DXB

If you upgrade the battery on the PFD1000 pro max it can serve without a backup legally. I personally still would want another digital AI with its own battery backup, but it opens up some other configuration options besides going to the 2000.

Perfectly legit suggestion - unfortunately I have done this obsessively and much more over years without achieving your results.

I could do this too...

~20 degrees hotter on #2 and 4 at WOT in climb. On a hot day this can mean struggling to keep them under 440 in clumb. I generally try to get up to 120mph immediately upon takeoff before pitching up too much - this helps a lot

Welcome. I fly a '68C based at KPNE and am happy to help you any way I can. I've had it approaching 10 years now, got my IR in it 5 years ago, fly it quite regularly, and am still in love with the plane. I can also attest that @orionflt in Quakertown is a terrific resource and helped me out a ton as I was settling into owning and maintaining my plane.

Having flown pre and post Powerflow in my C, oh boy is there a dramatic increase max takeoff power and also CHTs - I already have the richer carb, and so I’m going to get the jet modified for sure when I overhaul it with the engine in the next year or two. I really could use the 19gph that @Greg Ellis is getting.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/august/17/texas-court-orders-youtuber-to-pay-for-defamation

all the details :

I would never encourage indulging in schadenfreude...EXCEPT when it has to do with Dan Gryder. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224871631801484&set=gm.782886880185896&idorvanity=596353932172526 [Not sure if link works for everyone - it's a 1 million plus defamation civil suit judgement against him in Texas.]

The 26" Montagues are indeed tempting: https://www.montaguebikes.com/product/allston/. There is also this gorgeous 26" option from Tern that has me drooling: https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/471/eclipse-x22. You also have a mid body Mooney though in contrast to my C, so that might make it tighter, though it sounds like it will work based on @takair's comments earlier in the thread. The Tern Verges with their 24" wheels may make life easier in this case - not full size but probably much better than the typical 20" folder and acceptable for a non-biking aficionado. Complicating my decision is my recent ankle injury that led me to stop running and get back into biking after a decades long hiatus - I don't even have a regular non-folding bike at the moment and am looking at some fancy and not so fancy gravel bikes. The high end 26" options are super tempting if I can kill two birds with one stone - my regular exercise bike and cramming it into the C model (will need 2 of them in there). Do you find your Montague desirable to ride outside of plane trips?

Sounds like 26” folding bikes like Montague are a pain - gotta take wheels off to load easily. What about the 24” Tern Verge series? Anyone have experience there, particularly in a short body? I don’t have the folding seat. It would be nice to have larger than 20” wheels to preserve some ride quality… https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/verge-p10

Maybe a broken ring? Look for scores on cylinder wall with the oily top plug (which is never normal)?

FWIW there are lots of Cs that have electric gear and flaps - in fact more such Cs than Es - all Mooneys '69 and later came with standard electric gear and flaps. Before that hydraulic flaps and J bar were standard for all. In the later pre-'69 years, electric gear and flaps became an option for all of them I believe, but you mainly see it on the pre-'69 Fs.

I just went through this with my C. Per parts manual for your plane, boost pump for a '67 E/F is Mooney P/N is 610153-501. The equivalent Dukes part number is 4140-00-19A (see https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SIM20-47.pdf). Dukes is defunct. You can have it rebuilt as noted above or order a more modern drop in replacement with better internals from CJ Aviation (directly or via Aircraft Spruce) for ~1300 plus 400 core charge - part number is 4140-00-19ACJ. Weldon also makes an updated replacement but that one requires a retrofit kit and more install labor. I needed it fast so I went with the CJ aviation option.

Then there's the path of buying an experimental that someone else built... The economics might be more favorable there? I'm not sure. That may require a new knowledge base and set of skills in prebuy evaluation and subsequent maintenance - I'm not sure I have the bandwidth, so I'm sticking with my Mooney for now. If I'm still fit to keep flying by the time getting insured in a retract gets too hard, factory built LSAs will hopefully be far more capable, and I'll sell the Mooney to transition to one of those.

Basically that - IMC that imposes sustained cognitive demand and the plane and pilot better be up to the task - not merely an IFR flight where one is in and out of a few clouds or transitions through a thin layer. People use "hard IFR" to refer to this condition frequently, but it seems to be a bit of a misnomer.

Nonsensical term. More useful phrase would be "hard IMC"

Unlike in the time of robber baron industrialists, productive balance of power between labor unions and management is now a tenuous entity. I once met a guy who got his first management job out of business school in the late '60s at American Motor Corporation's vast 100+ acre plant in Kenosha WI. On day one of the job, he was told there were certain areas of the plant that had become fully controlled by workers; he should not go in a dress shirt to these areas or carry a clip board there due to risk of physical violence. I think that might be a scenario where the unions got too strong...

