in the shop from October to March for an avionics upgrade, engine work and an annual. The interior came out and I took the opportunity to replace the overhead vents with some 3D printed ones from a fellow MS’er. I have rarely used the overhead vents in my 10 years of ownership. The old plastic louvres were in poor shape and would crumble on touch. However, when I did use them, they worked well. Post upgrade I have noticed grass coming out of the vents, which is odd because there is no grass near where the plane parks. Today I pulled the eyeballs and used a pick, pliers, and vacuum to pull a bunch of grass and a weird mesh out of the plenum. I park outside. I’ve never had mice or anything like that in the plane. I’ve never seen any sign or smell of rodents. I also have no idea how they could get in the overhead vent system. Any ideas where this is from? Has anyone else had this before?

Thanks everyone! I think it is, as suggested, just too accurate of data. I’m glad to hear it’s not uncommon, so I’ll simply continue to monitor for any abnormal indications.

Hi all, I just got my 1978J with IO-360-A3B6 back from a full panel upgrade - G3X, GTN650xi, GNC355, GFC500, etc. I'm really enjoying all of the data from the EIS system. One thing I have noticed is that my fuel pressure seems to fluctuate up and down in cruise, with no other changes being made. Is this normal? Is this a sign of something I should investigate? I did not have an engine analyzer prior to this upgrade so my benchmark was a needle on an analog gauge. Attached is a screen cap from my Fly Garmin logbook. When I do a delta analysis on Savvy over a 30 minute period it shows about a 1.9psi difference average. Any groupthink is always appreciated! Blaine

My J has a good heater, but I also fly it in -25C. What I do in the wintertime is I hang a vinyl curtain behind either the front two seats or the rear seat. I have Velcro on the interior panels that matches up with Velcro on the curtain. This effectively reduces the area I am trying to hear by 1/2 to 2/3.

Buy a battery blanket or two and zip tie them around the garden sprayer filled with fluid. Plug it in for a couple hours before your flight. All the warm fluid you could want.

Byron, I’m getting some work done on my cowls (fixing cracks, new camlocks, paint, etc). Do you have a picture of this strap and angled piece of aluminum set up I can show my mechanic? thanks,

Hey all, looking for some feedback on my options here, and if I’m missing something obvious. Thanks! Idea A Nov 26.pdf Idea C Nov 26.pdf Idea B Nov 26.pdf

Next flight, throw some gold bars behind the back seat (or something else heavy) and see what you get for a deflection. I find on my 78J that the elevator position depends on how the plane is loaded.

I’m doing a panel upgrade this fall, and it has me thinking that I’m going to put three circuit breakers on the far left side of the panel: Autopilot Pitch trim Gear motor I think these are the most likely ones that need to get pulled in an emergency, so might as well make them easy to find!

Welcome to the club! I’ve got a 1978J as well here in Saskatoon. Yours looks very nice and you’ll love flying it.

I’ve always thought something like this might be great: https://elementfire.com but I don’t know that they have FAA approval. Less space, less mess, just as effective?