Yooper Rocketman

Here's mine on the project. Front end before front gear box installed Back end with gear box and FCU Setting up plenums on old engine used for mock-up while new engine is being built

Never heard of that AD? Been running mine in cruise at 2300 / 30" for 1870 hours? Hard to believe three different shops and three IA's missed that. Do you have the AD number? I just went on the FAA's website with the AD listings and nothing for the TSIO520NB or for the M20K in regards to RPM limitations.

Must have been bugging you as much as me. I went out to the airport and got my POH, Rocket Supplement, as well. I bought my Rocket out of the Seattle area, and scheduled my PPI down in Cottage Grove, OR. The seller flew me and my best friend (A&P and Mooney owner) down there in the Flight Levels, so during the flight he showed me the cruise climb, cruise, and descent power settings he was taught. He sold me the Rocket with only 300 hours on the conversion. He had been to Spokane, so don't know if his education came from Rocket or the owner that did the conversion. Nice to review the manual. I learned to fly it that way when I bought it (and am sure we reviewed the manual as well), but haven't really looked at that part of it since 2001.

Houman, Sorry, didn't intend to lead you to believe this was a technique used on the Rocket, thought about that post right after I sent it. That was just to reinforce how important fuel flow is. On the Rocket, the hi and low settings for electric fuel pump are just in case of mechanical fuel pump failure (from what I remember). I have never used that pump in flight. I do use the boost for priming before start, but that's another switch. I was taught to use 25 x 35 for climb (2500 RPM and 35" of manifold) OR 2650 RPM and 38" for full power climb, OR to keep the CHT's down during the climb in warmer weather. I am home, so don't have my Rocket manual with me, but I believe if you look in your manual, you will find that those are the two options listed for climb settings. I have done the full throttle, 38" climb on my engine since OH, and am at 270 hours past TBO, so it appears the engine likes it. This may have nothing to do with your problem, but it sure seems worth looking into. As I noted in an earlier post, I had problems right after purchasing my Rocket, down in Atlanta in April after delivering my F to the new owner, with the temps going over 400 CHT on climb out at 25 x 35, and went to full throttle and prop and dropped the CHT's under 400 in minutes. Good luck!

I have never seen under 30 GPH at full throttle, full RPM. You are climbing at full throttle and 2650 RPM, right? I usually see 33 GPH. If you are under that, this is the first item you should be looking at. If you get that figured out and it doesn't help. I would try swapping out the #4 and #6 CHT sensors. That way you can verify it's not an indication problem. Just to reinforce how important fuel flow is to cylinder cooling, when I picked up the Bonanza for our mercy flight organization at Tornado Alley after the new engine and turbo were installed (big bore continental), I was taught to turn the boost pump on low at 5,000' and high at 10,000', and not turn it off until in cruise and cylinder temps were stable below 400 degrees. The fuel is used to "cool" the cylinders as much as it is used in combustion.

Nice job!!

YES!! (or maybe I am envious).

Houman, I had the same question just a couple weeks ago and took the advice of another member, installed the carpet under the side panels and it worked out great. My old carpet was installed with Velcro, with the lower sections glued to the floor with weatherstrip adhesive. When flying high and fast, the carpeting always curled up on the outer edges. The install under the side panels worked out good, and will not move with wind or air pushing up under it. On the center carpet, I installed the Emergency Gear Extension plastic cover over the "top" of the carpet, rather than cut the carpet around it. This holds the center section down nice. I installed two sided carpet tape on the front edge to keep the heater/vent air from peeling it back.

Sorry to hear. You may want to check that injector, as that cylinder may be running a bit leaner than the rest.

Anybody remember the article Gordon Baxter wrote many years ago in Flying Magazine about being asked to be a guest speaker at a convention? When he got done with his presentation, he opened up the floor for a Q&A session. One young lady raises her hand and he acknowledges her to stand up and ask her question. She says "My fiance loves aviation. He talks about it all the time and lives to fly. I really have no interest in it and wondered if you could give me some advice". Gordon says "My FIRST wife felt the same way". I guess audience laughed pretty hard.

That one won't last long on the market unless there is some surprise lurking on it.

Studying the IFR rules in preparation for your written will in no way interfere with what Emery Riddle will teach you. Developing poor instrument flying skills will set you back though. You could practice flying at a set altitude +/- 100 feet,, while maintaining a good outside scan (don't stare at the altimeter), every time you fly. Work on turns from one exact heading to another, again, while staying +/- 100. A good safety pilot with strong IFR skills could start working ATC communications with you and you working on the read back. Flying into controlled and busier airspace, with an experienced pilot, will get you more comfortable with talking to controllers while having other work tasks on your plate. This will get you to a higher level with your multi-task skills, which are a large part of instrument flying. Hanks comments while I was writing this are good too.

