Skates97

With the handle all the way up I just put some right below the handle and then slid it up and down to lube the inside of the handle. After that I wiped the area below the handle with a rag.

An easy thing to try is a little lube on the bar. When you get to the last little bit to put it in the lock block there is quite a bit of extra friction. On mine I had to twist a little while pushing up into the block to get it to lock into place. When I did the annual and it was up on blocks I unlocked the gear and with it about halfway lube the top of the shaft and work the handle up and down. You could also go up with a safety pilot and while cruising along at about 100 mph let the gear hang halfway down and lube the shaft. After I did this it was very easy to lock it into place. Edit: re-read that you are trying to lock in the up position. Check for carpet bunching as has been suggested and also the boot getting bunched up. Still worth trying a little lube on the shaft.

Cheez-Its and/or trail mix seem to help with "pilot endurance." It's a balancing act between staying hydrated enough but not over-hydrated.

I did mine for the first time at my last oil change and was glad to see it completely clean. It was a pain, but I will be doing it with every oil change, just have to budget the time so I don't get frustrated. I think with a couple more times I will be able to cut my time down from the couple hours it took me on the first one. Yes, and a little peace of mind that with good maintenance and monitoring one "should" be able to catch most things before there is a catastrophic failure.

My strategy is slightly different, but that's because I am trying to eventually escape this place. Buy house outside of CA. Rent house until mortgage is paid off. Sell current house in CA. Keep the Mooney. Funny story, I went to my AME yesterday to renew my medical. We were talking about the crazy taxes, politics, etc... of CA but how incredible the flying weather is here. He said he had told his wife that he wanted them to leave CA because of the taxes. Her response was "The hell we are, you have the money, just pay the taxes."

If mine had been overhauled that recently I would probably go that route. Mine was last overhauled in 1997 and before that in 1977 so I don't think an IRAN or a reseal is in the cards. After quite a bit of reading of other's experiences (here and multiple other forums) with overhauls vs putting in a PCU5000, I talked with my wife and decided to just get the PCU5000. The base for the overhaul with Quality Aircraft Accessories is $695 and I'm fairly certain that I would end up well north of that number. Then there is the possibility of taking the plane down, sending the governor out, possibly finding out that it can't be overhauled, then buying the PCU5000 anyway. It may jeopardize my standing in the CB club but I would rather have the new one in hand and have it just swapped out than take the plane down for a couple of weeks. Placed the order this morning, will have it tomorrow and have my A&P swap it out next Monday or Tuesday.

@MBDiagMan

Even if I know how much fuel what was in my plane when I locked it up in my hangar I always dip the tanks and check it before the next time I fly. It doesn't take long to verify actual fuel during pre-flight and I can see no reason not to.

Not seeing RPM fluctuations, just the oil mess right now.

I have a Hartzell H-1 governor in my plane. It recently started seeping a little oil, just enough that after an hour or so of flying I have a few streaks on the nose gear doors but even after a couple of hours it's not enough to get back on the belly. My A&P said "just keep flying it until it gets worse." It's been 21 years and just over 1,500 hours since it was last overhauled. I looked at the beginning price for an overhaul and factored in where it could go (including time of the plane being down) compared to just buying an overhauled one to have swapped out and decided to just buy the $1,395 one and have it replaced. The problems is Aircraft Spruce just notified me that Quality Aircraft Accessories doesn't have any overhauled units and I would have to send mine in which would mean down time. Other than the annoying factor that it doesn't take much oil to make a mess there isn't a reason to replace right now. But, it is annoying and enough to make me want to replace it. Are my only options to replace it with the H-1 (have mine overhauled) or go the route of a PCU 5000? If that's it then at $2,400 for the PCU 5000 ATH-1 I think I may just wait until annual and send mine out.

Same here, I just switch tanks and keep an eye on the fuel pressure to make sure it stays constant.

It isn't in the speeds at the end of the manual. In my 1965 manual in the "Flight Procedures" section on page 19 it says: "An enroute climb speed of 115-120 mph IAS is recommended for improved cooling and good visibility." In the 1977 C POH which is much better it is in section 3, Normal Procedures on page 3-14: "An enroute climb speed of 115-120 MPH (100-104 Knots) IAS is recommended for improved engine cooling and forward visibility." I use 120 mph IAS whenever possible but there are times such as heading north out of my home field that I have a steeper climb at a slower speed. The need to go from 533' on the ground to 8,500'+ to feel comfortable going over the mountains north of San Bernardino in about 25 miles necessitates it.

My problem is that maximum speed for flaps in my plane is 100 mph but the best speed for an enroute climb is 120 mph so I retract at 400 AGL and trim for 120 mph.

Part of the shutdown checklist for the planes where I took my PPL lessons was to put the keys on the dash for that exact reason. I have a GoPro mount on the center post of my plne. After forgetting to remove the keys on a couple of different occasions I started making it part of my routine to hang them there so I can see that they have been removed.