40-60k these days gets you a pretty bare bones C with badly dated avionics - of course you should prioritize engine and airframe first. However it sounds like you want to use it as a serious traveling machine, in which case an instrument rating, modern-ish IFR panel, and an autopilot matter a lot and may price you out. It's worth noting also that annual operating costs without any upgrades may run you in the 12-25k range depending on a whole bunch of parameters too extensive to flesh out here. The point made about altitudes by @Hank is also a relevant one. They can be flown carefully across the Rockies with some specific training and planning, but I don't think anyone would choose a normally aspirated Mooney if this was their core mission.

Take out bottom right screw holding control head to the panel. Get a very fine long skinny flat screw driver (~1mm). I carry in my flight bag to recalibrate periodically. When in GPSS mode in flight in smooth air, display crosstrack error on your navigator. Insert screwdriver gently to base of screw receptacle and make small turns toward the course until it settles out. I can get it within 0.02nm.

What an awful tragedy - I do hope it helps refine the ultralight procedures to protect lives and property. I think this year was my 5th (?) time attending and 4th time coming in on the FISK arrival in the left seat. Though it's sobering (and appropriate) to be reminded of the risks and liabilities, it's still a remarkable spectacle and human enterprise that I hope continues.

Quick related PIREP on replacing my M20C's Dukes 4140-00-21A which recently died after 1500hrs and 17 years in service since overhaul. I needed to replace in a hurry to make Oshkosh so I overnighted a drop in replacement new CJ Aviation 4140-00-21ACJ pump rather than overhaul the Dukes again or put in a Weldon pump, which requires a conversion kit with extra labor rather than being a simple drop in replacement. New pump was ~1395 plus ship (in stock at Spruce), plus a 400 dollar core charge hold until the core is returned (Dukes pump is acceptable core). The CJ pump has better internals than the Dukes but still has plastic vanes, is not rated for continuous duty, and shouldn't be run dry for more than a few seconds. In my plane, it runs much quieter and produces a higher and more rapid rise in fuel pressure than the old Dukes. Install was pretty easy but not entirely trouble free. Related pro tip: if the newly installed pump doesn't raise fuel pressure immediately after turning on, push mixture in actuate the accelerator pump by pumping the throttle repeatedly until the fuel pressure comes up. Also, stop pumping as soon as the pressure comes up or you'll get a flooded carb and fuel all over your nosewheel.

Only directive I've heard is never to let them sit dry for more than a couple days. Anyway, it's utterly impractical to keep them topped off all the time, and I strongly suspect @generalaviationguru should not worry about not topping off to 64 gal. I imagine the fuel vapor (and/or wicking?) is enough to keep the vulcanized neoprene/nylon bladder wall from degenerating in a partly filled tank, but I honestly have no clue - it there a chemical engineer in the house who can clarify? Regardless, one hears far more about wet wing tank sealant issues than bladder issues - maybe the bladders will all start failing at a particular age but we haven't seen it yet, and I bet very few people keep them topped off all the time. One does occasionally hear about leaks at the interconnect tubes, but these seem reasonably easy to fix.

You are correct of course, but I suspect that overheat standard used was redline at 500F in the 1950s. Accepting CHTs in the mid-high 400s will trash your cylinders within a couple hundred hours. Unfortunately the O-360 Mooneys with the doghouse cool poorly under best conditions (optimal carb fuel flow, perfectly sealed doghouse (which is quite rare), gaping open cowl flaps, correct mag timing, no induction leaks). Add legal STC power mods like Powerflow exhaust and timing advance on the Surefly and things only get worse (ask me how I know). Unless there's obstacles close in, climbing at 120mph, well above Vy, is the way to go in these particular Mooneys. I tolerate 430F on 2&4 in climb, and also 410 in cruise if I want to go fast.

Thanks all for the many helpful tips - definitely keeping this thread bookmarked for the future. I made some calls and CYUL is pretty expensive for the FBO (100/day on ramp, only fbo with 100LL is Shell Aerocenter at $8.29/gallon). The landing fee itself isn't too bad ($11/1000kg MGTW). Plus they require using a special system for arrival and departure time slots at that particular field https://www.admtl.com/en/adm/safety/administration-and-permits-office. Given the hassle and expense on a tight work travel schedule I decided to land in Plattsburg NY and rent a car this time.