Have you ever seen the award winning Comanche 400 (think it won the highest award for a certified airplane) at Oshkosh. I saw it a couple years ago with the cowling off, the beautiful engine tricked up, and took pictures for my Doctor friend. I couldn't help but appreciate the plane, and how nice the owner keeps it looking, even though it's not a Mooney.

If the other seat has been repaired as well, but not broken, I would replace that one as well. We do a lot of aluminum welding in the fab shop at my dealership, and those welds don't look very good. I wouldn't have passed those during my annual inspection. All aluminum is not the same, and some just doesn't weld very good. I would buy new ones, do as Jose suggests, or machine new out of a good grade of aluminum.

That is one impressive make over! Nice job.

Gary, You are flying up to my neck of the woods. Checking on Airnav, looks like if you took a cheaper fuel stop a bit south of a direct route, that would drop your over water time on Lake Ontario and also get your over Lake Huron crossing closer to the "thumb" area of lower Michigan, getting your distance to land during your crossing down considerably. Not sure what altitude you can fly at, but I routinely file for an over land altitude best for winds ( west bound usually lower ) and then ask for a higher, safe altitude once starting my lake crossing. I have never been denied by ATC when "requesting xxx for my lake crossing" in hundreds of flights over Lake Michigan. This is assuming your are flying IFR. If not, make sure you are in contact with ATC leaving US airspace, with Canada ATC while in their airspace, and back with US ATC entering US airspace. I have a Dr. Friend that ended up in a pile of trouble doing VFR over Canada with no radio contact. He had law enforcement waiting for him upon landing in Iron Mountain, Mi, and required remedial training to clear up his license.

Just for a reference on value, the last Bonanza our mercy flight org bought was purchased with an "at TBO" engine. We (well the guys flying big iron anyway) wanted a FIKI plane to protect their licenses should they get into some crap. Cav Aerospace will NOT install a FIKI system on a modified airframe, and we wanted the Tornado Alley upgrade. So...... We bought the bird and had the FIKI system installed first, and then the Tornado Alley engine job later. The Bonanza we sold had a non-FIKI system installed about 3 years prior for $25k. The FIKI install on the newer airframe ran just shy of $50k.

I hope you are taking certified birds?

Oh, does that look sweet!

Ah, come on Clarence. You surely have some customers that you have a great relationship with!

Ouch. This could get testy. I moved from an F to a Rocket, but would have bought a 252 at the time if I had found one in my price range (2001 before the price crash on GA planes). I like the Rocket, love the performance, but if objective, I think the operating costs on the R are more, at least the fuel burn to comparable, not much slower, Mooneys. I fly a FIKI Bonanza, and have flown two non-FIKI TKS planes. Interestingly enough, the only system to ever fail me in serious icing was the FIKI one. But.....the second alternator on th FIKI Bo saved my bacon last winter. I will share that story some other time.

Good points. I was coming out of Atlanta (actually Griffin) after delivering my F model to it's new owner in April and had reduced the RPM and manifold to cruise climb, 2500 and 35"s. It wasn't too long and the CHT's were hitting 400. I increased the RPM to max, 2650 and manifold to full, 38" and the temps came right back down. Also had a flight from Milan TN visiting my future painter to Geenville SC where I had filed FL230 for weather, in October 2013,and had to slow the climb to keep temps down under 400. I was alone on that flight too. I rarely have an issue, but there can be times that you need to manage CHT's.

We remove the vinyl "company name" decals all the time from used trucks coming in to inventory as trades at my dealership. If you use a heat gun or hair dryer to heat them some, they will come off really easy. The only sign they were ever there is the faded paint in the area where the decal wasn't. That will not be an issue for you.

You guys may love this one. A friend and doctor that owns a Commanchee loves to stir it up with me. One day he primes up a young, just out of high school, a pilot I had mentored, to the point of having his IFR rating before he graduated, into "harassing me about how I talk about my plane. He told this young man, " do you notice how Tom says the name of his airplane? He calls it a Mooney" ( said in a very "fast" tone). " He can't even say the name of his airplane right". Well, the young man comes up and tells me this, feeling all proud of himself for giving me some crap. I told him " of course I call it a Mooney", against in the very same fast tone. I said " I call it a Mooney like that because it's fast. Do you notice Dennis call his plane a C o m m a n c h e e", in a slow dragged out tone. I said " he calls it a C o m m a n c h e e because it is S l o w". Needless to say, I got the last laugh out of that one, as everyone on the airport now calls his Commanchee, a "C o m m a n c h e e".