He didn't mention it but a quick search turned up that 18 shielded is the way to go. Under $1.00/ft and once I toss in the ends and heat-shrink I am a long way below the $37.50 that Spruce wants for the 60" pre-made P-Lead.

Great video, and I like the added heat-shrink he puts over the connectors. That is where the ground for the shielding is all frayed and falling apart on mine. His method looks like it produces a better product than purchasing the pre-made bogert one that Aircraft Spruce sells. (Not to mention that it's a lot cheaper to buy 5' of wire and make it than buy the pre-made version...)

My appliance list has them as a Slick 4370 and 4347. I suppose the longer advice goes along the same lines of when getting a hair cut, you can always make it shorter...

Saturday when I had the cowling off and was looking around (I make a habit of it as you never know what you'll see) I noticed that the ground from the shielding on the P-Lead for the right mag is barely hanging on. I noticed that Aircraft Spruce sells some in different lengths. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/slk-pleads.php?clickkey=6373 Does anyone happen to know the length of the RH mag P-Lead on a 1965 M-20D with an O-360? @AGL Aviation, @M20Doc, @N201MKTurbo? I could always pull it out, measure it, and run over to Spruce to pick it up as it is just around the corner but it would be nice to know if it was in stock prior to pulling it out.

Pulled up at the pump at Chandler one evening and thought, that would make a good picture. Only had my phone so I took a couple. Ended up making a canvas out of this one and it hangs in my office at work. I love the lighting and the reflection of the tower and horizon on the plane.

Exactly what I did during my first annual. Then since Aircraft Spruce is a mile from my hangar I went and bought a few of the sizes I needed. Just like in real estate, it's all about location, location, location...

Since you currently have a VFR only bird you should only be flying VFR which means you don't have to have the AI. Mine was dying a slow death over the course of about a year. The bearings were noisy on shut down, it would often take 5-10 minutes to stand up, sometimes it would just wobble around for up to 20 minutes. Mine is only a VFR bird as well. I just kept flying her until the AI completely gave up the ghost. Truth be told I took some friends flying for a coastal tour after it was toast and just gyrating and also made a flight from SoCal to Phoenix and back. I did change my typical flight back from AZ where I usually would plan to be over Palm Springs when it is dark to make sure that I was landing in Corona before it got dark because I didn't want to fly at night without it. (Can still legally be done but I have my own requirements). I would still be flying without it and just placard it but my altimeter decided to start sticking on that flight back from AZ. The AI had to come out to get the altimeter out so I had them both overhauled. If you want to keep flying it without the AI just placard it inop. As Jerry said, if/when you decide to upgrade and turn her into an IFR machine have a backup AI. That is what I will do if/when I go that direction.

No place special today, just some special time with my youngest son. It's been two weeks since I flew which is too long. Not having anyplace to go but time to do it we headed out to the airport before it got too hot. He doesn't quite have the bug, but I am trying to get him infected and there are signs that it is taking hold. After pre-flight, starting the engine, realizing my headset was still on the shelf in the hangar because I had taken it out of the plane because the shop was supposed to take the plane to do some work, shutting down, sending him to fetch the headset, starting the engine again, we were ready to roll. With the seat all the way forward he can finally reach the rudder pedals and wanted to steer so once we were out from between the hangars and on the taxiway I let him take over, he did better than I did my first time. Everything was good on run-up so we took off and headed for the nearby practice area over Lake Matthews. Departing to the southeast I turned the controls over to my son. Coming in over the lake at 4,200' there was another plane at 4,500', one below us at 3,000' and two more checked in on the radio inbound. I had already brought the power/rpm down to just cruise around but knowing we could out climb the other's there and that usually only the twins go up higher (everyone on the radio was a single) I pushed the prop forward and throttle in and had him take us up to 6,000'. We spent some time with him flying us around the lake and then off to the southeast for a bit before heading back. He did well flying the whole time until giving me the controls back a couple miles south of the airport as we were getting ready to enter the pattern. Once we exited the runway he steered us down the taxi-way until we got to where we were going between the hangars. Always fun to fly, even more fun when I get to spend it with my son.

The first step to any airplane ownership is to throw all rational financial thoughts out the window and only focus on the fun of flying.

This is very likely. If you are on a shared IP (most likely unless you are paying extra from your hosting service) all it takes is a couple of bad apples on the same IP and it ends up on blacklists so anything coming from it, including your emails, are tagged as spam and don't make it through filters. They won't even get to the end users spam folder.

Emphasis on "safe" is the key to a lot of upgrades getting approved by the copilot. After my first 4 hour flight I had the ancient seat foam replaced with Confor Foam, made all the difference in the world as far as comfort goes, and not very expensive.